Stripping Shanghai manners bare
- Source: Global Times
- [13:20 June 28 2010]
- Comments
By Andrea Scarlatelli
After I got sick a few weeks ago, I decided to try a Western hospital, as my first experience last year at a Chinese one left me even sicker than when I walked in. I found one that had received very good reviews and boasted of "Western standards." I was sold.
Walking into the hospital, the lobby was clean and the staff seemed professional. So far so good. I was impressed with the time my doctor took to listen to my issues. He even discussed prices with me after I revealed that I didn't have health insurance. As he sent me off to get some tests done, I was feeling utterly at ease - what a difference from my Chinese hospital experience!
Alas, you know what they say about good things coming to an end. The woman con-ducting my medical tests did not speak a word of English, so she just ended up miming actions that I did not understand (What can I say? I'm not very good at charades!) and finally yelling at me until I figured out what she wanted. Although a nurse who spoke English accompanied me into the testing room, she apparently didn't think it was necessary to translate, and pretty much just sat in a corner.
After poking and prodding me for a while, the woman conducting the tests indicated I was done and could leave. As I gathered my things and prepared to go, I was suddenly confronted with a fundamental difference between Westerners and Chinese - privacy.
As I was gathering my purse, a Chinese woman in her mid-20s appeared in the testing room.
She proceeded to strip off her underwear and hike up her dress - obviously she had done this kind of thing before. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, a total stranger, standing in a testing room among nurses and the woman had absolutely no qualms about removing her clothing or exposing her body.
From my experiences with doctors' offices in America and Europe, there is no way two patients would be allowed in the same testing room at the same time, never mind actually having one of them half-naked.
While I left the hospital with an overall positive feeling, the incident in the testing room did make me realize - no matter how "Western" these hospitals would like to appear, Chinese customs and expectations still prevail.
