I would have to disagree. If you let someone take advantage of you, they know its cool to do it again. Head down style opens you up to all sorts of crime! As someone else said on this tread"as a foreigner you are easy to pick out of a group" Keep you head up, shoulders back and be ready to defend yourself and your things!

Chinese will retaliate, but usually only as a group. If a regular gang is on a regular patch, and you cause one of them to lose face you can expect some retaliation from the group, not the individual alone. It may not be this time.

The chimp in us (ref. Chimp Paradox) would like to say 'we'll punch them out', but it is not always the best option, even though it makes us feel good to say it.

'If you let someone take advantage of you, they know its cool to do it again.'
They have been getting away with it for years. One thump won't change the habits of 5000 years.

thats much is true ...But it wont be YOU again!

There is only one YOU. There must be hundreds of little gangs of thieves in a city of 7m + people.

And I am not saying starting a fist fight is always the way to go,most of the time its not(sometimes it is)...but just putting you head down and leting somebody(or lots of somebodys) put it in your butt..is not they way a guy should live.

That is how we think.

Obscurity guard is a good name. The "only me and my own" attitude gets me down at times too.

This is my own pet peeve and not very relevant to the conversation. But its really annoying when on a crowded elevator you get to the bottom floor and a crowd of Chinese tries to elbow their way in, barely allowing those already inside to exit. Same goes for a crowded bus. In pursuing their own self interest most fail to notice they are making things worse. As if things are not difficult enough in the most crowded country on earth, lets make it a free for all, and hey if I have to throw a couple shoulders to get a seat so be it. $#%#^$@! Sorry, rant over.

Of course you should stand up for yourself but I think if you're in a foreign country you need to veer on the safe side. If you catch someone stealing your stuff, of course take it back, but leave it at that. Avoid getting into a confrontation with that person. Many Chinese people won't see it as an innocent person punishing a thief, they'll only see a waiguoren fighting a Chinese. It will be a dangerous situation for yourself. I've had 15 years of drunken adventures but never once been beaten up - which I attribute to keeping my head down and avoiding confrontation. I have friends who like fighting and confrontation, in China they get beaten up by mobs, stabbed, or worse. Stay safe.

They need to chop of hands like they do in the Muslim countries. Seriously!