Asians are known the world over as being “good at math.” This is a stereotype perpetuated by popular culture in the West. But is there some truth to it? Yes, as it turns out.

一直以来，西方文化中就认为亚洲人精于算数，这一说法是否真实呢？没错，还真是这样。

I can say that in daily life, Chinese people do more math than their American counterparts. In fact, one can even say daily life in China is an ongoing math test. Right off the top of my head, I can think of three examples, starting with shopping in China’s capital.

我发现中国人在日常生活中做的算数比美国人多多了。中国人每天的生活就像在一刻不停地解答数学题，我当下就可以想到三个例子，先拿在北京购物来说吧。

When you walk into any department store in Beijing, chances are there is a sale going on. You will see signs with a single digit number and the Chinese character zhe prominently displayed next to products that are on sale.

进到北京任何一家百货公司，你都能看到店家在搞促销活动，商品旁边贴着醒目的促销牌子，上边会有数字和一个中国汉字“折”。

Experienced shoppers can jump to the conclusion that 7 zhe must mean 70% discount. Alas, the Chinese system encourages shoppers to go one extra step in calculating their discount: i.e., 7 zhe means you pay 70 percent, resulting in a 30 percent discount.

有经验的顾客马上就以为7折就是有70%的折扣。然而，按照中国的套路，顾客在计算折扣的时候还得多一道程序，也就是说，7折指的是支付原价的70%，所以其实是30%的折扣。

Some adults in the West couldn’t do this simple math in their heads. Because, why would you need to? We left all that behind in elementary school.

有些西方人就不会做这类简单的计算，因为，有什么必要呢？反正我们早就把这点知识还给小学老师了。

Another example is the loyalty card, or membership card, offered by retailers, dentists, hair salons and massage parlors, just to name a few. But signing up requires you to do math quickly in your head.

另一个，比如说在商店、牙医、理发店或者按摩店办理的积分卡，或者叫会员卡。如果你想注册会员卡，就要在脑袋里飞速打个小算盘。

The more you spend up front, the bigger the discounts, a not uncommon sales strategy. But commit at your own risk. If that business suddenly decides to close its doors, you will not be refunded, nor will you even be notified.

这是一种常见的销售策略，花的钱越多得到的折扣就越多。但是同时也要承担风险，比如商店会在没有通知你的情况下就突然关门歇业，你连退款都拿不到。

Shopping for groceries was among the challenges we first encountered in Beijing. Trying to buy milk and yogurt at the local supermarket almost turned into an international incident when, upon seeing all the past expired dates marked on packages throughout the entire dairy section, I demanded to see a manager and tried to bring it to his attention. In vain, of course, as the language barrier prevented us from communicating effectively.

我们刚到北京遇到了不少麻烦，买食品就是其中之一。逛个超市买牛奶酸奶几乎酿成了“国际事故”，因为我发现整个奶制品区食品包装上的日期都已经过期了，于是要求见经理想要反映一下。当然无果，因为语言障碍我们没有达成有效沟通。

Later, a friend explained that those were production dates, not expiration dates, as I had assumed. She also showed me where they helpfully printed the shelf life of each product. So, to put it in American terms, production date + shelf life= expiration date. Again, they are encouraging shoppers to do math.

后来有朋友解释说商品上标注的是生产日期而不是到期日，还指出商品上印的保质期。所以，按照美国的理解，就是生产日期+保质期=到期日，看吧，还是得做算数。

Newcomers to China will no doubt be confused about this system, which nobody here seems to think twice about. But as an American, it was all very taxing until I got clued in. I often felt put out that I had to be doing math when I simply wanted to buy stuff.

刚来中国的人毫无疑问会被这种逻辑给整懵，而中国人却早已是司空见惯了。作为一个美国人，我每次想买件东西都要计算，最后弄得整个人精疲力竭。

But now that I’ve been here a while, I see the wisdom of such a system. Could it be how Chinese people stay sharp into old age? After all, using your brain with word games and riddles are believed to be countermeasures against the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related ailments.

现在呆了一段时间才发现这种逻辑的智慧所在。这会不会就是中国人即使步入老年仍能保持敏锐的秘诀呢？毕竟利用大脑做文字游戏和猜谜活动能有效对抗阿尔茨海默病并预防其他机能退化而引起的疾病。

It appears that in China, they’ve incorporated into ordinary daily life a brilliant system where nobody forgets their early math lessons.

显然，在中国，这种充满智慧的逻辑已经植根于日常生活之中，早年学到的数学知识总是不会荒废的。

About the author & broadcaster

Nelly Min is senior editor for the Chinese government website. She has more than 20 years of experience as a photographer and copy editor at major metropolitan newspapers in the U.S., including the Detroit Free Press and the Los Angeles Times. She has lived in Beijing for 7 years.