Here I am, on board a domestic flight from Beijing to Huangshan. A small plane, Boeing 737-800, with two rows of three seats each for economy class. I'm the only non-local on this flight and it shows. From the speed of the boarding to the finding of the seats, it shows.
I was the second to board the plane, behind a middle aged man who sat in the front part of the plane and decided to take his own time to put his luggage onto the luggage compartment. As I squeezed past him and headed for the back of the plane, I rolled my eyes. And the air-stewardess caught it and gave me a "I totally understand how irritating they are" look and an amused smile.
Later on, the poor air-stewardess was stuck with a bunch of passengers who did not know where their seats were, how to use the seat belts and refused to listen to her instructions on their sitting arrangements. And she had to repeat again and again: "你们听得懂我在说什么吗？我已经告诉你们位子在这里和那里！快点坐下来！" (can you all understand what I'm saying? I've already told you all where your seats are! Please sit down quickly!)
It made me think about privilege and etiquette. I've been really blessed to have the opportunity to take plane flights at least a few times a year. For some, especially these locals heading to huangshan, it may only be a couple of times in their entire life. The frequency allows me to be so at ease in planes, while this may not be so for them, as it is a whole new environment. Even though basic behavior transcends environments, airplane etiquette is something that may be new to some of them since they rarely have the chance to travel in a plane. However, some airplane etiquette is related to basic courtesy and social consideration and that is something that I found to be lacking in the general population of China, with the lack to be greater in the rural areas.
Well, in general, China has much to catch up in terms of social etiquette and as it moves to become a country of global connections, it is something it has to learn.
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