By Vincent Leow

LAST week's Sunday Times survey on China workers drew fierce responses from some readers.

Some people felt that the view many Singaporeans hold - that China workers are rude and greedy - was justified.

The survey of 448 Singaporeans aged 15 and above was carried out by Singapore Press Holdings' research, analysis and planning department. It found that two of the top three traits Singaporeans most associate with foreign workers from China are "rude" and "greedy".

"Honesty" ranks a lowly seventh.

In comparison, workers from India, Malaysia and the Philippines are seen as "hardworking", "honest" and "intelligent".

Ms Tham Kit Yee, who owns an education centre, wrote in to say that a first-hand encounter with a parent from China had left such a bad lasting impression that she was now "more wary" of them.

The parent stopped bringing her child to classes without notice and refused to pay for those that the child had already attended.

"I deal with parents, both local and international, and it is only the China parents who keep imposing upon us on how to teach their children, such as demanding more and higher-level worksheets for their children," she said.

Another reader, Mr Jemich T., who works in a multinational firm, agreed.

He wrote to The Straits Times' online portal Stomp, saying: "I have nothing against Chinese nationals, but the majority of them whom I've personally worked with just put me off. They aren't just rude and uncouth, but good in office politicking, too."

Dr Lee Wei Ling, director of the National Neuroscience Institute, wrote to The Straits Times Forum to say she was surprised that a survey was needed for something that is "so blatantly obvious in our day-to-day interaction with PRC Chinese who come to Singapore to work".

Her theory is that Chinese mainlanders become "aggressively self-centred to survive the Cultural Revolution".

Adjunct professor of James Cook University, Singapore, Mr Yang Jian Wei, who teaches China-related business courses in local universities, even suggested that all Chinese, not just those from the mainland, displayed these traits.

He cited the work of controversial Taiwanese author Bo Yang, whose 1985 book Ugly Chinaman depicted Chinese people as crass, arrogant, loud, uncivilised, slavish and uncooperative.

There are others, however, who thought the opinions expressed in the survey were grossly unfair. An angry reader, Mr Sunny Xue, who declined to be interviewed, wrote in to say he was outraged by what he called "China bashing".

"Singaporeans have no right to demean others," he wrote.

Mr R. Govin, who has been an agent for foreign workers for 10 years, said: "How many of those Singaporeans surveyed have actually talked to or got to know the China workers?"

Shoe designer Ng Hwee Ling said the service she had received from a China waiter in a small Bugis eatery was enough to convince her that the survey findings were wrong.

"My friends and I could not decide on what to eat, so there was a lot of back and forth with our orders," she said. "But the Chinese waiter was very patient, and he was smiling throughout, which is more than what I can ask for in Singaporean waiters."

Ms Xu Chang Qing, 36, general secretary of Hua Yuan Association, an association for Chinese immigrants here, suggested that the survey findings might have been skewed because the majority of Singaporeans are Chinese.

"We Chinese are fond of nitpicking and criticising our own kind," she said.

Mr Dyen Chen, owner of a Mandarin enrichment school that employs Chinese national teachers, added: "We Singaporeans are guilty of being rude and greedy ourselves - just ask any Malaysian."

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