Question Hi I am an Indian and very curious about china and Chinese people as I love them for their hardwork and their capability to understand Philosophers ( Tao, Buddha and Confucius) but one thing which I am not sure about Chinese is ESP about how they feel about Indians (Leave aside politics) . Is Buddha still respected in china and how important it is in their life.
Answer Hi Ananth,
I'd love to share with you my thoughts on this issue, however, since it's already too late (23:22), I'll update this answer tomorrow. A heads up for you in advance: Chinese people in general might not be as friendly towards Indians as you might imagine(me excluded). I am sorry, but hey let's face the truth.
Good night!
John
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Update 1:
When a Chinese is asked about his impression of India, Three words would probably come up at once, curry, yoga and "Ah San". Let me elaborate:
Curry and yoga, these two are pretty self-explanatory. Though there are few Indian restaurants, Chinese people have a strong impression that the Indians have curry a lot. Yoga is somewhat prevalent among girls, especially among urban white-collars, for they are desperate to lose weight.
Now let me crack the secret of "Ah San" for you. Indians are often, if not always, referred to as "Ah San". "Ah" is a meaningless prefix, and "San" means three in Chinese. Chinese tend to give nick names to their neighbors, for instance, Koreans are called "Bang Zi"(Corn), Russian "Mao Zi"(the hairy) and Japanese "Gui Zi"(demon). So what does "Ah San" mean? It is meaningless. The origin of this nick name is not certain, however, there are two stories that I found online.
Both stories both took place in Shanghai.
Story A: When UK first colonised in Shanghai, they hired some Sikh from India as policemen. Shanghainese were told to call them "Sir". Shanghainese liked to add "Ah" before a name, "Sir" was tranformed into "Ah Sir" and because of the local accent, "Ah Sir" sounded like "Ah San". Gradually, "Ah San" began to be used to refer to all Indians.
Story B: As in story A, the Sikh were brought to Shanghai by UK and they had difficulties communicating with Shanghai local folks because both sides spoke lousy English. So the Sihk had to often repeat what they said, beginning with "I say...I say". Shanghainese would imitate the way the Sihk talked and somehow began to call them "Ah San".
To be honest, "Ah San" is a disrespectful nick name, not as bad as if the blacks are called "nigger", but still not a polite name. This indicates some subconscious disrespect and animosity of some Chinese people towards the Indians. I hope you are not feeling offended.
Now I should finish my noon break and get back to work. I'll keep on updating this as long as I have the time. So talk to you soon.
