Evidently, they ain't.  Same thing happened to me when I signed my rental lease for my "home".  The landlady signed in first, and affixed her thumb print.  She passed the pen to me and I did exactly the same, and afterwards had to put up with a 10 minutes explanation of what I should do.  I tried twice to say "I just finished doing it, no need to explain".  But they went6 on and on.  Simpe tasks in their minds seem too complicated for us to grab.  Sometimes I feel that in their minds my IQ is below a 100. 

I had a building guy explain three times to me how to lock my door. I thought it made him look stupid, but it is still insulting that they think just because there is a language barrier, we dont have a brain.

Yes, they think we are stupid. My electricity card wasn't working, at least, the girl behind the counter couldn't top it up that night (more likely). Took it to two places and faced the same problem. As my apartment is a company perk I took my card in to see if they could help. Again and again I was told, 'The card must be empty before you can use it'.

'I know, it's empty, the girls at two stores couldn't top it up -- the card may need replaced.'

'The card must be empty'.

'I know, I thought we just covered that bit'.

'The card must have no money'.

'Christ, aren't you listening? The card is empty, there's no money on it. This is why I have no electricity'.

'But the card must be empty!'

'I KNOW. IT IS!'

'So, you're saying that the card's empty?'

'Yes'.

'Okay, did you try to top it up?'

'F**K ME! That's a brilliant idea, let's do that. Never even occurred to me to try'.

'Okay, I'll help you'.

My partner, who speaks English quite well and has lived in Australia for many years, burnt herself on the wrist with hot oil last week. I told her to run COLD WATER (not sure if those two words in combo can get me arrested) on it but instead after a conversation with her mother and brother she just put some of the brown sauce that you put on noodles on the burnt area. I have an advanced first aid certificate and know the best initial treatment for a first degree burn but I was just treated as stupid for even suggesting it.   

Soy sauce is actually good for burns (don't ask me why), not sure about oyster sauce or any other condiments though.

I can understand the good intentions but we don't come from third world countries. 

I don't know if it's just for us because we are foreigners, or if it's more noticeable or what, but yeah, I've had stuff happen like that. Although, most of it comes from one of my students who is overly impressed with everything, so I guess I shouldn't take it to heart. Like I've mentioned before, ordering something simple at a restaurant, or even understanding a few things people say is a big deal, as if it's so difficult to do. Come on people, if you live in another country, you're going to pick up some of the language, even if it's just simple stuff. I'm pretty sure they treat us the same as children, because they do that for kids too. People that I don't know well, or I've never met before, or maybe if they're just kids or elderly, I give them a break. But what bothers me is that it's friends, people I have spent a lot of time with, people who should know what I'm capable of, they're the ones still surprised when I speak a little Chinese.

No I think they were just playing with you, you know messing with you toying with you a little bit so they could get in their laughs and giggles for the day. Afterall this is China and you are a foreigner so they probably wanted to make you the butt of the joke!

They don't think we are stupid.... They just know they are better than us.

They know a beggar's monkey can be trained to tip its hat when offered money.... they are just extra proud we they can teach you such a task.

The guy was probably trying to lighten the mood and it came out wrong or something. Frankly, I resent any of these people having the gall to think they're smarter than us. I've never met a place filled with dumber people in my life. If anything, I think they know deep down they're lower on the totem pole in terms of smarts and development so the anger comes out in them pretending that they think they're superior.

Any smart Chinese person I know tells me Chinese people are really dumb and that's why they're so easily lead.

Yes, they think we're stupid, and lazy.

It is quite obvious that Chinese think we are more stupid than we actually are, but we also underestimate the Chinese intelligence.

I saw stupid (and more often non-empathic) behaviour in every country I were. Let's just say you cannot calculate the average rational and emotional intelligence of a country from your recent bad day.

It is often a cultural thing. One side believes that the way they learned it is the only right way and everything else is stupid. Chinese learn that cold water is bad for your health; Americans think that you cannot have hot drinks on a hot day. I do not want to discuss this topic further, I just do not think it is an IQ problem.

I sometimes look stupid for reasons not related to my quite-OK-IQ either. I leave my bank card in the ATM every month or so. Only reason the bank clerk is not outright laughing at me is probably because he knows my salary. I blame this on the fact that Chinese ATMs give you the cash first and then expect you to press a key for your card, while European ATMs only pay the cash after you have removed your card. When overwork or alcohol put my brain on auto-pilot, the card is gone again.

Relax guys 

I'm planning to take a trip next week to a local tourist attraction a few hours away. To get there without taking a tour, I'll need to take two (OH MY GOD, TWO!!!) busses each way.  I'm getting deep looks of concern and everything from concerned advice to borderline orders not to do it; the people in my office clearly don't think that I'm up to the task.