I’ve often written about the bad side of Chinese manners. The bad manners are often caused by a single minded, competitive and self centred way of dealing with life but behind it all, Chinese people are not so bad. Do you remember the young fellow who was trying out his new motorbike and driving it too fast on a fairly crowded pavement? He responded with thanks when I told him he was endangering people. Two things that happened lately show me the ability of people in China to stop and think when their bad manners are pointed out. The first was in a cafe I go to often. I was beginning to eat my meal when another customer sat opposite me and lit up a cigarette before beginning his meal. I looked around and saw that at the back of the cafe there was a free table. I stood up and waved my hand in front of my nose then gathered my plates and moved to the free table. Later I was a little unhappy with how I had behaved and went to the man on my way out and said ‘China and Australia not the same. No problem.’ Later we passed in the street and smiled at each other. I really must not act angrily about things that are the norm in China. Yesterday I went with BMW to pay our water bill. Unusually there were few people there to be served. We went up to the counter and waited for the cashier to finish with the previous customer and handed over our bill. A woman aged in the late sixties to early seventies came in and put her bill on the counter, then a man in about his forties came in and thrust his bill past the lady’s and kept holding it. I thought that was pretty impatient of him and sympathised with the elderly woman who would not think it her place to complain but patiently wait for him to be served first. The clerks never take responsibility to organize the queue but just serve the pushiest customer. I thought to myself, ‘What the heck’, and put my hand out and pushed the man’s bill back a bit and said ‘She’s first’ which BMW translated. The man’s response pleased me greatly. He smiled and accepted what I had done. The woman’s response was lovely. I got a big smile. I made eye contact with the man, smiled and said ‘Hao limao’, good manners, and he smiled back. I said goodbye as I left and the man and the woman were happy and gave me friendly smiles. To me, it is a great part of the Chinese character that if I go out on a limb to say something about something I don’t like, they think about what I have said instead of resenting it. In Australia I would be likely to receive a few ill considered words in response.