More roll-eye moments from Chinese in Taiwan

Lanyu.

A group of students from China was out there this week showing the greatness of 5,000 years...

A recent incident in which a Chinese exchange student made a rude gesture at a speaker who addressed the Chinese students at National Chenchi University’s (NCCU) student orientation as “overseas students from China (中國的留學生)” has prompted heated discussion online and among university staff and students.

Along with several other Chinese exchange students, the student in question reportedly complained to the university after the moderator at last month’s student orientation greeted them by saying: “We welcome the overseas students from China to Taiwan.”

The Chinese students said it was “inappropriate” to address them that way at a public event, demanding to know why they were not addressed as either “students from the mainland (陸生)” or “friends from the interior (內地來的朋友).”

They also demanded an apology from the Taiwanese students who attended the orientation.

Let me emphasize that such open display of pompous arrogant imperialism is non-existent in my experience. I've taught many Chinese exchange students and they have uniformly been model students. I always look forward to having them in my classes.

All those nice students count for nothing against such displays, however, since negative events have outsized effects. This tendency to trash Taiwan was the reason I and others were so supportive of the opening to Chinese tourists -- we knew exactly how they would behave and what kind of impression they would make on the locals.
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