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Display of rudeness a shock to the system

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In the great scheme of things it is a matter of no great importance, no doubt, but I am unashamedly intrigued by the trickle of letters to the South China Morning Post suggesting the handover has led to an increase in unprovoked incidents of rudeness to foreigners.

One of the writers concerned claimed numerous friends had suffered similar experiences. He wondered if the rather jingoistic tone of the handover oratory had anything to do with this.

One of the reasons why I find this so interesting is that my personal experience has been totally different. Over the past six months or so I have found local people not just being normally polite, as they usually are, but positively going out of their way to be helpful to an apparent visitor.

I am not the only person to have noticed this. One of my friends, who is leaving, went to close a neglected bank account the other day. He found the lady behind the counter displaying a degree of sympathy and sadness quite disproportionate to the modest loss of business involved in the closure of his account. It seemed she was genuinely sorry to see him go.

Clearly experiences vary. I do not dispute the accuracy of the letter-writers' memories at all. It is no excuse, of course, but this sort of thing happens in a lot of places.

When I was small I lived for some time in Germany. This was soon after World War II and memories on both sides had not faded. Not only did we find some Germans still quite hostile to Britons, on our return to England some kids were told not to play with me because of the mistaken impression that we were German.

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