Issue 65 - Tse Qigong Centre

KnowYourWorthCulture Shock Part IIIPeople all over the worldhave different ways of doingthings. Often we go to differentcountries and expect things to bethe same as at home, but this isnever the case. You have to adaptto the way things are done by thelocals, as the saying goes “Whenin Rome do as the Romans do”.When you go into a shop and see goods with pricelabels, as someone from England you would tendto assume that the figure displayed would havesome relation to the price – wrong. If it sayscotton on the label then one may be temptedto think that the item in question is made out of cotton – notnecessarily so. The fact is that few prices are fixed, and thingsare not always what they claim to be on the label; if you wantcotton you have to know what cotton is. Even though I amnow fully aware of the going price of, say, a bottle of coke, Istill occasionally find myself having to argue the toss.Since we are living on a Chinese wage these exhaustingexchanges have had to become a part of daily life. If you looklike you’ve got the time and energy to argue you’ll probablyget what you want for the right price, if you look desperate inany way, forget it. The interesting thing that comes out of it isthat I find myself relying on all sorts of senses that did not playsuch a crucial role in life in England; for example when I startdiscussing prices with traders I now read their facial featuresand body language very closely. If I don’t know the going price,I rely on observation and instinct much more to decide if I’mbeing ripped off. It doesn’t always work but, as well as beingsomething that applies equally to martial arts, I’m aware thatthis is an important day-to-day survival skill here. On thesurface everything seems to be fluid, but underneath you needto be sure of yourself and rely on your own feelings, or you’llbe taken to the cleaners. I think the consensus here is that I’vescrubbed up rather nicely.I have met a lot of martial arts teachers, many of whomhave unquestionable ability; one guy demonstrated his Qi bymaking his wrist expand as I tried, in vain, to stop it. Anotherseemed to know so many forms it made my head hurt. In theend choosing someone to train with seemed more a questionof personality than knowledge. The obvious questions are: dothey and their students look healthy, what are their studentspage 40 Qi Magazine Jan/Feb 2003