Source: Global Times
Editor's Note: During the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, more than 250,000 people lined up all night along the Thames River in London to visit the Queen's coffin, and celebrities including former politicians and famous football star David Beckham lined up for more than ten hours or more. For the British, queuing is a habit, but also a traditional culture. Orderly queuing is the embodiment of the degree of civilization, due to different national conditions, different national personalities, Britain, India, Japan and Egypt queues show different characteristics.
UK: Zero tolerance for queues
Since the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced on the 8th, many experienced Britons have begun to queue in front of Buckingham Palace. Buryatia, from the northeastern city of Norwich, England, told reporters that she came to the British Parliament House at 7:30 a.m. on the 9th to start queuing. She ranked within the first group of 2,000. She shook the yellow queuing bracelet in her hand and told the Global Times reporter that she was able to return home at 10 o'clock that night, thank God. From Sass Walker Park on London's Thames East to the Albert bank where the reporter met Buryatia, the whole journey is about 5 miles, which is the distance to wait in line to see the Queen of England's coffin, but the actual queue distance is actually longer. In addition to the distance, after London entered the late night, the temperature dropped from 25 degrees Celsius during the day to less than 10 degrees Celsius. For many people who don't bring their own tent, the only way to do this is to rub their hands and stomp their feet to relieve the cold felt on their skin (pictured). According to official rules, people in line cannot bring alcohol or make hot food with fire. So most people only drink hot water, hot coffee, with cold bread and potato chips to feed their hunger.
British media have earlier reminded the public to be prepared to wait all night for at least 35 hours. According to statistics, about 4% of Britons are willing to wait in line like this, most of them are elderly. They are also a major support group for the British royal family. Many people queuing late at night told reporters that they felt a sense of cohesion when they saw so many strangers queuing up like themselves.
The British obsession with queuing dates back to at least the middle of the last century. George Orwell, a well-known British novelist, journalist and social critic, in his 1947 essay The Englishman, tried to dig into the voices of foreign tourists visiting Britain for the first time: "The imagined foreign observer would have been struck by our meekness and courtesy: the crowds of people behaved in an orderly manner, without pushing and arguing, and willingly lined up." "Every summer in London, during Wimbledon Tennis Championships, there is a customary 30-page queue guide detailing how to queue up and wait in an orderly manner.
Some historians believe that the social custom of British queuing was formed during the Industrial Revolution. At that time, the wave of urbanization promoted the emergence of industrial society, triggered the movement of people from rural to urban areas, and revolutionized the patterns of daily life. But what really shaped and established the British reputation as a "civilized queue" was World War II. Kate Bradley, a lecturer in social history and social policy at the University of Kent, said in a 2013 interview with the BBC: "At first, queuing was associated with extreme hardship (of life) as the poor had to queue up to receive handouts and get charitable help. Public opinion propaganda at that time was to urge the people to scrupulously perform their duties and abide by the order. This is a way for the government to try to control the situation during turbulent times. ”
The British have "zero tolerance" for not queuing or cutting in line. Former Prime Minister Theresa May and several members of the British Parliament were photographed visiting the Queen's coffin without queuing. Afterwards, officials explained that MPs and staff working in Congress could be exempted from queuing because they were in the place where the Queen's coffin was parked. But popular anchors from Britain's Independent Television station, Willeby and Sorford, were earlier filmed using their jobs to enter Westminster Hall to see the Queen's coffin. The two had to apologize in the face of the actual shooting records and promised never to do such a thing again. But British media expect that the "cut in line" may not be so simple to disappear, and the two may face dismissal. In contrast, during this queue to visit the Queen's coffin, former British star David Beckham quietly queued for 13 hours, which was praised by the local public.
India: The queue is divided into men and women
For ordinary Indians, whether it is the enrollment of children or the blessing of temples, or the hospital, there are queues everywhere. But there are "privileged" people or rich people, there is always a "passage" to avoid the queue.
In order to avoid cutting in line, Indians lined up to be intimate with each other, the front heart was pressed to the back (pictured), not to mention the queue, the whole queue could not even insert the needle. After all, the close-up queue is not suitable for the opposite sex to line up, so men and women line up separately. Outside the temples of Indian incense, on religious holidays, devout devotees often have to queue long and sometimes even all night long to pray for the blessing of the gods on the right day. At this time, the advantage of the close queuing method is revealed, even if you are sleepy, you don't have to worry about falling.
For the poor in urban slums or in rural areas, there are more cases of queuing. In the slums there is no running water supply, the limited amount of water supply of water trucks generally take several days to come, people here will be early in the queue, with buckets, basins and other containers to fetch water, the queue often for the first to come first-served problem. The Indian film "Starting Line" shows the housewife of a wealthy family being cut in line to fetch water in a slum due to her lack of experience. There is also a situation where parents wait in long lines all night to have a good school for their soon-to-be-attend children.
However, on many occasions there are special "passageways" for the "privileged class" and the wealthy without long queues. Even in some temples, if the believers are willing to spend money, they can queue up in shorter queues, or even clearly mark the price, and the more money they spend, the more time they can save. This is especially true of going to the hospital to see a doctor, and the rich basically go to private hospitals with good medical skills and high fees, and they can make an appointment in advance and go with the consultation. The poor have to queue up in public hospitals to save money, and in rural areas where medical resources are more scarce, it can sometimes take days to see a doctor. In the best-selling book "The White Tiger," it depicts critically ill Indian farmers queuing up in noisy hospitals for days because doctors only come to see doctors one day a week.
The Indian queuing also provided business opportunities for some small traders. As long as there is a long queue, you can see the milk tea vendors, carrying small iron shelves that can hold teapots and disposable clay cups, while shouting "tea" while nimbly moving through the queue. There are also "scalpers" who are attached to the "industry" in line, and they are more near the temple. When people dressed and looking wealthier come to the queue, there will always be many "scalpers" who come to solicit business, and the "clear price" allows you to spend money and save time and experience the taste of a "privilege".
In the Indian online forum about queuing, the most criticized compatriots in India are probably the problem of cutting in line. On probe, Indians don't like to line up by rules, and there are complex roots. Some Indian experts believe that the caste system that divides people into three, six, and nine grades determines that the relatively fair way of queuing is not easy to implement in India.
Japan: Queue up from kindergarten
The favorite country in Asia to queue up is Japan. Japanese people are lined up to shop, get on and off the train, and eat at restaurants. Even in extraordinary times, the Japanese still lined up in an orderly manner. During the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, trains were out of service and people lined up along railways and roadsides. For Japanese people, queuing is a habit of life, no matter where you go, you will look for a queue sign. In Japan, if the queue is jammed, the light will have to endure the blank stares or accusations of others, and the serious ones will be fined up to 1 million yen or even detained for 24 hours.
The habit of queuing begins with a toddler. In good weather, kindergarten children can often be seen lining up to cross the road on the streets of Japan, and vehicles will stop far away when they see it, patiently waiting for the children's team to pass. Enter the elementary school, assemble near the home, and line up to leave for the school after everyone is in a group. In Japanese education, it is not advocated to always compete for the first, fairness is considered very important, and queuing is the embodiment of fairness.
At some of the most popular large-scale exhibition sites, the staff will organize visitors to line up to visit. In addition to manual queuing, some restaurants now also launch self-queuing robots. Enter the number of diners and select the size of the table, enter the mobile phone number to enter the queuing system, and then you can leave, when the number is almost reached, the mobile phone will receive a text message notification and can return.
Japanese people line up to eat, sometimes out of herd mentality. For example, if you see a long line in front of a ramen shop, people will think that the ramen in this shop is better than the one opposite where no one is queuing. Merchants will take advantage of this herd mentality to set up some chairs in front of many restaurants, creating the illusion of needing to queue up for dinner.
There is also a negative side to queuing, and the survey shows that Japanese people who are considered to love queuing actually do not like queuing in some cases, especially in the workplace, on seniority, for young people, the promotion opportunity is slim, and it takes a long time.
Egypt: Seeing strangers at first sight
In Egypt, queuing is a great social opportunity. Different from some countries people like to play with their mobile phones when queuing, enthusiastic and cheerful Egyptians like to chat in the queue, from national events to personal anecdotes, from work to culture, chat hotly, the original straight line after a while will become a group of three or five, obviously strangers who meet in Pingshui, but after about half an hour of queuing, everyone is familiar as relatives and friends, full of smiles, brothers and brothers. Even in the traffic jam queue, people in the left and right cars can roll down the windows and chat fiercely, in the noisy street, even if they need to shout and talk, they are not tired. Here, queuing is not a boring thing, but on the contrary, it becomes extremely interesting because of small talk, "Many of my friends make friends during the queue. Hussein, an Egyptian, told the Global Times.
The reporter has worked in Egypt for more than 3 years, and has a very strong feeling that in this ancient civilization, the sense of connection between people is extremely close, there is no sense of defense between strangers, and the ice breaking is in an instant. Feeling the sincerity and enthusiasm of strangers while queuing in Egypt allows reporters to see another beauty of the world.
In addition to liking to chat during the queue, making phone porridge with friends is also something Egyptians love to do when queuing. A phone call that lasts for hours, combined with a wealth of facial expressions and body language, is a dance of eyebrows and hands. When we talk about forgetting our feelings, we even forget that we are here to do things. On several occasions, when queuing up, the Egyptians in front of the reporters forgot to get down to business because they were so engaged in the phone calls. Hussein told reporters that phone calls are a big hobby for Egyptians, "because we like to share, queuing up is a good time to call." ”