Why would a Chinese person who emigrated from Hong Kong and became a college professor be more typical of the average Chinese than are a bunch of Chinese people that someone ran across at random while traveling in China? Being a professor and emigrating are atypical and not average in any country. This man must have been exceptional in many ways or else he'd still be in Hong Kong and he wouldn't be a professor.
Because what my brother and his wife said about the national Chinese shocked me. It was contrary to the impression I got from meeting people of Chinese extraction in the U.S. who were nice and polite. It intrigued me and made me curious as to why many of the national Chinese should be so rude. My older brother took R and R in Taiwan during the Vietnam War and loved it. Then why should the mainland Chinese act differently towards foreigners than the Taiwanese Chinese? Why the rude behavior? Is it the result of sixty years under communism or authoritarian regimes? I’d like to know.