A Trip to Beijing to Explore New Cultures

There is a continuous amount of different cultures, beliefs, languages, etc. Basically, there’s much diversity in the world. With that being said it’s obvious that not one will be the same and there are significant differences. Culture is arbitrary, which is what’s acceptable in one culture may not be accepted in another. Some people don’t have a problem with accepting how different one culture might be from theirs, but then there are others who question and criticize it.

The tv show “An Idiot Abroad” follows a man named Karl Pilkington from England, who’s very closed off to other cultures. In season one, episode one; Karl heads off to China to begin his exploratory journey in opening his mind up to other cultures.

He got to explore different parts of Beijing including going to see the Great Wall, see what foods they ate, some traditions, and what made up the Chinese culture. Much of what he experienced differed in a major way for Karl, because the food was a complete 180 from what he ate, their traditions were a foreign concept to him and he couldn’t understand why they did them, and didn’t find their culture to be all that interesting.

Karl Pilkington is ethnocentric, because he doesn’t think the food there in China is proper, criticizes their culture, and stereotypes certain objects or smells as being ‘Chinesey’ or too Chinese.

One of the main problems Karl expressed was that the food was going to be weird and flat out said he wasn’t going to eat it.

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Overall Karl doesn’t consider their food to be proper food.

In a part of the episode he’s looking at all the different foods that are being made by food vendors and in particular, he notices toads are being prepped. He goes on to say about the toads being presented to pull people in like, ‘a load of condoms in jam and water or something’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). During the time he’s talking about this his face shows disgust and automatically wants nothing to do with the toads. In fact, when a vendor is saying what food they have e.g scorpions, seahorse, cocoon silkworm, and caterpillar he looks disgruntled and says, ‘this is normal food for the people here’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He’s resigned to the fact that the food here is the total opposite to what he eats. Further along he witnesses a man eating an egg that contains a fetus. Karl looks completely horrified at the sight and replies, ‘not even waiting for the thing to be born and live a bit and then eat it’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He acknowledges that he wouldn’t have expected that from the man considering he looks/seems normal. Then Karl sees a woman eating scorpions on a stick and can’t fathom where the stopping point is, ‘where’s the line between food and insect’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He’s seeing these foods, that in some cultures is not considered a food source, being consumed normally. He doesn’t see or understand that in this culture these types of food are part of their norm and is customary.

Karl expressed his dislike for the food in China, so it’s no surprise that he wouldn’t agree with parts of their culture. Karl discovered that their public toilets weren’t set up like he’s used to. In fact, there was no toilet bowel or stall doors. You had to squat over the toilet to go and no toilet rolls. Over the phone, he criticizes the Chinese for not having stall doors and that there were supposed to be a technology-based place (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He faced a conundrum because he thought China was the birthplace of the iPod and if that’s the case, ‘they don’t need iPods, but instead toilet rolls’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Karl doesn’t understand why they don’t have a normal toilet and stalls. Basically, your business is all out there for people to see. His next expedition was going to the birthplace of Kung Fu. Here he witnessed some the training methods, which he found weird and harsh.

There were men braking metal over their heads, students doing splits, breaking wood planks over arms, etc. (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Karl ended up training for a day with the teacher and considered that the teacher likes giving pain out and is a lunatic because of the exercises he’s making him do. Karl doesn’t get why anyone would want to go through this. Kung Fu is a tradition and a part of the Chinese culture, in which they accept certain training regimens. Karl was then sent to a massage parlor where they did a traditional Chinese muscle massage. Karl was all up for it until the masseur came in with a fire bowl and ran her gloved hands through it and applied it to his feet and legs (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He was not enjoying it what so ever and withered in pain. He thought it was going to be a regular massage but was in for a rude surprise. Karl couldn’t fathom why someone would choose to set fire to themselves and indulge in such pain.

Karl proves to be even more close-minded when he starts making stereotypical remarks as well as criticize the language barrier. First, when he goes to his hotel he makes the remark of not expecting the hotel to be much, but when he gets there he seems surprised. He calls it very ‘Chinesey’ because of how compact it is (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Just because of how it’s set up he considers it be something the only the Chinese would do as if other hotels around the world can’t possibly be compact. He even comments on the complimentary slippers to be, ‘…quite Chinesey’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Another stereotype because he associates the free slippers in a hotel in China as something only the Chinese do.

There are hotels that give complementary slippers and people don’t say, ‘That’s quite American.’ Moving on from the hotel, Karl goes exploring parts of the city, where he begins smelling certain smells and constitutes this as beginning to smell ‘Chinesey’ now like, ‘…sweet and sour’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Not only is stereotypical to say that something smells like Chinese food, but he associates sweet and sour as something only the Chinese use. In fact, his expressions and posture suggest that he doesn’t enjoy the smell either. Another issue is when he went to have his name written in Chinese and gets frustrated when the shop owners can’t say it right. He keeps trying to correct them for a couple of minutes. He for someone reason has to hear it pronounced right or at least make them get it right. Karl doesn’t accept that the language barrier is going to be expected and that for people whose language isn’t English, is going to be tough to even speak it less pronounce certain words.

However, Karl is not ethnocentric in the sense that he accepted some parts of the culture and even participated in it. In one part of the episode, there’s a man making a coffin for a woman who’s very much alive and Karl questions why she would need one right now; he believes it would be depressing to see it outside as a reminder that he’s going to die (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). The woman replies ‘It’s better to make it now. When you’re young you prepare those things. When you’re old you won’t be able to organize this’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Karl considers this and relents because it gives you something to do and not have to worry about it later on. He accepts this part of their culture and participates by helping sand it down.

Another example is when Karl goes to see a fortune teller, which is a cultural tradition for the Chinese and surprisingly cooperates with what the fortune teller says. Originally Karl didn’t accept the concept of fortune tellers, because he’s a firm believer in fate. But once hears what the fortune is, he ends up accepting that this a part of their culture and in its own means valid. Karl obliges to the fortune teller by writing down three of his sins on one paper each. He throws one in the fire, leaves one on top of a mountain, and drops the last one in the sea to cleanse himself and promote good health (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). There are things Karl is willing to accept others’ culture as relatively okay within their own contexts.

Although Karl shows that he can overlook certain differences, but he goes right back to being ethnocentric by judging the Chinese culture and people. On his way to see the Great Wall he says that it’s a complete waste of time learning the history of it because the tour guide is speaking nothing but Chinese (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). On top of that, he doesn’t the Great Wall to be any wonder or astonishment considering it has been restored upon. His posture and attitude are of one who’s simply not interested. At the end of journeying the wall he ends up calling it, ‘the Alright Wall of China’ (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). Not once did he marvel at the sheer size/length of the structure but criticized it for being something compared to a highway. By the end of his trip, he recommends that if what he’s experienced in China is anything to go by then it’s not worth seeing more of the world (‘An Idiot Abroad ‘ 2014). He also brought up on more than one occasion of China being this polluted mess that contributed to his ill trip. He again closed off his mind to the different cultural experiences, because they weren’t his cup of tea.

The point of Karl going on this expedition was to show the different parts of the world and take in the cultural differences. Karl, however, didn’t seem to grasp the concept and began dreading and judging before he even went to China. Karl Pilkington is ethnocentric, because he doesn’t think the food there in China is proper, criticizes their culture, and stereotypes certain objects or smells as being Chinesey or too Chinese. He did grasp that the Chinese culture was vastly different than his own but didn’t see it normal even for them.