Caught Napping

Today the China Daily website carries a story about some workers who were caught napping at a meeting and apparently subsequently sacked. I am sure it will raise quite a bit of interest here in China. I have written before about the strange sleeping or napping habits of many Chinese.

I've wondered how they can just fall asleep so easily. I have known many people in Australia to doze off during boring meetings or conferences, even in lectures. Here in China students fall asleep in class (OK, so they find it boring - but it is common and a complaint from many teachers!), and I see folk asleep in the strangest of places. People standing up in a bus, holding on to the handle dangling from the top of the bus, and sound asleep! We often remark bow easily people fall asleep - on the bus or train is common.

In small shops the owner, or worker is often asleep during the day. I've posted photographs of men asleep in the tray of their tricycles.

As a past nurse I find it a little curious? Not enough protein in their diet? Not enough sleep during normal "sleep hours"? I have no idea, but certainly I have never seen so much sleeping during day time hours. It is not uncommon to go to somewhere like a Dio Coffee Lounge and see Chinese men curled up on the lounge fast asleep during the middle of the day.

So to discover the story on China Daily and such severe punishment for sleeping during a meeting or conference is rather amazing. Incredibly severe penalty for doing something that people are always doing - and I suspect many will continue to do.

I would like to know why there is so much need to sleep during daylight hours. Is is that the working hours are so long? Many people work 6 - 7 days a week. I have been told that they are not supposed to - that employment laws say the that workers should only work 40 hours a week, but that the boss often insists (despite the law) that they do so.

I have been talking with students who are concerned right now about getting work, since the financial crisis has caused some shrinkage of the job market, and young women are being pressed into signing three year contracts. It has been explained to me that this is supposed to protect the worker - but when you learn that they must pay to break their contracts I think it is tough. Many young people taking their first jobs do not know what they want to do - so a long contract can be very difficult for them. I do not know the employment rules, but it seems very high expectation of young people.

Sleeping

I've mentioned before about people sleeping in the oddest places and at the oddest times - according to the culture that we know.

I took this photo right in the middle of the city - just metres from the main road. It is strange how easily that the Chinese people fall asleep. No doubt this man has worked very hard pulling his tricycle with its loads. You'd think he'd chosen an unsafe place to take his ZZZZZZZZ's, but everyone would respect his need for sleep and avoid him.

Some strange things we've noticed.

Sleeping. One of the really strange things about living here is watching the sleeping habits of the Chinese people. I'm not talking about in their bedrooms, as I have yet to experience that, and don't expect to. I refer to their sleeping habits in public.

We smile at the many men who ride their three wheeled cycles around the city of Shaoxing, some looking for passengers and others geared to transporting anything that is in need of transport. Around lunchtime, or late in the afternoon, or in the evening many of them sleep. Some make themselves quite comfortable in the back of their "tray" or on the back seat of their passenger cycle and doze off. OK, that's fine, but amusing all the same.

There are some men in particular who seem to run small shops - not much bigger than a single car garage (Australia style) and sit in a battered chair at the entrance of their shop, make themselves comfortable and just go to sleep.

As a passenger in the regular buses that go into and out of the city on a regular basis, it is common for young people and old people to nod off and sleep - even for short journeys. I recall
when we arrived at Shanghai Airport and were met by college representatives, who loaded us and our luggage onto the college minibus and promptly fell asleep almost for the entire three hour journey!

The classroom? This is quite a challenge for the foreign teachers! Students often fall asleep - even if one has a class activity that requires a lot of student input. Boys are the worst. (I sometimes don't like to call them "boys" as they are adult in that they are 21 years of age or more - but in many ways their behaviour is comparable with 14 year olds at home.

We always have a "break" between two lesson periods, and it is common or most of the students to put their heads on their arms and sleep during this time. And they have a two hour lunch period, and many of them will have a quick lunch and go to their dormitories for a sleep. (Many of the boys play computer games or watch movies all night - so it is not surprising that they are tired!

Body hair. Strange thing to report on, but as the Chinese men are wearing short sleeved or open necked shirts, it is obvious. No body hair. On closer inspection - well, at least on the bus, yu can see that there is little or no hair on arms, none on the chest, and I gather very few have to shave as facial hair is minimal.

In public men must not go topless - so if it is hot they roll up their t-shirts so that their tummy is showing. It is against the law to go topless, so we are told, but I have seen one man defy this "rule."