PRC

I was stepping into the library to look for Coco at the children's section when a Mainlander stopped me in my track and asked if I could help translate the conversation between him and the librarian.

It turned out that he wanted to use the internet at the library. So after some hassle, he finally got onto the internet, but just as he was connected, he asked,'IQQ ne?' I got a shock and was wondering if he meant 'ICQ'. A guy from the opposite answered,'You can't use it on the computer here. You need to go to internet cafes.'

So it ended with the mainlander asking if I could tutor him English when he learnt that I teach for a living and I saying no and with him wasting a good fiver on an internet service which was as good as being useless to him.

William and I had an argument over the issue over whether we should help such people. He insists that people from PRC can't be good people but I feel sorry that they are helpless although they appear to have a genuine wish to learn English.

We argued over every possibility of what the mainlander could be after, ie. sex, money, and every reason why we should or shouldn't help them, ie. we may get ourselves into unnecessary trouble, no time, they can't afford the rate, no way we can lower so much ...

I don't know if it's right of us to assume that every mainlander is unkind. I did write on a forum that all men and women from the Mainland are cheaters because I had a very unpleasant experience with them - they cheated me of $10 and accused me of giving too little. I later read from the papers that they were of a syndicate made up of their own kind. From then on, I tell myself never to trust them ever again, especially when it comes to money.

But is it right to make such dangerously biased assumptions because of one very unpleasant experience?