Everyone Should Know These Things About China - Part 1

After reading an article about everyone needing to live in China, I realized there was a lot to be said about it. I feel as though the article makes a great impression and is well-written, but I have different opinions on a few of the points as well as personal stories to prove the points. Here is the article if you would like to read it first.

China is a wonderful place to live, despite the pollution and various cultural annoyances you may experience often. I don’t think it is necessary for everyone to come here, but if you choose to come, there will be things that hit you right on your head & make you think “Wow. Did that just happen?” or “This is unreal.” Things you take for granted back in your comfortable life at home are singled out and make you realize how different life is in other areas of the world. 

1. The Number of People

I have been to New York, but nothing can compare to the feeling of being pushed onto a subway train by other people and then having nothing to hold onto but just swaying with everyone around you. Rush hour is absolutely insane here. But hey, just like these dogs, everyone gets to where they are wanting to go eventually!

I value the mornings that I wake up early and notice the few amount of people who do the same thing. The elderly who are making lines outside the bank before it opens or exercising in the parks in various manners. The workers who are stiff and silent all in a line being talked to by their boss. The security guards who are trying their hardest to not fall asleep after a long night shift. 

Being alone physically is something that is hard to come by especially in public, but feeling alone is not hard to do at all. Everyone else has their family to go home to. In spite of the strong individualistic mindset that shines through as everyone is fighting their way through the subway, collectivism prevails when it comes to family & their country. They would do anything for China and their family and never say a bad word about either one. 

For me, not being able to fluently converse with all the random people I practice my Chinese with makes me feel as though people can’t understand my opinions fully which then makes a barrier between us. No matter how many conversations I have in one day, it never seems enough to make me feel that I belong here. I will always be in the category of being a foreigner.

Or when you cut your finger with a knife and freak out because blood is gushing from your body. You realize you have no idea where a hospital is, nor could you even communicate with the doctor about your issues, and so you call your mom who can fix everything. Right? She’s only 7000 miles away, and I’m sure she can talk me through how to treat a cut without going to the hospital. 

It’s moments like these that create the feeling of being alone in a city full of 20 million people.

2. 语言 - The Language

So it’s a well-known fact that Chinese is a difficult language, and I definitely am not fluent by any mean. Yes, I can get the gist of conversations, but when it comes to talking about a topic which I don’t know the vocabulary for, a lot of gesturing is used to portray the meaning. Luckily, I know the word for bathroom so I don’t have to act that one out ever!

It doesn’t matter where you are; the world is becoming more and more technology focused. Every time I look around on the subway, over 70% of the people are using some sort of electronic device. The people who aren’t are either elderly or with a child. It’s kind of a sad realization that people are more obsessed with technology than making conversation with the people right next to you.

Going back to the collectivism and family oriented, grandparents are in charge of taking care of the child so the parents are able to continue working. This means they all live in one apartment – something that almost seems unbearable in our culture. Daycares or childcare don't exist to the extent they do back in the United States. This then takes away the chance for children to learn social skills at such a young age with other people who are similar to them.

Something funny that I just don’t understand is that people think it is necessary to shout on the phone when they’re on the subway or anywhere in public. One time, there was a lady across from me who was practically shouting into her phone in a Chinese dialect. I was with my friend who is fluent in Chinese, and she could not understand anything she was saying. One of the other struggles of learning Chinese – the many dialects.

My favorite thing when it comes to the language is the look on their faces when they realize that I can speak Chinese. As that look is fading, they are bound to then say how good your language skills are which Americans would automatically say, “Thank you” however, if you are truly trying to be Chinese and take in all of the culture, you should be much more modest and say something to the extent of “Now, now, it is not that great!”  Then, you can proceed to have a little argument on how great your language skills are.

3. The Traffic

After getting a bike, I have started to understand how traffic works here. If you want to cross the road, you just go for it. As long as you don’t run into the car/bike in front of you, you’re following the laws and doing it right. Besides following speed limit and stop light rules, I haven’t noticed many other official ones.

There was one time I was waiting to cross a fairly busy street. After 5 minutes, I saw a brave biker next to me, just go for it, literally stopping the traffic just to cross the road. Sometimes, there isn’t a way around this. Same goes for walking, which is a little easier. You cross one lane, then wait between the lanes until the next one is semi-free.

Having a horn or a bell is so important! If you hear a honk, don’t think that someone is saying “Hello” or “What were you thinking?!” It’s more of “Hey, I’m right here” or “I’m passing you so watch out.” If you are not aggressive and proactive about your driving, you will not get anywhere.

Their ability to navigate their cars without hitting anything is astonishing to me. They truly know their car's size and how to park it in the tiniest of places. I oftentimes catch myself staring at the cars trying to park while someone tells them how close they are or when huge buses try to squeeze through the numerous anxious taxis and make it through with an inch to spare. They make it look so easy.

If an accident does occur though, don't be surprised if police don't end up coming and instead money is just exchanged in order to call it even. I actually saw this happen yesterday!

Moral of the story when it comes to traffic – just go for it!

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That's only half of the story - the rest will come in the next post! There's just so much to say about this!

Memorable Events

Ironically enough, I lost my metro card after posting a blog on metros. It was a very sad day for me because I also lost a necklace that my mom gave to me right before I left which was my grandma’s. Thankfully, I was able to retrace my steps and found the necklace at the restaurant where we ate that day. The waiter had noticed it and kept it in his pocket because he didn’t want to damage it or lose it. My eyes lit up in happiness when I saw it appear from his pocket.

After living abroad with not much, I have come to realize that life isn’t about things. Yeah they can make people happy, and they mean so much more if they are gifts or are handed down from people. Overall though, I am living with the basics and honestly don’t need anything else.

I enjoy looking back at pictures. It helps me relive the fun times that I had, and it also get me excited for the future to create more memorable moments. So this last week, I figured out how to print pictures in China, and I am now in the process of making a photo wall in my room. It’s these little things that make me happy.

This last week, I had two really memorable events happen. The first was archery! It was a teacher event meaning it was completely free, and you get to meet others from the same company. I had a blast! The highlight of the night though was completely unexpected. Turning around from shooting an arrow, I make eye contact with a girl who starts to say “No way!” the same time that I do. She turns out to be a friend from my college who I knew lived in Beijing, but I just had not seen her yet. She tells me that she is there every single day. I just cannot believe that in a city so big, I manage to run into a friend from a school that is so small!

The other event was a school event for team bonding. We went to dinner at a delicious restaurant where the waiters dress up in traditional clothing (same place I lost my necklace). Of course it was a hot pot restaurant which is one of my favorites! After that, we went to KTV which is one of the most common entertainment sources in China. It’s basically karaoke, but you get your own room with just your friends and can order drinks or food to come to your room. It was fun singing both English and Chinese songs. For sure, a night that I won’t forget.

I just posted more pictures on facebook so check them out!

Next post, keep an eye out for me to talk a little bit about holidays here in China (Halloween, Singles Day, and Thanksgiving)! Until next time!

Public Transportation - Subway 地铁 (ditie)

After posting the last one, I realized there is more to the APEC meeting especially when it comes to traveling. I have noticed security tighten so much when I take the metro now. Thankfully some if it is very beneficial but others seem a little bothersome.

At the metro stop by my house, they added a metal barrier so that traffic flow is more efficient which is so nice! Now I don’t have to force myself through people just to put my bag on the conveyor belt to be scanned. It’s more orderly.

Today, they added the boxes/trays that you would use at airport security to put bags or small items in. My purse was small, but they didn’t make me put it in one. I don’t get it yet. We shall see what happens in the future. Anyhow, there were two people assigned to this job; one person puts the boxes in the beginning of the belt and receiving the other empty boxes from the other person at the end of it. Talk about a thrilling job.

On my way home at 9:45 pm, I noticed they added another pretty strict lady who would only let a few people go past and stopped the rest until it was clear. Never seen it that controlled before.

I’ve heard from other people who have been to China that they think Chinese people are rude, especially on metros. So here’s my explanation.

People push others just to get on or off the train without apologizing of even thinking of apologizing. That’s just what they’re used to, and I’m starting to become accustomed to it too.

They also rush to get a seat; however, they do still have the common courtesy to let elderly, children and injured sit down first. But when a seat opens up, they have a little argument with their friend over who is going to sit for about 2 minutes – sit! No, you sit! No really, you sit! I don’t need to sit! Please sit! Okay, I guess I will sit if you won’t sit. - I laugh at it every single time.

Another funny thing is how many people run to the stairs when they get out of the train. Often times there are so many people trying to get into a narrow staircase, and it is guaranteed to be packed. To avoid this, they just try and be the first ones there.

Cutting lines is also pretty common. When approaching the counter to add money on your metro card, sometimes it is necessary to make sure you get your turn because others will often mindlessly cut in front of you if you are not assertive. This is common many places, but younger generations are aware of this issue and are trying to slowly change it.

Sometimes I just have to stop and remind myself of TIC - This is China.

Sickness & Pollution

After being sick last week, I now have a manly voice which is on its way to being no voice. When I was sick, coworkers didn’t really notice because the worst of it was on my weekend – thank god – but now they are noticing. We have a cleaning staff that consist of several women and 2 men all in their 50s or 60s. In Chinese, we call them aunt and uncle. Since I sound so awful, they are all giving me advice on how to get better. The last three days I have been constantly scolded “Drink more warm water!” “Wear more clothing! You look cold!” “Have you taken medicine? You really need to go see the doctor!” It’s nice that they are concerned. One of them even gave me medicine, but the reality is that I feel fine, just sound bad.

Even if I wasn’t sick, they still would tell me to wear more clothing and drink more warm water. The common greeting here isn’t “How are you?” It’s “Have you eaten yet?” That does not mean it is an invite to have food with them. That’s just their way of showing concern towards their friends to make sure they are fed. They don’t actually care what you ate, just that you did. This is something I’ve been struggling with but after thinking about it, how many times a day do you get asked “How are you?” or “What’s up?” and the person could care less what your response was.

Another weird thing going on is the APEC meeting. China has made some changes to the normal routine that I’ve noticed. The first thing was our work schedule has changed. I always work weekends but now we have two “weekends” right next to each other. This means Saturday & Sunday are a normal weekend schedule but now Monday & Tuesday are also weekend schedules. Don’t ask me why because I have no idea. So our classes got all changed around and half of them are cancelled because their parents said they won’t be coming to class.

The second thing was advertisements. There was a TV ad that I saw about cleaning up the country, driving less and anything else you can think of to make China look better. To me, this is something that should be played every day to make the world “greener,” but here it’s just for the time that there is big meeting.

Another change goes off of making the country cleaner and having less cars on the road. There are rules as to which cars can drive at which times because there are just too many cars here. They go off of license plates and make the rules like if your license plate number ends in 9 then you can drive on Mondays. If you drive on other days then you will be fined. I don't know the exact rules, but you can get the idea. Well because of this meeting, they want less cars so the rules are stricter which then affects delivery trucks. We are expecting things at our office, but they are delayed because they can’t get here due to these rules!

Finally, the days leading up to this meeting were pretty polluted. I never knew why, but after reading articles online today, I found out why. They run factories harder before holidays or important meetings like this so that way they can stop production for the days they want the skies to be clear. I cannot imagine how many factories there are to make this much of a difference, but hey it worked because the past 3 days have been so clear! All for an APEC meeting…