u/dieserdarwin wrote:
"Tourist from Europe here, writing this from a fast train somewhere in the middle of China. Five hour ride. I spent the first three hours playing games and listening to music with my noise cancelling headphones on, and honestly it was great."
The Window
"Then I took them off because I wanted to just look out of the window for a while and enjoy the view."
"Yeah, no."
The Shooter Game
"-A kid playing some kind of shooter game on his phone at full volume. Gunshots, reloading, the whole thing. I feel like I'm in a fever dream"
The Short Videos
"-Two or three people watching short videos, also at full volume, seemingly with no idea that everyone around them can hear it."
The Speakerphone
"-A guy on speakerphone talking like the other person is standing outside on the platform."
Everyone Else
"But the thing that gets me isn't even the noise. It's that nobody else seems to mind. I'm the only person in this carriage with headphones on. Everyone else is just sitting there reading, sleeping or scrolling, completely fine with all of it."
The Metro Sticker
"Same thing everywhere else on this trip by the way. Restaurants, metro, hotel lobby. Taking a call on speaker seems to just be the normal way to make a call here."
"I've seen the stickers in the metro saying you're not supposed to play sound out loud, but I've never once seen anyone say anything about it."
The Hotel Restaurant
u/TraditionalOpening41:
"Yeah it's baffling. I was in a hotel restaurant for breakfast when I was on a holiday and two separate people watching romance and war films on their phones at full volume with no headphones"
Beijing
u/Aumpa:
"I'm an American and lived in Beijing for 2.5 years. Yeah, people in general there seem to have a much higher tolerance for what you and I would consider to be noise pollution."
"Other Chinese people do also consider the noisy behaviors rude, so there's some split. I don't think it's just an age thing. Old and young alike seem to make noise in busy public spaces."
The Objection
u/Alternative_Paint_93:
"Living in China, spouse is Chinese. He straight up complains to staff on transport when people are loud. Most of the time it's like people think he is borderline the problem."
The Avoidance
u/zylowxe:
"People just learn to be less confrontational about things since there is a saying where you are better off not directly confronting someone in order to avoid conflicts especially in public."
"Personally for me, if something doesn't bother me that much, i.e. old people listening to something on blast since I am used to it, I usually don't say much unless it's my grandma or relatives I know, then I am pretty blunt."
The Bus
u/CloudBuilder44:
Dude have u not notice everywhere in China is loud. From shops and stores blasting their wechat and alipay "wechat $ is recived", to buses with that loud lady sound. Literally no quiet space
u/mediumcarrotteacher:
"I once saw a bus where one of those door announcements had gotten stuck on a loop and played the entire length of the route. I truly don't know how anyone on board kept their sanity."
u/Fulcrum58:
"Growing up in China as a kid I have all the bus announcements memorized"
The Street Repair
u/mediumcarrotteacher:
"There's a guy in our neighborhood who does traveling phone and device repair and when he's out on the street his message plays absolutely nonstop"
The Earplugs
u/PrinceEven:
"I've been outside of China that past two months and I'm somewhere quiet now so I genuinely forgot that I used to carry earplugs to walk down the street."
"The annoucements were so loud the speaker starting cracking/distorting the sound and people are unfazed. The speakers were painful, earphones helped."
"I was willing to put up with the small inconvenience for the other conveniences that China offers instead."
The Mall
u/karafrakkingthrace:
"My husband and I were considering moving to China temporarily for his job, but honestly this was the biggest issue for me. I speak Chinese and would enjoy the time there but I don't think I could handle the constant extreme noise pollution."
"Going to shopping malls gave me a migraine from the echoing on each floor of loud speakers from restaurants blasting which reservation number was ready, stores blaring announcements, etc. etc."
The Hotel Lobby
u/Samsterdam:
"When I first was in China I was staying at a fairly high-end hotel and there was this dude who was dressed really fancy and he was absolutely yelling into his cell phone every single time I was in the lobby bar."
"I mean not just like talking loudly cuz I couldn't hear him but like yelling at the top of his lungs. I was always wondering why he was yelling and this probably answer that question."
The Restaurant Acoustics
u/werchoosingusername:
"You are on acoustic problem in Chinese restaurants. They don't like fabric because it's maintance intensive and humidity is also an excuse not to have curtains etc. They love stone and wood. Things are changing on that front as well."
"In general people are rough. Dishes are collected while guests are eating and thrown into containers. Doors are slammed. Yep not for the faint hearted."
The Park
u/Sir_Bumcheeks:
"I lived there 5 years and there absolutely were tons of these still happening. People blasting techno music in the park, constant honking in no honk zones, music blasting from restaurants at all hours."
"Ayis outside dancing to loud music. People yelling on the phone, tiktoks on full blast etc."
The Honking
u/usrnmalreadytakn:
"I really dont miss the 6am car honking symphony."
u/werchoosingusername:
"It got better during the last 2 decades. No more techno playing barber shops competing on dB. No more honking."
The Courtyard
u/Chinabobcat:
"My wife is from a small village (like 500 people live(d) in her part of it) and the villagers are some of the loudest people on the planet when they talk."
"Just yesterday there was a group of 50 somethings standing in a courtyard animatedly talking so loud I thought they were arguing at first, then another came out of alleyway and they folded her in to the conversation while she was still 20m away."
"They carried on like that for an hour or so till it rained."
"Yes 50 years old or older. It was just five or six originally and then the other auntie came out to be loud too."
The Headphones
u/OreoSpamBurger:
"In addition to what everyone else has said, people (especially the elderly) think earphones/headphones will damage their hearing, especially so for kids."
u/bottorbig:
"I am chinese.I have to put on my earphones when playing videos at the public, because i am really afraid of people figuring out what i am doing"
The Quiet Carriage
u/Exploding_Pie:
"There's a silent carriage for this exact reason at no extra cost. Try picking a seat there next time."
First Class
u/sweetestdew:
"this use to not bother me but then on my last high speed trip i was so bothered by it i ended up switching to a first class seat."
"I dont know if ill ever go back."
The Questions
u/dieserdarwin wrote:
"Is this just not seen as rude, or is it seen as rude but saying something about it would be even more rude?"
"Is it an age thing? Everyone doing it around me right now is either a young kid or pretty old."
"Has it gotten worse since short video apps blew up, or was it always like this?"
"And for any Chinese people reading this: does it bother you too, or does it honestly just not register?"
"I'm not trying to trash the place. I'm having a great trip and these trains alone make German railways look like a joke. I just want to understand it instead of assuming everyone is being rude on purpose."
Source: Original Reddit post by u/dieserdarwin in r/China, with selected public replies quoted above. Quotes are preserved as personal accounts; this article does not present one person's experience as universal.