How life in Asia has changed...13 ways

Adapted from an article by Nuri Vittachi, sometime journalist with the Macau Post and other newspapers in Asia.

 

1. The phrase 'Big Mac' referred to a large Scottish tourist.

2. The Queen of England was generally considered to be the Queen of the Whole Wide World.

3. At government offices you had to pay a special fee to do anything, including paying special fees.

4. Hairdresser referred to anyone who did haircuts, shaves and amateur surgical operations such as circumcisions [still true in certain parts of Asia]

5. Each city had just one TV station a few cinemas but there was a better choice of what to watch then even though we have over 500 channels and even fewer cinemas now.

6. If you wanted to withdraw money from a bank you had to take a day off work.

7. All light-haired, round-eyed people were referred to as Europeans, no matter where they came from. Former President George Bush is still referred to as a European in some parts of Asia.

8. Europeans were generally hated and despised but if one invited you to tea, it was considered a very great honour.

9. All toffee-coloured, curry-devouring people were known as Indians, even if they had been born raised and had lived and died without ever having been within a thousand kilometers of India.

10. Petrol was bought in tiny quantities, often in jam jars [still true today in parts of Indo-China and other places].

11. If you asked children their mother's name, they would often reply,'Which one?'.

12. Blood donating was seen as a legitimate way of earning money, and so was blood spilling.

13. When children got a boyfriend or girlfriend, the first question parents asked was 'What passport does he/she have?'