Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why it is that Chinese restrooms are lacking in toilet paper? Why pregnant women wear those apron-thingies on their way to work? What the obsession with keeping noisy, screeching crickets is about? Why people walk backwards in the morning, all the while clapping their hands rhythmically? Or why that peddler wakes you up with his yelling early in the morning?

Everyday activity can astound and bewilder us when we’re not familiar with the culture. So why is it that Chinese people do what they do? Why is it that…

1) Chinese restrooms don’t have toilet paper?

The empty toilet paper dispenser of a Chinese public restroom has quite a few things in common with your least favorite sweater: it’s ugly to look at, it isn’t being used, and every glance at it reminds you of what could have been.

Anyone who has been in Mainland China for longer than one week knows that finding a public bathroom that actually stocks toilet paper is near impossible. Sure, you can go to the third floor of that fancy-looking hotel while pretending you’re a guest, but that doesn’t really count. Besides, the last time I tried, they didn’t have toilet paper either.

But why?

Most of us immediately think it’s so whoever owns the bathroom can save someRMB. I did too, until I noticed a peculiar incident at the local KFC.

One day, when I was standing in line at KFC, a little old woman in her sixties came by and stood next to the counter. She didn’t buy anything. Instead, she pressed the straw dispenser. She pressed it over twenty times. I watched as she collected a huge bundle of straws, dump them all in her purse, and walk out of KFC without buying a thing.

What the old woman did wasn’t technically stealing. She was simply taking advantage of whatever she could get for free. The same could be said for toilet-paper thieves.

The stealing of toilet paper from public restrooms is common practice throughout all of China, frustrating city management and business owners alike. Few are willing to stock their bathrooms with toilet paper when guests simply take the entire roll home with them.

Although stealing something as cheap and ordinary as toilet paper may seem ludicrous to us Westerners, bear in mind that the salary of an ordinary Chinese service worker is little more than slave wages to most of us. A roll of toilet paper may seem so insignificant to us that we won’t bother carrying it all the way home with our bare hands, even if it were socially acceptable to do so. But for many Chinese people who live on less than 2000 Yuan a month, they see a cost that could be avoided.



Anti-radiation maternity wear. Photo: typepad.com

2) Why do pregnant women wear those apron-thingies?

You notice that your pregnant coworker wears a childish, apron-like maternity dress whenever she sits in front of her work computer. That’s nothing unusual—maybe it’s a fashion statement. It’s certainly better than some of Kim Kardashian’s maternity clothes.

But then, you notice she wears the exact same apron-like maternity dress every day. Surely she can spare the money for two different maternity dresses, right? Why does she wear the same dress every day?

The reason? Her maternity dress is more than a maternity dress—it is an anti-radiation apron.

A what?

In China, there is widespread belief that low levels of radiation emitted from computers can cause birth defects and/or other negative effects on pregnant women. Two of my father’s Chinese graduate students took a hiatus from their studies just to avoid using a computer during their pregnancies.

But wait, you ask. How come I’ve never seen pregnant women in my own country use these anti-radiation maternity dresses? That’s because the fetus-harming computer radiation theory is a bunch of baloney, according to the World Health Organization. However, this has not stopped businesses from profiting off of such fears.

Anti-radiation clothing has also been reported to do more harm than good. This is because clothing that blocks out radiation can also trap it in. This would, in turn, expose a pregnant woman to more radiation than what she would have normally received, had she not worn such clothing in the first place.

Unfortunately, China does not have any industry standard that prevents such clothing from being sold.

3) Why do Chinese people like crickets so much?

It’s hard for a Westerner to understand why Chinese people love to keep crickets as pets. They make a loud ruckus from dawn to dusk that resembles the ringing you get in your ears when you smack your head against the open cabinet door.

What’s more, these hard-shelled creatures aren’t the least bit cuddly. You don’t want to touch them, they live for two months tops, and your daily interaction with them is the five seconds it takes to push that little bean through the holes of its bamboo cage every morning. Why do Chinese people, especially old Chinese people, love to keep these six-legged pests around so much?

The reality: Crickets have been in Chinese culture for thousands of years, beloved by emperors and commoners alike. Chinese cricket culture involves two different types of crickets: singing crickets, and fighting crickets.

Singing crickets, or jiaoguoguo, are pets for children. According to legend, singing crickets were kept by imperial concubines to feel less lonely. (Like many Western families, a Chinese family that desires pets can sometimes find a dog or cat too furry, too messy, or too darn bothersome to take responsibility for.) But while a Western family may settle for something quiet and fuzzy like a hamster or a gerbil, the Chinese settle for crickets.

In some ways, the cricket can be an ideal pet: it costs very little, doesn’t stink, is easy to take care of, and is roughly 35% more interactive than a goldfish. Its short, two-month lifespan also means that a Chinese child can play with it all summer before forsaking it once the school year starts up.

Fighting crickets, or xishuai, are used for entertainment purposes. While Western countries have familiarized themselves with cockfights and bull fights, the Chinese send crickets at their opponents. Money is often involved, despite China’s outlaw on gambling.

4) Why do old people walk backwards in the morning?

When I lived in the dorms at East China Normal University, I could always peek out my window and see old people walking backwards along the track field early in the morning or late at night. They clapped their hands together methodically while doing so.

Walking backwards, or “retrowalking,” is a form of light exercise that the Chinese have been doing since ancient times. Walking backwards is more tiring than walking forwards, and this will give you a better cardio workout in general. But that’s not the only effect it has: according to an article published in the North American Journal of Medical Sciences, retrowalking has a positive effect on patients with knee osteoarthritis. And you know who has osteoarthritis? Old people.

That isn’t where the benefits of walking backwards ends. According to a Dutch study, walking backwards may also sharpen your thinking.

And as for the hand-clapping? While the methodical hand-clapping may look silly and resembles a poor man’s chest fly, it does give your arms some exercise to do.

5) What is that old peddler guy calling out every morning?

After you have lived in China for long enough, you will notice that every once in a while, an old Chinese man with a bench and a bike will ride through your neighborhood slowly while calling out the same phrase, over and over again. And no, it is not the same old man pedaling through all of China on a Forrest Gump-inspired journey.

What this man is actually saying is “mo jian zi lai…qiang cai dao!” which means “I’m here to sharpen your knives…and your scissors!”

This man is a blade sharpener. He goes from street to street, sharpening kitchen knives for a couple of RMB. This profession is dying, since most Chinese people now have their own whetstones in their kitchens. Thus, today’s blade sharpeners are well over the age of fifty and have decades of blade-sharpening expertise to boot. The few blade sharpeners that remain still get business, thanks to customers who desire exceptionally sharp blades.

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Keywords: Chinese activities