China - it has some differences

We left China about a month ago, but decided to chew on it a while before writing about it. There is a lot to love about the country, but it really takes some getting used to. China has a rough exterior... if you only engage people in a crown you'd come home with the impression that everyone is rude and gross, but if you take the time with individuals you see that everything is justified in some fashion and the people are actually quite nice.

Anyway... here is what we found novel while we were in China:

• China is big. You can go to a "tiny" city that you've never heard of and the population will be 9 million or something crazy.
• Old. You can visit sites in China that are 2000+ years old. There are Native American burial sites that predate Christ and the Mayan ruins are in the ballpark, but there is something neat about walking around modern cities that are incorporated around ancient structures.
• China SEEMS rude. It may seem culturally insensitive, but pretty much anyone who isn't Chinese would probably consider Chinese people in general to be quite rude. I'll explain what I mean...
• Chinese people spit. I actually heard that the Chinese government made spitting illegal during the olympics. I thought it sounded silly. Who cares, if people spit, right? Well imagine the wickedest loogie you've ever heard. Multiply the volume by two. You hear this all day, every day, everywhere. On the streets, on the subway, in restaurants, in the grocery store. From the person next to you on the train. Pretty much everywhere you are you will hear people spitting loudly.

• Lining Up. The idea that you were there first so you get served first is not the way it goes in China. Getting served first has more to do with who can box out and shoulder their was to the front. It can be kind of funny if one or two people cut you off before you can buy your subway tickets, and it can be quite infuriating trying to do something like cross a border where you need a minute or two with the border guard and there is a steady stream of people willing to push to the front. When we went to Laos Jenn eventually broke down and started pushing like a pro. I did see a line once in China, there was a cop holding a gun enforcing it though.
• Pushing. If someone is walking in a straight line and you happen to be on that line, odds are you are going to get pushed out of the way. Don't expect an apology. Jenn got pushed down the stairs after getting off a packed train without even a second glance.
• Smoking. No smoking signs don't carry the same weight in China as they do other places. Even if you are on a 13 hour train ride in a closed compartment that is full to the brim of no smoking signs, there will be ash trays, and they will be used.
  
• The floor is filthy. Even if it isn't you should assume it is... everyone else does. As you may have inferred from the spitting point, the floor is considered to be filthy. Chinese people tend to consider any walking surface to be an acceptable receptacle for just about anything. If you happen to be in a store or in front of a nice establishment, someone will come clean up your litter in pretty short order. This seems like it would be a pretty easy one to get over, but we were consistently shocked when newer and more exciting things got dumped in more various and exciting ways. Styrofoam cups into the gutter, chicken feet bones onto the train floor, snot rockets on the subway, soda cans out of car windows, baby poop on the sidewalk... inside, outside, desolate, or crowded it makes no difference. If something is in your possession and you don't want it anymore - it is perfectly acceptable to simply drop it.
• I don't have a researched answer for why Chinese people have manners that are so different than our own. I think it may just be that there are so many people in China that everyone just assumes that there is no ill will intended. If you are the kind of person who is easily offended then you will be offended often in China. So just don't get offended and you'll be all set. In Japan they went super polite, in China everyone just has agreed that no matter what no one will get mad at each other. There should be some sort of notice at the border though - Jenn almost elbowed one guy in the head in retaliation.
• Baby poop? You heard me. If you walk around China you will notice that (if you look closely) you can see almost every baby's butt. They just have a slit where the seam on the back of their pants should be. If your baby starts to go you just hold their feet up so that little seam opens up a bit. Fair odds that the poop on the sidewalk isn't from a dog, and the poop on the floor of the supermarket is almost certainly from a baby. Saves money on diapers I guess. We talked to a Chinese girl who works at Ikea that hates two things about her job: cleaning up baby poop off the floor (they usually hit the tile), and the people who just come to take naps on the display furniture (very common).
• Traveling. Getting around China is pretty easy. The trains we took were mostly on time and easy to book. The subways in Beijing were nice, timely, and cheap. For pretty much every city the public buses were easy. I know the trains in the states aren't as good as they are in Asia, but after relying on public transportation so much over here I'm excited to give it another go back home. If they can do it we can do it, right?
  
• Haggling. When you buy something in China you'll look at it and say, "this is nice, I wonder how much it costs." You'll look for a price and see that it isn't marked. You'll look for the shop keeper who will be directly beside you and they will tell you that it is very cheap and very nice. You'll ask the price. They will look at you decide how much of a sucker you are and multiply the actual price by your "sucker level". Then you start a big fight where you try to pay about 1/10th the price they gave you. It can be fun, but it can get quite annoying if you aren't in the haggling mood. We were in a hurry once and Jenn wanted some ear plugs for the train - the price started at $10. Per plug. Of course we settled on a price of about 50 cents for a set, but when you're not in the mood it ceases to be fun.
  
• Street names - Navigating in China is actually a bit easier than in Japan because they actually have street names. The streets may change names every few blocks and the address numbers can sometimes be nonsensical... but at least they have street signs (I'm looking at you Japan).

• Walking around isn't easy. Cars travel on the right hand side of the road, so at least we didn't get run over from the right while looking left, but the convenience of walking around sort of stopped there. Cars don't have to stop at lights to turn right. Mopeds can go as fast as they want down the sidewalk. Sidewalks double as parking lots so you often have to walk into the street to get past them. Because cars never seem legally obliged to stop for pedestrians, walkers are often forced into a weird game of chicken. Crowds of walkers inch their way into the street until cars can no longer swerve. It's a bit scary, but it's the way it goes. It works pretty well for the most part. We only saw one person get run over anyway.

• The Chinese are tough. While we were wearing all of our clothes and buying gloves, people were out making snowballs with their bare hands. We thought we were hardcore by climbing the Great Wall while it was icy - and then we passed an old lady using a shovel to chip away at the ice on the ground.

• Dogs trained like you wouldn't believe. I didn't see one leash in China. Dogs stay by their owners. I don't know if everyone watches the dog whisperer, or the dumb ones don't last long, or what. What I do know is that I saw dogs following their owners stop at the mat at the front of a store and wait until they were done shopping.
• Business in the front. If you want to buy something that is homemade in China - there's pretty good odds that you'll walk by the craftsman on the way in. The front 20% of most stores is dedicated to preparing the sales material. It can be pretty neat if someone is making shoes, or soup or something innocuous... it can be pretty disturbing if the person is a butcher.
  
• Pro-USA...? Whenever we told someone we were from the states we were surprised by the results. One guy sang us the national anthem. One guy started a "USA! USA! USA!" chant. One guy wanted to do shots of some weird home made liquor. The normal was a bit of a happy smile. Not what we expected - it was a pleasant surprise.
  
• Uniform. There isn't a lot of ethnic diversity in China. Something like 90% of the country is Han, and we didn't really see (or notice if we did) any of the 50 some odd ethnic minorities. Coming from the USA we are quite used to being around ethnic diversity.
  
• Proud of China. Everyone you talk to will ignore the government censorship or the 1984 style history changing or the government mandated baby limit... they'll turn the conversation to how great their GDP is or other thing. Americans are willing to say negative things about some aspects of American life... we asked around, but we couldn't get anyone to say one negative thing about their homeland. Brainwashed? Scared? 100% of the population is 100% in favor of the government? I have a guess...
  
• Language is hard. We made an honest effort to learn a bit of Chinese... but it's hard. Even something simple like "thank you" was seemingly impossible for us to get right. The tones are killer. It's also weird that the Chinese language has no easy way to say "no", which would come in handy sometimes.
• Good tea. Bad coffee. If you order coffee in China there are really high odds that it is going to be instant. Tea runs the gambit from crap to unbelievable.
  

I hope the tone of these fun observations hasn't been overly negative. We are definitely glad we went there are there are some regions we missed and would like to see. Moving there could be a tall request though - despite their impressive GDP over the past years.

I'll try to give a Loas summary without waiting a month this time.

Hope all is well. -Jim

(KFC Delivery)