The 5 Surprising Reasons Why Chinese People Avoid Confrontations

Some people love looking for and starting trouble, Chinese people on the other hand strive hard to avoid confrontations AT ALL COSTS. You would be hard pressed to see a Chinese person asking for a store's managers or raising his/her voice in public when they are wronged. Usually Chinese people just "let things go" and go on with their merry lives. This non-confrontational attitude has its pros and cons. On the one hand, being passive avoids huge escalations or time consuming arguments. On the other hand, this passiveness can be taken advantage of as Chinese people become known as being pushovers. This would explain the "Chinese (Asian) Workhorse" phenomenon of any non-Chinese firm. Let's take a look at why Chinese people hate confrontations:

Reasons Why the Chinese are Non-Confrontational

• Chinese People Dislike Scrutiny - Most Chinese people are known to engage in somewhat questionable activities such as bootlegging and tax evasion (Chinese people live in a CASH dominated society) so naturally they prefer to stay in the shadows.

• Not Worth the Trouble - In addition to disliking scrutiny, Chinese people hate it when other people get into their business. They like to minimize the amount of people involved even if it is the costlier alternative. For Example: If you ever get into a car accident with a Chinese person, most likely they would like to handle the situation without calling the police and without involving the insurance companies. Many times this may prove to be more expensive than the increase in their insurance premium.

• Xenophobic - In America, Chinese people will avoid confrontation with foreigners at all costs. In general, the Chinese don't like dealing with foreigners (Chinese people hate teaching things to the "Gwai Lo" - Cantonese for foreigner).

• Our Upbringing - My parents dislike confrontation and so did my parents' parents. I was always raised to not make a fuss and just "let it go" so naturally that is what I am inclined to do.

• Losing Face and Embarrassment - Generally, it is considered embarrassing to cause a scene. All confrontations should be done behind closed doors. To "act a fool" in public will cause your a loss of face for you and your family which is taboo among traditional Chinese people.

Let's face it, Chinese people are non confrontational. Next time, there is a public confrontation, it is safe to say, Chinese people aren't involved (unless it's in Chinatown).

Feel free to comment on this phenomenon in the comments section.