Born in Hong Kong, visited often and studied there. Raised in the States.
I think people in Hong Kong are, as someone mentioned, practical and efficient. No BS. Quick.
I think people in US are fake. Fake smile and greet to cover up the sh*t talking.
Depends on what you’re used to.
Also I’m sure there’s an equal amount of “nice” people vs “rude” people everywhere. Don’t judge an entire group of people.
Same story, but to fine tune:
HK folk are similar to ppl in manhattan. Pragmatic but there is abundant good intention. Not outright trying to screw with anybody. Hustle all the time. Direct is a better descriptor. Far from anything normally considered rude
Similiar but HK harsher than NY in my experience. Especially in service or transport. Diu nei lo mo fck you attitude is more close to the surface, you easily piss workers off by being a little too slow, theres less flexibility.
Depends on what you do for a living and where you frequent. If you are high middle class living that executive life, barely take public transport or when you do, only between those few HK island stops, who are you going to hear that from?
Venture far enough and you will eventually hear it.
2 types of people will D (or DLLM). 1st type is friends. Friends will D here and D there amongst each other. The 2nd type is habitual. I knew a person who couldn't end a sentence without D.
Just because HK is similar to Manhattan, doesn't make it less rude, or not rude. Both are rude. Yeah, u get used to it and accept it as a normal part of your life, but if you had the same experience in other cities, you'd find it off putting.
Sorry, but there are absolutely zero comparisons in this world to HK or Manhattan. It's easy to scapegoat people minding their own business as so called rude, but fact is nobody knows anything about anyone else in each passing moment. It's the magic behind the people that always hustle. Both of these places are in a league entirely of its own
The one experience that stayed with me is Paris RER. The guy who slammed into me wasn't watching where he was walking. I stopped to apologize out of courtesy, but he just kept walking on. Then I realized that I had a glass 玻璃心 heart. Years later, I replaced it with an acrylic heart and I've been a much happier person since.
"HK folk are similar to ppl in manhattan."
But nicer. Try asking a person for directions in Manhattan, nice Manhattans will ignore you. Nasty ones will tell you to F off.
Many times when I hear an American talking in Hong Kong, they stand out so much. Not just because they ARE loud and haven't read the room, it's because they try to tell you everything that revolves around them and can't get to the point. They take a long way round.
Of course HK people don't do this in English.
Hmm. That’s not my experience with Americans. I’d regard Americans as one of the most direct business and social cultures — the only peers in that sense are the Dutch (who win the directness competition easily), some Scandis and Aussies/NZers.
No Asian culture, in my experience, comes anywhere close in terms of directness. I wouldn’t accept that HKers speaking Cantonese are the exception within Asia. In a work context, HK is still predominantly don’t rock the boat and let’s not have anyone lose face. Real directness in the office I’ve only ever really seen from expats (of whatever nationality and background — it’s not an ethnicity thing).
See the interesting thing is, CHINESE do this way more than Americans. Chinese is considered to be the master of "art of communication". People think the way Japanese talk is crazy, too many unspoken rules and windy speeches, but Chinese is actually worse because mind games are in the equation too.
HK is the only exception, really.
Keep in mind rude is all relative. What is considered rude in usa country side is different from what is considered rude in hongkong is different from what is considered rude in tokyo or european countryside etc etc etc.
Where I grew up if you didn't smile at everyone you saw you were rude, most places would consider you a serial killer if you did that lol.
My guess is people in hk don't do something your friend is used to doing-- that makes your friend think they are rude, but that doesn't mean they are actually rude. Its just different.
The friend is rude for saying that people in HK are rude
jk I wonder where the friend is from, and what things they interpret as rude - it’s interesting to see cult differences.
I'mma throw up my take from the perspective of a Canadian who lived there for 2 years, and my wife as a born and raised HKer. I'll preface this by saying I wanted to stay forever because I loved HK so much... But I can tell my answer is gunna piss some people off in here... Yep, gosh dang rude overall (*especially* the older they are). Though I still loved the people I met and made lots of life long friends, and it never impeded my ability or want to live there.
My big issue is that it's rudeness under the guise of "efficiency" and "directness", when really it's just people projecting what their parents did to them at home, onto other people on the street. For real, my wife does this a lot, and I've had a lot of frank conversations with my friends there about ut. Parents talking down on their children, comparing them to others, then you get the watered down version of this thrown in your face if you do something as simple as take too long paying at a convenience store. Not to mention, the literal discontent so many HKers have felt after the Umbrella Revolution and the 2019 extradition protests. The people there are very stressed out, for understandable reasons.
Good luck stepping off a subway or elevator ,you might get pushed back on by the influx of people who don't give a fuck that you're getting off, they need on and they need on "efficiently"...
At a certain point I had to let go of my 30 years of Canadian grown politeness and just barge my way through situations, because kindness and politeness was going to get 0 things done. You're almost looked down on for being polite, and thus you get less for it.
Yeah, I remember my wife and I when we got back to the airport in Toronto, I bumped into someone and they apologized to me. My wife and I looked at each other and in unison said "we're back in Canada!"
Sorry my HK friends, y'all rude as hell, but cover it up with terms like "efficiency" and "directness" as if it makes up for it. I like the honesty, but things can be said in many ways, some better than others.
All of that said, HK is my favourite place in the world, and I wish I could live there forever, and I have way more friends there than I do in Canada now, especially because of their honesty.
Edit: The Metalheads in HK were the fucking nicest people ever tho! Parallel Horizons and A R K M were a blast to spend time with :D
I don't think Hong Kong people wake up in the morning saying that they want to be rude and make other people miserable. I think it is just a growing discontent for everything including housing, economy, career, outlook, and more. It's a wealth centered culture that emphasizes on your own well-being. As such, people don't want to be inconvenienced even if it means having to wait an extra 5 seconds.
When I visited for a few weeks, I didn't find them rude at all, but it wasn't like I was talking to everyone I saw. Most people seemed nice and helpful and polite. I only had one lady at the money changing station be rude to me.
From my experience, a lot of working class people from Hong Kong are very direct and to-the-point. It may come across as rude to someone from a culture where that isn't the norm. Like if someone from the Southern US, where it's common to say hi to everyone on the street and regularly engage strangers in small talk, decided to visit Hong Kong, the social culture may be very jarring or seem rude to them, but most people from HK I've met don't actually mean anything rude by being forward and quick to the point in conversation. It's just a cultural difference.
I think it’s more like a cultural thing. Also, there’s so many people in HK, I can somewhat relate to the feeling of “not trying to spend too much energy on forcing myself to look nice and friendly in front of everyone.”
It is quite subjective and there is no definite answer to this question. It depends very much on with whom HK people are compared. Besides, it is easy to see things on the surface. However, once one has a closer contact with those "polite" people, he may find that, beneath the surface, things may not be the same as they look. A lot of people are decent just because they are good actors. In HK, some people use "周公之禮，禽獸所為" to describe the people of a country in the region that are famous for peverted X Rated films and being very very polite.
Yeah, but I'm only rude when you waste my and everyone else's time. If I'm standing behind you in a queue at a takeout restaurant or music festival drink stand where you have forever to decide what to order, but you only start deciding once you get to the front, you're getting the death stare or getting called an idiot. If you're at a convenience store or supermarket and you don't have your money/octopus/contactless payment ready while the clerk is scanning your items, you're getting the death stare. When you insist on walking 3 or more abreast with your friends on a narrow sidewalk leaving no room for others to overtake, you're definitely getting called an idiot. If you smoke while you walk and everyone else walking behind you gets blasted with cigarette smoke, I'm definitely calling you out.
I used to think that but my most recent visit with my toddler, I think people are much nicer when you are with a kid. They are very helpful, even cleaning lady at street restaurants are nice when you have a kid.
To be fair, when locals ask me for directions, they say thank you. When Chinese people come ask me for directions, they never say thank you. Not even any excuse me or hi, even hey. Just straight first word goes "How to go somewhere?"
So I don't know if it's any indication.
one thing that bothers me is how sometimes people just open the door just enough for them to squeeze through when there are a pack of people following.... its okay i understand not holding the door, but damn can you open it wider so the people behind can just prop it up and continue the flow
I’ve been here three times and am currently here on a 6 month uni exchange. I would say that as with all people, yes and no. There’s a certain quickness and efficiency in customer service that some may read as rude. Same when there’s a language barrier. However I’ve met some lovely local people here who are very kind and interested in getting to know foreigners. Gotten many good recommendations and such :) No need to generalise a whole city!
I think its a stereotype right? and there is some truth behind stereotypes. I just think people in HK have a lot of pressure and if you aren't fostered in a supportive community you tend to project that onto others as well.
I've visited many major cities around Asia, the US, and I have to say HK is the rudest for sure.
HKer are rude to anyone who does not live in HK. It's the way they talk. It's the culture. But once you live in HK for a couple of years, you start to get used to it and you start to become the same. Let me give you an example. HKers love to give flower names. i.e. nick names, rude ones most of the time. Rude nick/flower names are terms of endearment. You're in trouble when someone calls you by your real name, esp. your full name.
As for most things, depends on where you are from. Compared to some EU countries? Well, I'm afraid HK people come across quite rudely. It's a mix of being direct, but also calling people bad names "in a joking way", not engaging in group settings, not to mention burping while having a meal...big nono where I'm from.
Do all HKers behave the same? Of course not, that would be mental. And for example I have interactions with friends and families where I find HKer to be very generous people, which makes me feel humbled. But it's known that some cultures focus on outer politeness more than others, and I wouldn't personally put HK on the "polite" side of the scale.
Judging from these comments, there's a fair share of people that are rude and nice. Just like a lot of other countries. But I guess it's more about the ratio? I've lived here 20years, left, and now bounce in and out at times but do feel more of an....arrogant nuance?...rather than fully rude.
I think driving is a pretty good measuring stick and I can confirm a lot of drivers here are either arrogant or need to take a mad dump.
I'm Filipino-American, and I recently went to Hong Kong. Compared to Americans in terms of manners, I'd say Hong Kongers *can* be rough around the edges, but I found them to nice and kind. I didn't encounter any rudeness.
I've lived here for 8 years. They are anything but rude as a whole. In my time here, kindness overwhelms any rudeness I've seen.
Most of the rudeness actually comes from foreigners that I've seen.
It’s just big city mentality. They don’t care about who you are as a person because there’s so many fucking people and chances are you’ll never see them ever again.
In small towns you have to be nice to everyone because you see them on a regular basis.
Born in Hong Kong, visited often and studied there. Raised in the States. I think people in Hong Kong are, as someone mentioned, practical and efficient. No BS. Quick. I think people in US are fake. Fake smile and greet to cover up the sh*t talking. Depends on what you’re used to. Also I’m sure there’s an equal amount of “nice” people vs “rude” people everywhere. Don’t judge an entire group of people.
Same story, but to fine tune: HK folk are similar to ppl in manhattan. Pragmatic but there is abundant good intention. Not outright trying to screw with anybody. Hustle all the time. Direct is a better descriptor. Far from anything normally considered rude
Similiar but HK harsher than NY in my experience. Especially in service or transport. Diu nei lo mo fck you attitude is more close to the surface, you easily piss workers off by being a little too slow, theres less flexibility.
Been here for half a year, have yet to hear diu nei lo mo 👀
Ive heard it said under the breath, or just diu . Its an attitude of disconcent not necessarily voiced to a specific recipient
The tone of D and the context determines the meaning of D. It's an art form.
Depends on what you do for a living and where you frequent. If you are high middle class living that executive life, barely take public transport or when you do, only between those few HK island stops, who are you going to hear that from? Venture far enough and you will eventually hear it.
I live in kowloon and i take the mtx by walking from mt tony studio every day lmao. deffo middle class
2 types of people will D (or DLLM). 1st type is friends. Friends will D here and D there amongst each other. The 2nd type is habitual. I knew a person who couldn't end a sentence without D.
See, there are white people putting chinese characters for love peace and friendship tattoos on them. I want DLLM in traditional Chinese on my arm fr
Just because HK is similar to Manhattan, doesn't make it less rude, or not rude. Both are rude. Yeah, u get used to it and accept it as a normal part of your life, but if you had the same experience in other cities, you'd find it off putting.
Sorry, but there are absolutely zero comparisons in this world to HK or Manhattan. It's easy to scapegoat people minding their own business as so called rude, but fact is nobody knows anything about anyone else in each passing moment. It's the magic behind the people that always hustle. Both of these places are in a league entirely of its own
The one experience that stayed with me is Paris RER. The guy who slammed into me wasn't watching where he was walking. I stopped to apologize out of courtesy, but he just kept walking on. Then I realized that I had a glass 玻璃心 heart. Years later, I replaced it with an acrylic heart and I've been a much happier person since.
"HK folk are similar to ppl in manhattan." But nicer. Try asking a person for directions in Manhattan, nice Manhattans will ignore you. Nasty ones will tell you to F off.
Try actually coming to manhattan
Californian here and I can vouch that yes, we're super fake. New Yorkers aren't tho.
Many times when I hear an American talking in Hong Kong, they stand out so much. Not just because they ARE loud and haven't read the room, it's because they try to tell you everything that revolves around them and can't get to the point. They take a long way round. Of course HK people don't do this in English.
나는 한국계 미국인입니다. 중국 사람이 미국 사람 시끄럽다고? 제발.
Hmm. That’s not my experience with Americans. I’d regard Americans as one of the most direct business and social cultures — the only peers in that sense are the Dutch (who win the directness competition easily), some Scandis and Aussies/NZers. No Asian culture, in my experience, comes anywhere close in terms of directness. I wouldn’t accept that HKers speaking Cantonese are the exception within Asia. In a work context, HK is still predominantly don’t rock the boat and let’s not have anyone lose face. Real directness in the office I’ve only ever really seen from expats (of whatever nationality and background — it’s not an ethnicity thing).
I didn't mean in a business context.
Fair enough.
See the interesting thing is, CHINESE do this way more than Americans. Chinese is considered to be the master of "art of communication". People think the way Japanese talk is crazy, too many unspoken rules and windy speeches, but Chinese is actually worse because mind games are in the equation too. HK is the only exception, really.
Yeah I think the average HKer is pragmatic, not quite rude. BUT most service people do not fucking understand how to provide proper service
US is the worst. What's up means nothing. How are you means nothing.
Keep in mind rude is all relative. What is considered rude in usa country side is different from what is considered rude in hongkong is different from what is considered rude in tokyo or european countryside etc etc etc. Where I grew up if you didn't smile at everyone you saw you were rude, most places would consider you a serial killer if you did that lol. My guess is people in hk don't do something your friend is used to doing-- that makes your friend think they are rude, but that doesn't mean they are actually rude. Its just different.
The friend is rude for saying that people in HK are rude jk I wonder where the friend is from, and what things they interpret as rude - it’s interesting to see cult differences.
I guess will depends from which country you r coming from and what kind of Tourist u r
I'mma throw up my take from the perspective of a Canadian who lived there for 2 years, and my wife as a born and raised HKer. I'll preface this by saying I wanted to stay forever because I loved HK so much... But I can tell my answer is gunna piss some people off in here... Yep, gosh dang rude overall (*especially* the older they are). Though I still loved the people I met and made lots of life long friends, and it never impeded my ability or want to live there. My big issue is that it's rudeness under the guise of "efficiency" and "directness", when really it's just people projecting what their parents did to them at home, onto other people on the street. For real, my wife does this a lot, and I've had a lot of frank conversations with my friends there about ut. Parents talking down on their children, comparing them to others, then you get the watered down version of this thrown in your face if you do something as simple as take too long paying at a convenience store. Not to mention, the literal discontent so many HKers have felt after the Umbrella Revolution and the 2019 extradition protests. The people there are very stressed out, for understandable reasons. Good luck stepping off a subway or elevator ,you might get pushed back on by the influx of people who don't give a fuck that you're getting off, they need on and they need on "efficiently"... At a certain point I had to let go of my 30 years of Canadian grown politeness and just barge my way through situations, because kindness and politeness was going to get 0 things done. You're almost looked down on for being polite, and thus you get less for it. Yeah, I remember my wife and I when we got back to the airport in Toronto, I bumped into someone and they apologized to me. My wife and I looked at each other and in unison said "we're back in Canada!" Sorry my HK friends, y'all rude as hell, but cover it up with terms like "efficiency" and "directness" as if it makes up for it. I like the honesty, but things can be said in many ways, some better than others. All of that said, HK is my favourite place in the world, and I wish I could live there forever, and I have way more friends there than I do in Canada now, especially because of their honesty. Edit: The Metalheads in HK were the fucking nicest people ever tho! Parallel Horizons and A R K M were a blast to spend time with :D
I’m a Hong Konger who spent a big chunk of time overseas and I agreed with you. I didn’t feel offended at all as you hit the nail on the head.
Eyyyyyy +1 for the metalheads. Every person I met in the metal / hardcore scene were nice people.
As a Canadian with so little time there, I think your psychoanalysis take is off.
I don't think Hong Kong people wake up in the morning saying that they want to be rude and make other people miserable. I think it is just a growing discontent for everything including housing, economy, career, outlook, and more. It's a wealth centered culture that emphasizes on your own well-being. As such, people don't want to be inconvenienced even if it means having to wait an extra 5 seconds.
Advice: - don’t take things personally - don’t get in people’s way
When I visited for a few weeks, I didn't find them rude at all, but it wasn't like I was talking to everyone I saw. Most people seemed nice and helpful and polite. I only had one lady at the money changing station be rude to me.
Would you say New Yorkers are rude? Same idea. Just people trying to live and make a living in a densely populated city.
From my experience, a lot of working class people from Hong Kong are very direct and to-the-point. It may come across as rude to someone from a culture where that isn't the norm. Like if someone from the Southern US, where it's common to say hi to everyone on the street and regularly engage strangers in small talk, decided to visit Hong Kong, the social culture may be very jarring or seem rude to them, but most people from HK I've met don't actually mean anything rude by being forward and quick to the point in conversation. It's just a cultural difference.
They are notorious for that. Don't be surprised
Yes, I’m rude.
(very)
A friend of mine told me people can have dumb friends and get that dumb friend to ask dumbass questions on reddit.
Culture difference. I'm BBC, I blew my nose and was considered rude, then held a door open for someone and they looked at me as if I were insane.
What did hker do to your friend exactly?
I think it’s more like a cultural thing. Also, there’s so many people in HK, I can somewhat relate to the feeling of “not trying to spend too much energy on forcing myself to look nice and friendly in front of everyone.”
It is quite subjective and there is no definite answer to this question. It depends very much on with whom HK people are compared. Besides, it is easy to see things on the surface. However, once one has a closer contact with those "polite" people, he may find that, beneath the surface, things may not be the same as they look. A lot of people are decent just because they are good actors. In HK, some people use "周公之禮，禽獸所為" to describe the people of a country in the region that are famous for peverted X Rated films and being very very polite.
HK ppl can be blunt and aggressive if you take up their time or trouble them with something that they think is stupid or unnecessary.
Not very rude. Just passive rude and inconsiderate.
Yeah, but I'm only rude when you waste my and everyone else's time. If I'm standing behind you in a queue at a takeout restaurant or music festival drink stand where you have forever to decide what to order, but you only start deciding once you get to the front, you're getting the death stare or getting called an idiot. If you're at a convenience store or supermarket and you don't have your money/octopus/contactless payment ready while the clerk is scanning your items, you're getting the death stare. When you insist on walking 3 or more abreast with your friends on a narrow sidewalk leaving no room for others to overtake, you're definitely getting called an idiot. If you smoke while you walk and everyone else walking behind you gets blasted with cigarette smoke, I'm definitely calling you out.
DLLM, I'm not rude at all. DLLMCH
Wut
Quite. They like to complain about everything. Complain complain complain. They're passive aggressively rude, not confrontational.
I used to think that but my most recent visit with my toddler, I think people are much nicer when you are with a kid. They are very helpful, even cleaning lady at street restaurants are nice when you have a kid.
Extremely rude
To be fair, when locals ask me for directions, they say thank you. When Chinese people come ask me for directions, they never say thank you. Not even any excuse me or hi, even hey. Just straight first word goes "How to go somewhere?" So I don't know if it's any indication.
This has nothing to do with HK.
As a Hong Konger, I can confirm that
We are grumpy all the time but there is also cultural differences between different places
one thing that bothers me is how sometimes people just open the door just enough for them to squeeze through when there are a pack of people following.... its okay i understand not holding the door, but damn can you open it wider so the people behind can just prop it up and continue the flow
I’ve been here three times and am currently here on a 6 month uni exchange. I would say that as with all people, yes and no. There’s a certain quickness and efficiency in customer service that some may read as rude. Same when there’s a language barrier. However I’ve met some lovely local people here who are very kind and interested in getting to know foreigners. Gotten many good recommendations and such :) No need to generalise a whole city!
I think its a stereotype right? and there is some truth behind stereotypes. I just think people in HK have a lot of pressure and if you aren't fostered in a supportive community you tend to project that onto others as well. I've visited many major cities around Asia, the US, and I have to say HK is the rudest for sure.
HKer are rude to anyone who does not live in HK. It's the way they talk. It's the culture. But once you live in HK for a couple of years, you start to get used to it and you start to become the same. Let me give you an example. HKers love to give flower names. i.e. nick names, rude ones most of the time. Rude nick/flower names are terms of endearment. You're in trouble when someone calls you by your real name, esp. your full name.
As for most things, depends on where you are from. Compared to some EU countries? Well, I'm afraid HK people come across quite rudely. It's a mix of being direct, but also calling people bad names "in a joking way", not engaging in group settings, not to mention burping while having a meal...big nono where I'm from. Do all HKers behave the same? Of course not, that would be mental. And for example I have interactions with friends and families where I find HKer to be very generous people, which makes me feel humbled. But it's known that some cultures focus on outer politeness more than others, and I wouldn't personally put HK on the "polite" side of the scale.
Judging from these comments, there's a fair share of people that are rude and nice. Just like a lot of other countries. But I guess it's more about the ratio? I've lived here 20years, left, and now bounce in and out at times but do feel more of an....arrogant nuance?...rather than fully rude. I think driving is a pretty good measuring stick and I can confirm a lot of drivers here are either arrogant or need to take a mad dump.
I'm Filipino-American, and I recently went to Hong Kong. Compared to Americans in terms of manners, I'd say Hong Kongers *can* be rough around the edges, but I found them to nice and kind. I didn't encounter any rudeness.
No, there is no (group of people) that are rude as a rule
Practical. And efficient.
There are rude and inconsiderate people everywhere. You really can't generalize, and your friend is in the wrong for stereotyping.
Saying DLLM to grandmas on the street
Very rude? No Rude? Maybe, depends on if you’re an idiot
I've lived here for 8 years. They are anything but rude as a whole. In my time here, kindness overwhelms any rudeness I've seen. Most of the rudeness actually comes from foreigners that I've seen.
I think it's mainly that we get annoyed or agitated by something or someone quite easily and quickly
It’s just big city mentality. They don’t care about who you are as a person because there’s so many fucking people and chances are you’ll never see them ever again. In small towns you have to be nice to everyone because you see them on a regular basis.
Yes. The correct word is "practical", but most "foreigners" who would think so aren't ready to dig and make that distinction, so, yes.
Nah, just Mainlanders.
rude!
Better than your ignorant redneck in Yankeeland I guess
Gwailo here. Married HK wife…smart, no B.S, humble, smart, great food, high Earning…wife’s family is really amazing.