The Best and the Worst: #4's

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All the time I've lived in China, people always ask me what I like best and what I don't like. It's a hard question to answer. Frequently, my answer changes. Now that I'm leaving, people ask what I will and won't miss. While similar in nature to the other question, the tone of this one makes it easier to answer. Everywhere I've lived and traveled has had its pluses and minuses, and each of these is a personal preference, usually based off of my own experiences. After much thought, I've decided to tackle this in five entries.

I've been here five years, so five of each seems right. I would like to point out that none of these is meant as a criticism of China or a, "China is better than everywhere else!" statement. After five years here, I know there's still quite a bit I don't understand and probably never will. It's impossible to form a full opinion or judgement for 1.3 billion people, and I wouldn't venture to try. I wouldn't dare--I'm only one person. These are just my opinions, formed both through my personal experiences and how I'm feeling right now.

I'd be lying if I said that leaving China isn't an emotional experience. It's been my home for five years. Part of me will always feel like this is home. But it's time for the next thing.

So here's what I won't miss and what I will miss, The #4's:



The Hello! People

Why are you yelling, "HELLO!" at me, Mister Man? I don't know you. You don't care to. You didn't smile and wave. You didn't even stop to talk to me. Instead you turned to your friends, laughed, and slapped each other on the back. All because I looked at you when you screamed at me.

I am not a performing monkey. I do not find this polite or funny. When I told my students about this once, those were their initial thoughts. That is, until I flipped it around and asked how they'd feel if in the US or Australia everyone they passed yelled out, "NI HAO!" and then laughed and walked away. "Pretty terrible," they said.

I rest my case.

Now, mind you, if you smile and say hello to me in a pleasant voice, I'll more than happily smile back at you and say hello, too.



Public Transport

The public transport in China is really well developed. I don't mean that everything is shiny and new and super fast. Rather, I mean that it's thorough and pretty easy to use. And by thorough, I also mean expansive.

The subways in major cities are all in both Chinese and English. So are the announcements on the subway trains; in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, they go a step further and have Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. In major cities' train stations, many of the signs are bilingual too. Ditto for bus stations. And even if there is no English, there are pictures so you can guess your way to the ticket booth, taxi stand, or toilet.

There are maps everywhere. Maps for subway lines. Maps for the street above, with landmarks. All in two languages.

Buses and trains go everywhere here. At any point in time, I can show up to my local bus station and there's likely a bus leaving to the city I want to go to within the next few hours. Even cities I have never heard of, there's often a direct bus. In rare cases, there are only a couple buses a day. Trains leave on time, the staff speaks some English, and you can look up the schedules and rates for any ticket you could want; there are sites in both Chinese and English, and they're kept up to date. They might not show availability, and you can't buy online, but at least you know what your options are before you get to the train station.

In both train and bus stations, when I've had problems because I couldn't read where to go (the train stations are mammoth sized and quite overwhelming), all I've had to do was ask a worker, "Zai nail?" meaning, "Where is it?" and I've been pointed in the right direction. Do that a few times and you, too, can navigate your way up to the third floor, back corner waiting room.

My first year here, with little Chinese language ability, I managed to navigate my way from Shenzhen to Kunming, around Yunnan province, up to Chengdu, and then around Sichuan province, and over to Chongqing. I did this for a month. Mostly by myself.

China's public transport has enabled me to see things on my own, explore on my own, and feel more at home in China. Yes, there were times I got frustrated, but mostly the experiences just empowered me to keep trying and stay motivated. That's a really big deal when you're in a foreign land.

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Photos

Map by the exit
Notations also in two languages

Bus
Not in two languages

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Great perspective
Sorry to hear your time is coming to an end. What's next?

[sunketing]

Next
Bangkok!

[Dad and Mom]

Agree. Great mass transit
We remember how great the public transit (bus and subway) was in Shenzhen when we visited and how seemingly easy it was to get around. Hope Bangkok is just as good. American cities seem to be slowly learning the lessons the Chinese have already figured out re: how to operate a successful public transit system.

[William]

Not too crowded
I was surprised to see that the subway and landings weren't as crowded as those in London.

[sunketing]

Crowded?
It's hard to tell from the photo, but I could barely get into my bag to get my camera out. Sure I didn't have anyone literally on my foot (which has happened), but it's crowded. Trust me.