Way to make peace with cocky cabbies

By Patrick Whiteley (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-07 10:30

A taxi driver on the holiday island of Hainan in southern China said he didn't like my homeland of Australia and didn't like my fellow countrymen.

He had a beef with the Australian government because it granted visas to Xinjiang separatists who attended a film festival in Melbourne despite Beijing's opposition.

I felt uncomfortable because, generally speaking, Australians enjoy a friendly reputation (except when we play the English in any form of sport). We're a small nation of souls located on the bottom of the globe and not a big player in world affairs. "Make beer, not war" is our motto.

However, the cabbie's serve made me realize how other expats must feel when they are stereotyped and criticized for being born in a certain part of the world.

Americans sometimes cop a hard time because of their government's history of trying to "fix things" in foreign lands. A few fools label anyone from the Middle East a terrorist because they "look like one" and then there are the French.

According to a recent survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world by Internet travel agency Expedia, French tourists were the worst because they are perceived as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant.

Japanese won the top tourist ranking, with Brits and Germans judged the best of the Europeans. However, the survey did say the French were very cool dressers.

I told the Hainan cabbie he was entitled to his point of view, and could dislike Australians if he wanted to, but said talking about world politics was very boring, especially on my holiday.

Sporting a big grin, I asked: "Are all Hainan people as boring as you?" He was shocked at first but saw my goofy smile.

He started smiling too and the conversation changed.

"Chi fan le ma? (Have you eaten?)"