There is one thing I have never understood since my childhood: movie and theatre goers always leave before the end of the show.

I loved movies when I was young and always watched until the last minute of the motion picture, enjoying the ending music or song. But many - most, actually - adults did not seem as interested by movies; they got up from the seats and began to leave even when the movie was still going on though the scene was suggesting the end. I couldn't understand why they would sacrifice enjoying the last few minutes of the movie. I thought I would probably be that way when I grew up.

Later, when I became an adult, I learned that they quit earlier because they wanted to break away from the slow-moving crowds leaving the cinema. But I still couldn't see the benefit of withdrawing a few minutes earlier. "What's the point of saving those few minutes at the cost of missing the end of the movie?" I thought. In fact, most of the audience were still caught up in the slow-moving crowds except the few who had left earliest and the few, like me, who stayed behind relishing the ending of the movie.

Sometimes I felt a little bit ashamed for indulging in entertainment like a child.

I have not been to a movie or drama theatre for many years, so I didn't know if there was any change to that habit of early quitting. But what happened last Friday evening convinced me that such a habit still survives.

The whole team of the China Art Troupe of Handicapped People was going on to the stage for a final chorus after an evening of impressive, touching performances of singing and dancing when some audience members began to leave. It was reassuring that about half of the audience stayed, applauding the handicapped performers' response to the curtain calls.

Early quitting of audiences is definitely a rude demonstration of disrespect for artists on the stage. I believe these audiences did not mean to show disrespect when they left in haste. They did so only out of a habit of impatience, which has become intrinsic in the traits of some of our nationals.

Instances of this impatience can be seen in every aspect of our society. It is especially evident in the riding of any vehicle of transportation ranging from buses to lifts to the underground railway. People often swarm in front of the door trying to elbow their way into the vehicle without waiting for the people inside to get out first. The haste is completely meaningless for there is usually not an empty seat to be taken and, in most cases, the vehicle is not too crowded.

Such impatience sometimes tarnishes the image of us Chinese in an international environment.

For various reasons, I have travelled abroad many times in the past three years. Every time the plane landed at the airport and began to taxi to the terminal, a number of passengers stood up to open the luggage compartment long before the plane came to a complete halt. They were all Chinese. The foreigners there remained seated, watching silently and shaking their heads.

Such a scene appeared every time I took a flight. I swear I am not exaggerating even in the least.

I really don't understand why these compatriots of mine were so impatient. The hatch door wouldn't open until the plane completely stopped in place. What's the point of standing in the aisles with heavy luggage on the shoulders? Why not remain seated comfortably until the stewardess gives the go-ahead for disembarking?

Such a move of impatience may not be out of an ill intention - in most cases it is a subconscious act, but it disrupts social order and slows our progress towards civilization.

The author is an editor Liu Shinan

(China Daily December 7, 2005)