Telltale Signs that You’re a Newbie Foreigner (albeit a Chinese-speaking one)

Telltale Signs that You’re a Newbie Foreigner (albeit a Chinese-speaking one)

1. Try to get into the cab through the rear left door.
2. Incorrectly assume cabbies are middle class: ask details about Shanghai real estate (for example, apartment sizes, unit prices, average rent, interest rates, etc.)
2. Say “yi” instead of “yao” when reading the numeral 1
3. Call air conditioning “leng qi” instead of “kong tiao”

This middle-aged Taiwanese guy (who lives in the Bay area) kept talking to me on the flight back to Shanghai. I didn’t really have anything in common with him; he kept saying that he viewed China as an investment opportunity and a chance to become “powerful.” Wtf? Like I give a shit. Anyway, we ended up sharing a cab into town, and man, he reeked foreigner.

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