| put yourself in the shoes
1st - surely it is most probably same disgusting procedure to apply for an US visa - not only for chinese - I was treated already at NY immigration like some kind of "alien" or even more worse.
2nd - but sitting behind a counter (in HK , NY or where ever in the whole world) makes some people sometimes feel a little bit "overconfident" about how they can approach to the person standing in "front" of the counter - you know what I mean ?
In the case described in my comment before I was made feeling like a "beggar" in front of this lady for something which was very normal the last 10 years - probably this is also some little different to the USA. | 
