<FYI, Jiang said "how do you do (or good morning), comrades", and the crowd said "how do you do, Chairman Jiang". I personally think westerners also greet their president or prime ministers like this? >
Thanks Yiwu. I guess my translation was about right then [though I don't know exactly what sieg and heil mean either].
Actually, we westerners down here in the eastern Pacific greet our prime minister with "Gidday Helen", or, more commonly, ignore her if she is on the street during a political campaign. But we would not be caught dead giving a group shout of salutation as I saw in the 50th celebrations with Jiang Zemin.
We aren't given to Nuremberg style rallies and the American habit of putting hands on hearts would embarrass us. There's a tv advertisement been running for a while now, trying to get some patriotic fervour going over the America's Cup racing, due to start on Saturday. I think it causes some embarrassment and I guess a lot of people wish they'd stop showing it. It shows a growing chain of Kiwis around the coast, linking arms, with hand on heart, and looking proud and patriotic. Gag!!
Mqurice |
