确实是有些奇怪，我在看DIE IN ANOTHER DAY里面的香港街头追逐，在看The Bourne Supremacy中泰国小摊边的追杀，都觉得没什么，就是这样乱糟糟，热烘烘的，唯独看到了上海的时候，看到那昏暗肮脏的房间，就觉得陌生，即使是东方明珠，即使是延安东路高架，即使是地图上不断出现的熟悉的地名，都让我觉得陌生，这不是我十几天前还在生活着的地方。这是阿汤哥和美国人眼中的上海。
Chinese fire drill
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A Chinese fire drill is a prank that was popular in the United States during the 1960s. It is performed when a car is stopped at a red traffic light, at which point all of the car's occupants get out, run around the car, and return to their own (or other) seats. Chinese Fire Drills are sometimes executed when one needs to get something from the trunk of a car. People have reported its use as early as the 1940s, so it is likely that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not written down that early.
The term is also used as a figure of speech to mean any large, ineffective, and chaotic exercise. In this usage, it is often shortened to just "fire drill", omitting the possibly-offensive "Chinese".
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Origins of the term
The term is alleged to have originated in the early 1900s, during an naval incident wherein a ship manned by British officers and a Chinese crew set up a fire drill for fighting a fire in the engine room. In the event of a fire the crew was to form a bucket brigade, drawing water from the starboard side, taking it to the engine room and throwing it on the 'fire'. Because water would accumulate in the engine room, another crew was to take the excess thrown water and haul it back up to the main deck, and then heave it over the port side (in order to bail it out).
When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan, but then orders became confused in translation. The crew for the bucket brigade began drawing the water from the starboard side, running over to the port side, and then throwing the water over, and so by-passing the engine room completely. Thus the expression "Chinese Fire Drill" entered our lexicon as meaning a large confused action by individuals accomplishing nothing. [1]
The term is traditionally explained as coming from a British tendency around the time of World War I to use the adjective Chinese as a slur, implying "confused, disorganized, or inferior". [2] Other "Chinese" slurs of the day included "Chinese national anthem" (an explosion) and "Chinese puzzle" (one with no solution). In this context it is related to the stereotype of the Chinese as being 'inscrutable', hard to judge, and difficult to understand, all relating to the British experience of a sophisticated but distinctly alien culture. There are earlier isolated examples which were based on ideas of the inferiority of the Chinese.
Several expressions in common use in aviation since World War I, such as Chinese landing 'a clumsy landing' and Chinese ace 'an inept pilot', derive from the English phrase One Wing Low, a legitimate technical description of flying and landing technique taken to resemble a Chinese name.
黄大皇 发表评论于
就好像“中国”在英语里可以代表很遥远的地方，西方人对中国，对中国人的理解已经沉积了几百年，已经成为当地文化的一部分。电影不这么拍，就没人相信是在中国拍的了。
你有没有听说过“Chinese Fire Drill"的说法？意思是一群人象没头苍蝇似的乱跑。虽然现在说这话的人未必真的歧视中国人，但是文化里已经存留了歧视的历史，很难抹去。
