Ok, so what you actually meant was "There used to be a joke among school children in one school in London that I worked in that when China sneezes, the world will jump, the kids most likely took an interest in China because I am Chinese"anneteoh wrote:Sure as rain, the school kids said that. To be precise, that came from a school in Greenwich around 1998. There were hardly any Chinese kids ( Vietnamese , yes) and if there were, they'd be too polite to boast or too poor to know. Most of the kids, ( it's a boys' school) were British, a few Turkish, Caribbeans, Somalis and Africans.JayCee wrote:Ok, China has done incredibly well and I'm not taking away from any of that, but this quote above has me flummoxed. School children in London (or anywhere in England) talking about China? And this was in the 90s when it wasn't important like it is now. Maybe a few kids with Chinese parents said it, but the vast majority of schoolkids in London in the 90s wouldn't have given 2 hoots about China (why would they?)anneteoh wrote:There used to be a joke among school children in London that when China sneezes, the world will jump.
Now there was a saying that if America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, but it's adults that say it not school kids
You'd be surprised - most kids were teasing me about Chairman Mao in the 80s and many were crazy about Bruce Lee in the 80s and Jackie Chan and Jet Li nowadays. Some of the kids even badgered me to watch the nascent Chinese football team then, in the 90s.
London school kids are world savvy, some possibly have 24 hours access to Google and other obscure websites. A Romanian schoolboy (new to Britain ) who was not even my student approached me in 2007 and started asking my opinion regarding Wushu versus Shaolin martial arts. Moreover, he insisted on giving me a small Kuan Yin on a string. Most touching.
PS They did say something in relation to the American sneeze... remember now that when I questioned them further, they also mentioned China's population. It could well be that they were making their own asociations about big countries' sneezes. Mind you, it wasn't in a geography lesson.
Ok now I see.
I went to school in London in the (early to mid) 90s, kids were far more bothered about Man utd, Arsenal and the spice girls than talking about chairman mao
Talking about kids having access to google in 2007 is irrelevant, you said in the 90s
When they let you out, did they give you enough medication to keep you going?