About China

I wrote this a while ago for mailing list I belong to. It has been edited a little.
About China:

1) It’s big, yet has only one time zone
2) There are a gazillion people, and they all stare at me
3) The people are generally friendly, curious, and kind, but they have no concept of a personal “bubble”, and have a somewhat different understanding of courtesy than we do in the U.S.
4) My students are college sophomores, but seem more like Highschool students — without the guns, of course.
5) Everyone’s home town is “beautiful” and “famous” for something, from fruit, to pork, to neckties.
6) It is old. Really old. But they haven’t yet discovered deoderant.
7) The Chinese language is cool, interesting, and fun.
The Chinese language is horrifying, evil, and only for masochists.

9) The people sometimes have a different concept of truth — often whatever appeases the questioner, if only temporarily.
10) Copying seems to be a virtue, rather than a sin. DVDs for a $1, w00t! I mean, I am horrified at their rampant copyright violations.
10b) Don’t get me started on the plagiarism committed by my students…
11) There is a lot to see. You could go to any random spot on the map in China and find something worth seeing, worth experiencing.
12) They are not too fond of the Japanese. (Except for their cartoons, singers, and other pop icons)
13) “un”Officially, Mao’s rule was 70% good, 30% bad. Whereas his wife and the Gang of Four were just plain bad.
14) A city of 500,000 people is considered small.
15) They ate all the animals. I saw a squirrel once.
15b) I’ve yet to see a truly tall tree here.
16) They think their food is the greatest thing since fried noodles, and while good, I’d take Mediterranean cuisine (and Indian and Thai) over it any day of the week.
16b) Chinese eggplant is better than the mediterranean variety, though.
16c) They eat everything. In (some) chicken soups you will find head and feet.
16d) I’m a vegetarian.
17) However, the Chinese food in China is far superior to the “Chinese” food in the U.S.
18) There are no fortune cookies in China.
19) The Chinese education system is rough. Everything hinges on exams. If they do poorly on the entrance exam to highschool (yes, highschool), then their future is pretty much set. And it’s not too bright. There are suicides each year due to the stress students face over the exams.
20) Last I heard there were 75+ McDonald’s in Beijing alone.
21) You can find multiple KFCs in most large cities, and often a Pizza Hut as well.
22) If China is really going to take over the world and be the super power of the 21st century, they should construct buildings that don’t begin to fall apart after a year.

I could go on indefinately. This is the beginning of my third year in China. In 02-03 in Beijing as a student, 04-05 as in teacher in Wenzhou, and here in Lin’an, near Hangzhou, as a teacher. It is both great and frustrating. A foreigner is part rock star, part circus freak. Often it feels more the latter.
The rule about living in China is you must expect nothing to work right or go as expected. Above all, relax and take things as the come, otherwise you’ll go crazy. So many things are done half-assedly, that if you can get over your frustration you may find it amusing.
All in all it’s a great experience, which is why I keep coming back. Whatever our differences in culture and ideas, the people are largely great. It’s an exciting and ever changing place — an often confusing mixture of the ancient and modern. I would encourage anyone who doesn’t have responsibilities back home to take a year or half a year and come to China to teach or study.