AFTER being the victims of rumour for a long time, Henan people broke the silence when two Henan residents filed a lawsuit against the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau after the bureau hung huge posters in public areas suggesting Henan migrants were involved in crime (see Shanghai Star, May 19-25)

The posters said anyone who reported "Henan racketeering gangs" to the local police would be rewarded.

The two men said such words infringed the rights of Henan people, damaged their reputation and caused them mental distress. They asked the police to apologize.

Unfortunately, many Chinese people bear responsibility for the bad reputation of Henan people, who are associated with fraud, fake products and illegal blood trading linked to the spread of AIDS... In many cruel jokes, Henan people play the leading roles.

Urban legends

Yet Henan people have no need to become too angry, since almost every province or big city has some kind of "bad reputation".

For example, Shanghainese are well known for their shrewdness, which is not by any means a traditional virtue in Chinese culture. One famous joke tells of a Shanghai boy going to buy candy which costs 3 cents, he hands over a five cent coin, but the seller has no change, so the boy says "so give me two pieces of toilet paper instead!"

That Shanghai people will bargain over a cent is widely assumed around the country.

In addition, another denigrated feature of Shanghai people is the "womanly" character of Shanghai men. Long Yingtai, a famous Taiwan writer, said she was surprised to see her friend's husband washing her underwear.

"I don't have a Shanghainese friend, I can't get along with them," said Zhao Chen, a Beijinger working in Shanghai, whose husband is Shanghainese.

While Beijingers happily laugh at jokes about Shanghainese, the whole country criticizes Beijingers for being arrogant political animals. No one is surprised to hear a Beijing taxi driver incessantly talking with a passenger about the political situation in the country or around the world, perhaps saying: "To share some inside news, the truth is not what the newspaper have said, but rather ..."

"I am so tired of their interminable commentary about politics," said Rio Xie, a Shanghai woman. "From ancient times to today, Beijingers have lived nearest to the state's political core, so they may think their status is much higher than that of people from other places, they thus think they have access to privileged information from the central power."

North and south

Regional difference has long been an intensely discussed topic among scholars and writers.

Lu Xun (1881-1936), the well-known writer, said in his essay "The Northerner and the Southerner": "The merit of the northerner is honesty and kindness, the merit of the southerner is practical intelligence."

Lin Yutang (1895-1976), another well-known literary writer, also wrote an essay on "the North and the South", saying northerners were used to simple thoughts and a tough life, they have strong bodies, passionate and humorous characters, but are comparatively conservative; while people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are used to a peaceful and comfortable life, they have developed brains but weak bodies, they enjoy poems and comfort... they are smart businessmen, excellent writers, but cowards on the battlefield; while Guangdong people who live in South China are aggressive in business, acquisitive, argumentative, adventurous and bad-tempered; Hubei people like to make promises but also like intrigue; Hunan people are well-known for their courage and stubborn natures.

Mixed features

China's vast territory, which covers various geographical, climatic and national types, along with the country's long history, has produced a variety of dynasties.

"China has such a big population, with such unbalanced development in economy and culture, it is natural to see Chinese in different regions with divergent characteristics," said Zhou Zhuang, a writer.

"But generally speaking, in every place, people have both merits and shortcomings. No place produces only heroes or only gangsters," he said. "The regional character is always a mix."

In the essay mentioned above Lu Xun also said: "But the merit of honesty and kindness (of the northerners) can be turned into foolishness, and practical intelligence (of southerners) can become mere cunning."

Yu Qiuyu, a contemporary Shanghai writer, gives a comparatively balanced comment in his essay "Shanghainese": "Though they are shrewd, proud, butter-tonsiled, lax, not kind and exclusive ... they are also open-minded, hard-studying, easygoing, smart, loyal to Chinese traditions while assimilating foreign culture and dealing with reality."

"To entertain the masses, some media over-hype regional differences and sometimes become very unbalanced, even promoting prejudice," said Xu Jing who majored in mass communication.

In popular short humorous operas, the actor playing the Shanghai man is always very thin, speaking a less than standard Mandarin, while the Guangdong person is always a fat businessman with a gold tooth and a heavy Hong Kong accent.

In recent years, provincial people who felt unfairly besmirched have started to defend themselves by releasing books.

On the bookshelves of some big book stores, you may find titles such as "Who did Henan People Offend?", "What did Hunan people depend on?" or "Actually, you don't know Guangdong people".

The author of "Who did Henan People Offend?" argues that duplicity is a failing shared by people in other provinces. The second book boasts of the large number of talented people born in Hunan compared to other regions, while the book about Guangdong people challenges the assumption that they are all sharp business people without broad knowledge or culture.