These are some of the stereotypes I have encountered. I feel like I could write an entire book on this subject.
Chinese Stereotypes of Americans
- Americans have AIDS and generally have sex with anything that moves.
- Americans don't care about their families so much.
- Americans are rich.
- Your life is constantly in danger in the US because the crime rate is so high.
- Mixed ethnic background = intelligence.
- Most Americans own a gun.
- American media are biased against China and are generally "anti-Chinese."
- All American men are "se lang."
- Americans are generally crazy and do all sorts of crazy things (probably involving sex).
- It is impossible for Americans (or any non-Chinese) to learn the Chinese language. If you can say "ni hao" correctly and carry ona basic conversation in Chinese, you mustbe a genius.
- All Western countries are basically the same.
- Americans are uncivilized because they eat raw food (and they eat it with knives and other weapons).
American Stereotypes of Chinese
- Chinese are polite and traditional.
- Chinese know kung fu.
- Anything related to China is ancient and mysterious.
- Most Chinese dress like Huang Fei Hong.
- Chinese women are subservient to men and are morally purer than Western women.
- Things like fashion and sex probably don't exist in China.
- Chinese are forced to worship Chairman Mao through brainwashing and thought control; if you utter a thought not approved byChairman Mao, you will instantly be sent to jail or shot.
- All Chinese (and everyone else who isn't American) desperately want to come to the US.
- Chinese (and all Asians) are good at math.
- Every Chinese (and everyone else who isn't American) desperately wants American-style democracy; if you don't, you must bea brainwashed communist or, even worse, French.
- All Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, etc.) are basically the same.
- Chinese are uncivilized because they eat things like rats, monkeys, and pig intestines (and they eat them with sticks).
I'd like to address virtually every one of these stereotypes -- the absurdity of most of them (on both sides) would be comical if they didn't cause so many problems in cross-cultural communication.
