Chinese Privacy(or lack thereof)

The Chinese don't really know the meaning of the word privacy, and I mean they don't really know the true meaning in their own language either! When teaching English in China one of the things that never ceases to shock you when is the fact that the Chinese have no real concept of privacy, at least not the way most people do.Everday you can face the same question from taxi drivers and everyday people on the street "how much money do you make per month?". other questions range from "where are you going?" to "when will you marry your girlfriend?" the later question usually gets you involved in an argument if your not planning to marry your girlfriend in at least a weeks time.

But bar far the most annoying breach of privacy is at the internet cafe's. I can't tell you the amount of times I've had people standing over my shoulder and just reading(or trying to)my emails, a suttle look to try to tell them to piss off just doesn't do the trick, they are bare faced, no shame, and they just continue to keep reading. The only solution I have found is to be outright rude in their own language, Chinese, and even then they think you joking, so uttering a few expletives is usualy a good measure. My hat goes off though to the student who asked me in a class full of students "when was the first time you had sex?".