When talking about culture shock
will you guys immediately think of a few
negative, unwanted
or bad things
For example, bad cultural phenomena
Things like bad customs
And will you think
that it should be those who have been in a place for a long time
that have the right to talk about it?
Actually to me it seems the total opposite
Culture shock means that
no matter if it's good, bad, right or wrong
No matter what it is
As long as you feel that
it's different from your environment before
This is culture shock
And the shorter you're there
the more obvious the effect of the culture shock is
It's not to say that you have to stay long enough
in order to have the right to talk about it
If you've been there for a long time, it's not culture shock
It's not a shock
Maybe after staying a long while
You will become
accustomed to your shock, or
different culture differences
So this is a kind of
addition to my last culture shock film
In order to avoid causing misunderstanding
Up to now is the fourth month since I came to Britain
I've had more culture shocks (since the last film)
that I want to share with you all
The first culture shock I noticed was
when I'd just come to the UK
The first week
I didn't want to leave Scott's house
Why?
Because I was worried that after people saw me
they would...
Oh! A foreigner!
I was worried I'd receive different looks
or excessive attention
So I didn't dare to leave the house (alone)
But afterwards I confirmed that I'd just been overthinking it
Because I have an asian face, other people wouldn't
think "Oh, a foreigner"
Like many Chinese people
if they haven't met a foreigner
they'll have that reaction, (here) they won't have that reaction
Because this is basically a
multicultural country
Lots of different kinds of faces
that other people are used to seeing
If I don't open my mouth and speak
other people might even think I'm a local
They might think I'm English
Nothing alarming about that
This is my first culture shock
Right now I'm used to it
Other people won't look at me differently
or pay excessive attention
because I'm just a normal person
An ordinary person in a vast sea of faces, that's all
In the UK, if
you don't have a car it's really not very easy to get around
When me and Scott drive about
I'll see some interesting occurrences
For example in cars I'll see
Ey - the driver opposite is a white-haired, elderly lady
or an elderly man
It looks like they're very old
How are they still able to drive?
But actually you don't need to worry
Because they started to drive when they're young
Perhaps they have more experience than you
A real "old driver" (A saying in Chinese meaning very experienced)
I think in China
maybe if you say a
white-haired, elderly person driving
you might think, wow
For real? Seriously?
So I think elderly people driving, this
also counts as a culture shock
Here I want to add something on to the last culture shock film
People said that this gesture
is also common in China
But is it really?
No, not at all common
This doesn't mean our culture
is bad without this
Here they, no matter if it's
the elderly or the young, a driver or pedestrian
No matter if someone's really giving way to you or
you think you've been inconvenienced
Any situation
This gesture is very common
As long as you think
Other people have been affected because of you
No matter how small it is
You always need to
do this kind of gesture to express thanks
or apologise
And you do it every time
Perhaps if you come across ten crossroads in a day
and you think that you've affected others ten times
then you have to do that gesture every time
And if you don't do it, the other person will feel
Oh, so rude
They wasted my time and don't care in the slightest
Just went on their way
Of course that doesn't at all mean that China
doesn't have any drivers who will thank people like that
My main point is
that one is a deep-rooted cultural phenomenon
And we don't have a common understanding in our culture
So the point I want to emphasise is this
By being with Scott's family together for more than three months
I discovered that British people's dependence on TV is pretty high
In one day, much of the time, as long as
you're idle
you might watch television
Watch a programme
And at the same time it's also
for example when the family gets together to watch a film
This kind of opportunity
For example Scott's dad will sometimes say
Ella, Scott, do you guys want to watch a film tonight?
It can make being around the television watching a film together
This kind of moment can become a
a whole family moment
But in contrast
their dependence on phones is lesser
Okay, to emphasise again
I'm not saying every person, just most people
compared to China
Why do I say that?
Because in China, for example when I take the train
Or Didi (taxi), the driver
the Didi driver
will flick through social media (Douyin) whilst driving
and then when waiting at a red light
he'll look at Douyin again, return to his phone
In most cases our dependence on phones
is higher than TV
But in the UK the dependence on TV
The need for it is pretty high
So, talking about TV I think
British people are pretty old fashioned
Pretty retro
Because they still have DVDs
DVD players
And lots of CDs
Scott's parents home's CDs, wow
So many!
Oh another thing, lots of cars
Maybe it's that the cars aren't great
If you want to listen to music you need to play a CD
And Scott
the first CD he bought when he was 11
he's kept all this time
He has loads and loads of CDs
When we're driving we'll listen to them
So I think they're pretty old-fashioned
But I think it's fun
I quite like it
I think actually that British people are quite nostalgic
Through our previous
film visiting Scott's grandparents
you can see
British people have lots of family photo albums
and we have comments that said
We have that too!
Yeah, maybe some families have a few photo albums
to preserve memories
but my family didn't
And decades ago we might have
but somehow in between they weren't looked after and were lost
It wasn't thought of very highly
Family photo albums, this thing
is actually a kind of cultural phenomenon
It's Britain's cultural phenomenon
People think
we have to have this thing!
Our child was born
We had somebody get married
We went traveling
We have to have this thing
And for example Scott's nan, his mum's mum
She said
Do you want to see my photos Ella?
I have a lot!
I'm just worried you'll be bored don't want to see them
I have so many!
Scott's mum is the same
Simply so many photo albums that you can't count them
They think we have to have these things
But for us Chinese
maybe we also have them
but it's not a necessity
If you don't have it that's not okay
So this is a question of essentials
And something very similar to this is
Here
at Christmas
or whatever birthday
they'll gift cards
Card culture!
Even on the streets you can easily see
lots of card shops
My god, those shops only sell cards!
As soon as you go in, all you can see is cards
The kind designed exquisitely
For example you can give them to your cousins
Your nephew
It has a title like "To my son"
Or "To my lovely cousin"
To my mum, to my grandparents, to my granddaughter
So this is also an ingrained culture
They think that at birthdays you should gift presents or cards
I have to give it to you
So I think the people here are pretty nostalgic
There's lots of people who come to the UK
or other western countries that should also know
that they can drink directly from the tap
Scott asked me
why can't you drink the tap water in China?
Actually I really can't say the reason
I don't know if it's because it's not disinfected very thoroughly
so there's still a possibility of an upset stomach?
I don't know why
But here people
drink water directly from the tap
You don't need to boil it
I was pretty shocked
If you look around a British supermarket
you'll discover that many fruits etc
are wrapped up very well
For example a cucumber
will use that kind of vacuumed film, wrapped very tightly
Sealed very tightly
After buying it and bringing it home we don't really wash it
Just open it
and eat it
I don't know if it's just our family that don't wash them
or most people don't
I just feel like there's a lot of vegetables they don't wash
In my my house, if my mum was there
How could you not wash it?
She'd wash it over and over
Oh, another one I've thought of
When they wash dishes
This is really so shocking!
When they wash bowls, they'll put it in a dishwasher right?
And wash wash wash
and take it out, just wash it one time
I thought "Oh, maybe they'll get it out first"
and then wash it a second time
Use water to rinse it
Okay, they don't rinse it! That's just it!
Even though there's still lots of bubbles inside
Lots of foam in the pans
Okay, no need to wash it, it's clean
They'll just grab a dry cloth and wipe it
Wipe it very clean
And then leave it, it's done
At that time I really thought, my god
Won't this poison us?
Won't we be poisoned by the dishwashing liquid?
But they think it's fine because they wiped it clean
Isn't it shocking?
It doesn't mean all English people are like this
Maybe there's people who aren't like that
If it's in China
it's probably difficult
Right now, for us it's very hard
to shoulder the costs of a car
because at the least you'll need several thousand pounds
for a very average car
but here you can easily buy a car
because the second-hand culture is very rich
People don't mind buying second-hand cars
Second-hand clothes
or various second-hand things
People don't care
They won't think
it's something to lose face over
or gross
There's not that feeling
They think as long as it's good quality and it suits me
and I can accept the price, then okay
So here, if you want to buy a second-hand car
Super quick, for less than a thousand pounds
you can buy a car you can drive, no problem
but it's very possible you'll have to use CDs
It's not a first class, luxury car of course
You can drive it
It's okay, not bad quality
About a thousand pounds, you can buy a second-hand car
You can drive it for a long while
For example lots of Scott's clothes
His raincoat, waterproof jacket
His backpack
Lots of his stuff is second-hand
He thinks it's great
Because if you don't want to use it or it's not suitable
You can use some (online) platforms to sell it
Sell it to someone who needs it, then it's unlikely it'll go to waste
If you have something you need and you don't want to buy something expensive, first-hand
then you can find whatever other people don't want, buy second-hand
Reach a good ratio of use for goods
This point is pretty good
There's another thing that's very shocking
I've already come to England for-- it's about to be four months
I've never used my passport or ID
Of course I've brought it with me anyway, to be ready in case
Because in China, not matter where you're going
to the hospital, to do something else
For lots of situations, libraries or museums
you have to show your credentials
But here I've also been to lots of places like that
They don't at all need my ID etc
So my passport is just for decoration
In most situations people don't want to see your ID
If you buy a ticket, just buy the ticket and that's fine
The people here, they don't distinguish between city people and countryside people
This kind of concept
When talking about these words
they don't immediately connotate that cities
have high living standards
and in the countryside the standard of living is low
I thought it was all the same
The whole world was the same
but after coming here I discovered
After deeply understanding I discovered that
they really don't have these kind of notions
It's just that the environments we live in are different
One chooses ease of transportation
Choose a rich, varied life
One chooses to be close to nature
and transportation that's not so convenient?
It's a lifestyle choice
And next, about pets
I think I kind of have the right to talk about it
because Scott's parents
They're business is related to pets
The position of pets in society is pretty high
Why do I say that? Because if the owners
go off traveling
Put your dogs in kennels
They'll temporarily look after your dog
You can put them there for a week or two
You can even put them there for several months, it's no problem
but the cost is unimaginably high
For one day
At the lowest it would be higher than my wages in China
Daily wages
The price is pretty high
In China there's probably also these kind of places
But here kennels are pretty widespread
I just feel like pets have a pretty high position in society
And through a few details
I can feel like the pets here
are very blessed, because
The first is I really haven't seen any stray dogs
and the second is
For example if you go a place outside where there's few people
you'll unwittingly notice, oh! Their house has a big water bowl outside
and it has "dog" written on it
The meaning is that if you're walking your dog
and the weather is hot and you didn't bring water
This water is for dogs to drink
Lots of pubs will have these kinds of water bowls in front of them
Specifically for dogs to drink from
or for other animals
I just feel like it's very considerate
because they've not just thought "Oh people will be thirsty"
Animals will too
So they'll have these kinds of conveniences available
To give to dogs and cats etc
Okay, lastly I'll talk a little about hugging etiquette
Actually it's not just Britain right?
Lots of western countries
The way they express emotion is very direct
With your family
if for example you haven't met for a long time and you
have just met again you'll definitely have a big hug
but their--
not only hugging etiquette
I don't know how to say? Kissing your cheek
That one, I don't know how to say it (in Chinese)
Kissing etiquette?
And there's handshake etiquette
This is totally up to your feeling at that moment
and the relationship between you
and how long its been since you've met
and the occasion
It's totally dependent on these
I'll give you a simple example
If we go to make a film for someone for work
then the first time we meet we'll just shake hands
or because of the coronavirus
they'll say that because of right now... yeah, we all understand
It's not a great time to shake hands
Don't worry about the handshake
If it's with a good friend
and you haven't seen them for a long time
you'll definitely have a big hug
but afterwards you also meet a lot
You often see them, so won't worry about it
Actually we don't need to hug when we say goodbye
It's too sappy
So it really depends on the situation
And also there were a few friends and it was our first time to meet
Neither of us has the desire to hug
You feel like, well, I don't know them very well
But after talking and getting on with each other we'll discover
Wow, we had such a wonderful conversation
and before saying goodbye we'll hug before I've even realised
Because we feel like, yeah, we're good friends now
So like this kind of hug and handshake etiquette
It totally depends on the situation
There's one time that was funny
I think Scott was getting ready to meet my mum for the first time
To meet my parents and hug them
But he realised, ey - doesn't seem like I need to
Don't at all need to
But before we left China
when he was saying goodbye to them
Scott hugged my mum because he thought
he should hug her, so
he wanted my mum to know that's their culture
To make their relationship a little closer
I think at that time my mum was also pretty moved
Sometimes I want to hug my mum or whatever
Of course if it's just a casual hug you think it's okay
But sometimes you're emotional
For example, "Mum, I'm leaving"
You hug her and sometimes you'll feel, oh...
It seems a little unnatural
It's a little awkward
But there's a few times I just "beng!", hugged her
And afterwards I felt like wow
So happy
Feel like you can feel how close you are to them
You don't have to do it every time
And we don't need to learn from the west, I just mean
Sometimes when you hug your family
It really feels different
Very warm
Okay, that was my second set of culture shocks
These are my experiences
I hope you've enjoyed it