Do You Hear What I Hear?

One of my brother’s favorite sayings is “You’re ugly when you whine.”  This time I must plead guilty.  (To whining, not to being ugly.)

It started on the plane, shortly after take-off.  I was settling in, had my Bose Q15 noise-reduction headphones on, and was ready to take a nap.  Then I heard what seemed like a Chinese TV program.  But my headphones were plugged into my MP3 player.  Turns out the guy (about 25) sitting across the aisle from me was watching a movie or something on his cell phone – with the volume turned up so he could hear it over the sound of the engines.  Was I the only one disturbed by this intrusion into my noise space?  It seemed so.

This is not a rare phenomenon in China.  The usual culprits are men, young and old, and for years I’ve encountered this in Beijing parks.  Still, I was just standing behind a girl on an escalator about 25 who was watching (and listening to) a music video.  Here are a couple of guys, strangers to each other, sitting in the lobby of a Nanjing hotel.

It was like dueling banjos:  they both had the volumes on high, listening to different programs.  Neither seemed to notice the other.  Yes, I’m willing to entertain the possibility that I’m oversensitive to noise interference.  For example, right now I’m on a high-speed train from Hefei to Beijing and sitting behind me is a guy talking very loudly on his cell phone.  Looking around, I see no one, including the 50-year-old woman next to me, showing any signs of noticing this.

OK, I’m finished entertaining the possibility that I’m overly sensitive, and I’ve rejected it.  Chinese people talk loudly, especially the men.  I’m wondering if it is partly due to the nature of their language, which has a large tonal element to it.  I have been with a group of Chinese people talking and sometimes they had trouble understanding each other, even though they were from the same part of China.  Perhaps Chinese have to raise the volume so the subtleties that enable them to identify certain words can be distinguished.  Perhaps the pitch range of female voices is such that they can be understood clearly at a lower volume.

When I stay in Hefei, I always stay at the a hotel called the Chinese Caligraphy Building.  (More on that later.)  The other night I was in the hotel’s Japanese restaurant, and at the table next to me were 4 guys, apparently in their 30s.  All 4 were watching videos or something on their cell phones, and the cacophony coming from the table was almost unbearable.

I would have changed tables except for the fact that all other tables were reserved for the large convention group that was staying at the hotel.  This was a convention of beaut

icians.  Could have been worse.  Still, as I was going up to my room, I was in an elevator with 12-13 young women who all knew each other.  Though they were not speaking individually in loud voices, the total decibel level was, well, YIKES!

There’s no doubt that the novelty and excitement of China has worn off, and I become more irritated with some of the rude things I encounter.  For example, in addition to talking loudly most of the time, many Chinese butt in line.  Other Chinese are used to this and neither say nor do anything about it.  Just now, as I was waiting to pass through the turnstile at Hefei’s train station, a guy about 35 and a little taller than I, tried to push in front of me.  I literally pushed him out of the way.  I’m sure he was surprised at this, and he had a few words for me.  Fortunately, I had no idea what he said.  And again, while waiting to get onto the Airport Express subway, a man about 40 did not get at the end of the line of 6 people but simply moved to the front.  No one seemed to object, but I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the back of the line.  Instead of going there, he moved to another door where he butt in line there.

So, back to the guy on the plane.  As you know, airline people will distribute tiny earbuds to those who need them.  When they came by, I accepted a pair, and then offered them to the guy across the aisle.  He actually smiled and, simultaneously, his girlfriend sitting next to him (who WAS using earbuds) spoke to him.  He graciously declined my offer and took out his own earbuds and plugged them in.  Everybody happy.