Here is my 2014 nomination for Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
I was talking to a 20-something American teacher the other day when she mentioned she had to go to Hong Kong to get her visa extended. She told me she was going by train.
“That’s a long trip,” I said.
“I think it only takes two hours,’’ she replied.
I explained to her that the 850-mile trip from Zhengzhou to Hong Kong would take a lot longer than that. Depending on the type of train you ride, it can last anywhere from seven to 30 hours. In fact, it takes more than two hours to FLY from Zhengzhou to Hong Kong.
The teacher was shocked, but I quickly learned why. She had absolutely no idea where Hong Kong was. In fact, she told me that she had never even looked at a map of China.
“Do you know where Zhengzhou is?’’ I asked.
“Southern China,’’ she answered.
Zhengzhou, where we’re both teaching, is in north-central China. The teacher also didn’t know the location of Shanghai, Beijing or any other major city in the Middle Kingdom.
“I just learn from experience,’’ she said, “and I haven’t been to those cities yet.’’
So, to sum up, a young teacher moves to China but isn’t even curious enough to find the country on a map. I sure hope her students are more inquisitive than she is.
