LivingTheDream's Guestbook

some thing i'd like to say
maybe facing the straightforward criticism of oneself is brutal and hard to take, especially when the criticised group consisting of 1.3 billion people and one couldn't see the critised points on himself or herself at all. so it's not an easy thing to judge 1.3 billion people, isn't it? ;-) Said by foreign colleagues that i'm not a regular Chinese, i am only saying here a few points from my perspecitive without representing 1.3 billion people. - Friendliness. maybe in Chinese culture, being friendly is very important. it is even more important when it comes to the friends from afar. therefore, i guess maybe Chinese is the most friendly people for foreigners. and this kind of friendliness is all from the bottom of the heart. (that's why "Fuwa" used to be called "Friendliness" and the first performance of OGB 2008 was acient Chinese's way of welcoming friends). maybe there are times that Chinese can't say a word of English when you try to get help from them, but very often you can see the extreme sorry look on their face and their eager to help you out. also, in Chinese culture, if you are treated well and nicely by others, you should show them the same friendliness in return. it is sth we've been told by our parents since we were very little. therefore, it might explains that Chinese people tend to feel hurt, disappointed or even insulted when we hear some criticism from the foreigners we have given friendliness. - about consideration: this is something i really want to speak loud to the outside world. for thousands of years, Chinese have been born in a vast country yet with limited resourse for each. so deep down, we know that we have to fight for more resources for ourselves, otherwise you will be left at the very bottom of the society. e.g., i still remember when i was studying in the university, which is about only 10 years ago, it would be extremely lucky even to GET ON the train during the spring festival season. "getting on the train" here means crawling in the aisle, lying under the seats, or sitting in the sink. because of the huge demand for travelling during peak times, the tickets of twice the seat number were sold for regular trains. so half of them are actually standing tickets. The trains were so crowded that it took at least 30 mins to walk though the whole car. so, i always hold myself not to use the toilet when i was traveling with these trains. at that time, the flights were totally the luxury for really rich people or business person. only few trains travelling over 100km/h on limited number of lines. therefore, i guess it might explain a bit that you can see Chinese often cutting in the queue, or Chinese/asian workers are the most dilligent in the office. meanwhile, i wouldn't say Chinese are not considerate at all. we value "harmony", we always try to save each other's "face" - it is considered a big virtue in Chinese culture. - about all these strange behaviors in foreigners' eyes. like i mentioned earlier, being in nowaday's China, especially the big cities, you couldn't be able to imagine what it was like ten or twenty years ago in China. China has experienced remarkable developments in the last decades and probably it's hard to tell the big difference of Beijing/shanghai with other mega cities around the world. so it would not be surprising that foriegners tend to judge China with the standards of advanced countries. but Ben, as you can see from your trip to western China, esp. rural places, China still belongs to the third country categary and we haven't reached that high. the poor average education level, the big regional differences, the inadequate social welfare system....etc... there are so many things we need and have to do better. However, like i said, China has only been open to the outside world for merely 30 years, and probably the first half of the 30 years was spent dealing with the mess left from the history and figuring out the way ahead. so it is not surprising or us Chinese at all that most Chinese don't speak English and hardly understand the common etiquette. I am not here defending Chinese. instead, I know very well that there are so many things most Chinese need to improve. I can openly discuss these problems with foriegn friends. and in fact, Chinese, at least some Chinese, knows how to improve our country by learning from other advanced countries( we learned the "Fetchism" of LuXun, a famous Chinese litterateur, as early as in elementary school. it is the wisdom that when opening up to the outside world, a country/person need to fetch and learn the good/compatible part while leaving the bad/not compatible part aside.) As i said, China is like a fast growing teenager. there are so many problems and pains at the moment. on one hand, it's a good thing China gets many criticism coz it helps it being on the right track and China really need to learn how to better deal with them; while on the other hand, for advanced western countries, maybe giving China a little bit more time and patience would be even more helping. so i'd like to say to my Chinese fellowmen, it's okay for foreigner to point out our shortcomings, as long as it is true. we also have another idiom, right? " you ze gai zhi, wu ze jia mian" (correct mistakes if you have made any and guard against them if you have not).

about CRH3 trains
as for the localization rate, the common saying on the media is 85%. about the truth, go find some work who are actually from the industry.

I think Traverlers is right!

It must feel GREAT
It must feel great to pass your judgment, doesn't it? You received hospitality from ppl living in that country. And when you are done traveling, there you start bitching...how ironic. Well, feel free to keep up your 'civilized' white ppl attitude and 'enjoy' the rest of your bitching 'adventure'

the train
The trains and the signaling of the tracks are supplied by Siemens"--this is not true. The Chinese bought high-speed train technologies from Japan, German, France and Canada. The first a couple of trains were manufactured by foreign companies. However, after digesting the technology, they came up with their own versions, which usually has higher speed than original ones and fits China’s existing rail system(high speed trains are not only used on High-Speed Rails, but also China’s existing 70k km regular rails). Although the trains might look like the same as the originals, they are indeed >95% "Made In China". China is still importing some key parts from these countries, but overall they managed to manufacture over 95% of the parts. And by the way, trains running between BJ and TJ are not only CRH3’s (Chinese version of Siemens' Velaro) but also CRH2’s(Japan’s E2), just another indication of China’s ability to absorb and consolidate different technologies.

Noisy Pollution long-standing
Hi buddy..now you understand my feeling about the long-standing noisy pollution in China. It was so hard to find a nice and quite place. Even Chinese people have forgotten it. For instance, a friend of my mum astonished that she could hear a bird singing through the phone when mum was chatting with her by an international call from Aussie to China. She envisaged that my mum must be seating in a peaceful place. Mum told her that she was in the room of a block, that is my rent unit. "Can't believe you could hear the bird in the city like yours. I haven't heard a bird sing a decade." said she. About China Daily, perhaps for all State-owned publishers, it is a crying shame, and personally it is a crime. What on earth they have been trying to do is to brain-wash my countrymen. And you should not worry about it too much since Chinese intellectuals always read them with doubt,:) You know, there are many people know the truth in this lonely planet. "Dear is my tutor, dearest is the truth." Carry on your journey and left unhappiness behind.

expats around china
I like your comments about the expats around china, I'm forever baffled by how so many of them think they're 'hot shots.' As well as when you see(especially in HK) caucasians with indonesian/thai girls, where the girls don't speak very well of the others' language. It's as if somehow they (caucasians) think they're going un-noticed, when clearly the girls are escorts.

Powerful Experience
Hi, Ben, it's truly a powerful and frightening experience. Please take care when you travel alone. Regards

happened to me too
damage so far: about 15,000 USD. They took 1000 Euro every day for 10 days in Ukraine and Poland. Did you get your money back?

The hostel
I've checked more info about qianmen hostel. Great location for even cheaper prices compared to the one I used to stay. Thanks for mentioning:)

Congratulations to your Chinese Visa finally
Finally, you got it with such uncomfortable experience. For me, it's a shame as I am a Chinese. However, it is quite understandable that Chinese government has tightened up the application of Chinese Visa for security during Olympic games. I was really worried about it if you were turned away from here, so as my patents did. Here you go, congratulations to you and enjoy the Games in Beijing, Ben. All the best and miss you.