10 Things I Love About China

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Email from Gemma:
In the next message you have to tell me all the positives about your time in China

Have I been complaining that much? I’ve turned into a whinger. How did that happen? I put it down to being too comfortable after being here for an extended period of time. Nothing is surprising me anymore. So now it seems a good as time as any to reflect on the reasons I do really love this country.

1. Table topics

Ever had plate envy? I get it ALL the time. It pains me to choose things from a menu only to have others choose something different….and in the end, better than mine. There is nothing worse having to chow through a substandard meal only to have a look at your friend’s plate and be ogling in delight.

Plate envy is not a problem for me here in the land of ‘what’s yours is mine, what’s mine is already in my mouth’. Having several plates of food in the middle of the table at a dinner also mean that you don’t have to eat what you don’t want. You are not being rude for by-passing particular delicacies and in fact, no one even notices. You can have platefuls of food without a care in the world. My expanding waistline is testament to this. Obviously a downside is that it is very hard to monitor how much you have actually eaten but hardly eating anything at the dinner table is somewhat looked down upon. In our first weeks here many teachers commented on our lack of appetite. I had just eaten a bowel of rice and several servings of golden bread, steamed buns, beef and vegetables as well as some chicken when this was first brought to my attention. I wouldn’t eat this much in a day back home. Clearly, I am going to fade away to a shadow!

Table etiquette is a mish mash here in China. It is polite to serve all others before yourself, wash your utensils and bowls in hot tea before using them and to stand up when a toast is being made for you (and skull your drink at the end!). It is also polite to spit all bones onto the table cloth, slurp and suck at noodles and soup and leave the restaurant as soon as the last mouthful is swallowed. In other words, you don’t have to feel embarrassed when you realise that the piece of meat you have just shoved in your gob contains a big fat bone (because they all do), panic when you discover the noodle you skillfully picked up is 3 meters long or stay around for awkward small talk at the end of a dinner. The Chinese have definitely thought this through thoroughly.

2. Cute as buttons

Chinese people are precious. They are absolute darlings in all sense of the words. Well done China for breeding such a good looking race.

Let’s start with Chinese kids. Small kids. Not teenagers. Teenagers are not people so we are skipping them all together. Anyone who has spent anytime with me knows that I go gaga over small children in general. I can’t spend more than 7 minutes with one without losing all patience and interest (and sanity) but I also can’t walk past a cutie without pointing them out, saying hello or staring wide eyed at them. I am not clucky by any means. This has been happening since I can remember. I react to children the same way I react to dogs. They are all cute and cuddly until one pukes on me. Anyway, Chinese children are adorable. They are made even more adorable by the fact that by the age of, well, since birth really, each one knows how to strike a pose for the camera. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were ulstrasound pictures of Chinese children floating around with them bearing the international sign for ‘peace’ with their still developing hands. This is not a camera shy nation by any means. Parents also feed this cuteness by dressing them in the standard outfit of all things sparkly, pretty and full of attitude, teaming girls with piggy tails and boys with retro hats and bandanas as well as the addition of the all important squeaky sneakers. No, not squeaky clean sneakers. Squeaky sneakers (try saying that really fast 10 times!). With each step the child takes, a squeak echos from the soles. I’m not sure of the actual purpose of these but they definitely make Chinese children about 15% cuter.

Chinese women are stunning. Talk about hair envy, skin envy, figure envy. No wonder men from all around the world love Asian women. They are also impeccably cute. Their fashion sense is a little behind the times (see point number 4) but they can definitely pull it off. Chinese men even have the metro sexual look down pat. In fact, go to any beauty section of a supermarket or pharmacy and men’s hair products sure give their female counterparts a run for their money. The men of China are stylish from tip to toe….if not a little effeminate at times. As another intern put it: ‘Damn, gotta hand it to the Chinese male. They sure have some fashion sense. How does an English male wearing a hoodie compete with the 2011 version of Zoolander?’

3. Relationships Rules

Although the Chinese seem a very disciplined people, relationships –family, work and personal – seem to come easily and affection is shared openly. Not so openly that you think ‘get a room!’ but more touchy feely. It is not anything unusual to see girls walking hand in hands with other girls and boys doing the same. There is no personal space in China. Maybe it’s because there are so many people and space is hard to come by, especially in the big city.

Dating in China seems more straight forward then in the Western world. Somehow in the west, as modern society has moved along with divorces, more freedom of choice and women’s independence, there has been the creation of a new status of relationship. No longer is there just ‘single’, ‘in a relationship’ and ‘married’ but there is a new limbo that sits between the first two stages. It is called ‘just seeing’ someone. If I had a dollar for every time I had heard from a friend ‘No, she / he isn’t my boyfriend / girlfriend. We are just seeing in each other’ I wouldn’t actually have to work on this holiday. ‘Seeing’ each other means you are mutually exclusive and moving towards boyfriend / girlfriend status. This movement could take weeks or sometimes even months to happen. In China, this status does not exist. In fact, you can go from meeting someone to acquiring a boyfriend / girlfriend label within hours. It is very High School Musical - like and sometimes laughable. Other interns have made friends with Chinese nationals of the other sex only to be asked within the day whether they would be their significant other. While some may shake their head and giggle, thinking the idea preposterous I think it is refreshing. There is no limbo as such. Everyone knows where they stand. Love is able to blossom freely without the constant questioning of where one fits in the relationship. Like the good ol’ days really, China promotes true love and courting. I am sure that relationships come to an end just as abruptly but hey, you can’t be perfect.

The relationships between fathers and their children are delightful to watch. Fathers encourage, praise and more importantly promote a sense of fun with their younger children. They seem to spend much quality time with them and it has never been truer to say that Chinese children really are the apple of their eyes. Coming from a family where fatherly love is the core of it’s existence, China has definitely got it right on this one. It may encourage the Little Emperor phenomenon that is alive and well everywhere you look but at least the fathers of China are involved in their children’s lives in a positive manner. It’s refreshing to encounter and surprising at times.

4. Retro 80’s Alive and Well

Wonder where all the clothes of the 80’s went when they went out of fashion? Wonder no more. I found them in rural China. This counts for make- up too. Our sleepy little town may not have any pubs but other than the 17 hairdressers that have set up shop in our Kootingal sized CBD, we also have a clothes shop or two. Of course, I can’t fit into any of these retro outfits but being an 80’s baby it reminds me of spending time with my older sister, painting our faces with all the colours of the rainbow and donning fluro shirts with plenty of sparkle. Michael Jackson, old school Madonna and even teenage Kylie Minougue are still in fashion here, as are the Backstreet Boys (yes, I know they were the 90’s but still…) and the fashion that they promote so fiercely in their music videos is copied and imitated by rural Chinese folk.

To be fair, this isn’t the case for everyone. Actually, the fashion in China is quite pretty and Taylor Swift – like in the larger cities. If I could pull it off I would love China even more but right now, I am happy to just be envious of the China dolls and their sense of style.


5. Killer calves.

Squat toilets = calves to die for. Thank you China.

6. Sleepers

The Chinese have an innate ability to fall asleep under any circumstances….and wake up just as quickly. Buses are eerily quiet as each person falls into a deep sleep and I have witnessed many a national who has missed their stop altogether. As in SE Asia, we have also seen people asleep on motorbikes and scooters clocking at least 60kms an hour. These are mostly small children but how they stay upright while in full flight beats me.

It is not uncommon for me to turn up to class to find three quarters of my students catching a few minutes of shut eye between classes. Actually, it is also no uncommon for me to have to wake students up at any stage of the class. I have started deeming the success of a class based on how few students fall asleep. It has taken me a while not to take it personally. With the schedule they keep I could be performing acrobatics Cirque du Soleil style and there would be at least one child catching some z’s.

The importance of sleep is promoted thoroughly through China. Much like the siesta, China has their own version of ‘nanna nap’ time. After lunch at the school, students and teachers go back to the dorms and apartments for a compulsory kip. You know that it is time to sleep because a bell will ring. Another will ring when it is time to wake up. One lunchtime, whilst sitting in the park and enjoying the first rays of sun I had encountered for months, I had several teachers and students express great concern that I was not having a nap. Having now been accustomed to the routine of eating lunch, a phone call back to Australia and a 2 hour sleep before afternoon classes, I think it is going to be quite hard to kick this new habit of daily ‘nanna’s’. The next country I go to will have to have similar arrangements methinks.

Please note: I have always been a great sleeper. It is definitely in my ‘Top 3 Greatest Attributes’ but China, well, China has decided that sleeping a whole night through is not something that I need to do anymore. 4am wake ups have become the norm. Not because I have to. Just because I can apparently. I do not agree with this decision. China and I will be having words.

7. The Cost of Happiness

750ml of beer - $0.65
Ticket on Metro to get across town -$0.60
Chinese chocolate bar - $0.30
Snickers - $0.80
4GB SD Memory Card - $8.00
600ml bottle of Coke - $0.70
Polo shirt - $7.00
Night in a hostel in the city - $10.00
Movie ticket – $5.00
Dinner of four dishes and four large beers - $7.50
All you can eat pizza, sushi, chips and hotpot soup including all the beer you can drink - $8.00

8. Tradition

Having come from a country where our European history is quite young and our Aboriginal history is one of the oldest in the world, China delivers in awe inspiring ways when it comes to a good historical yarn, magnificent buildings and temples, traditional holidays and a Confucius saying that applies to each situation (as opposed to me linking everything back to an episode of The Simpsons).

I have been lucky enough to visit places of great tradition and steeped in history, witnessed ceremonies relating to patriotism and culture and even crashed a wedding or two. Chinese traditions such as a Tea Ceremony are held in great esteem and are delightful to witness as are other daily traditions such as flag raising ceremonies held at schools. The Chinese feel a great link to their past and a love of their country that runs deep.

9. Escapism

It is easy to escape the Western world and it’s media hype about everything here in China. The media of course is heavily controlled by the government as is the internet. Myself and other interns have paid good money to bypass this buying VPN’s to access Facebook, newspaper websites and even this blog.

With no access to a television, I would have had no idea otherwise regarding the Royal Wedding, the death of bin Laden or the earthquake and tornado in New Zealand. The Chinese papers do report on the events but of course it is not only in Chinese, but also highly edited. According to other teachers, the newspapers and news will very rarely report on the horrid things of the world and sugar coat most stories. As a result, the Chinese, although very intelligent, are quite easily mislead by facts presented by different media outlets. Sometimes, the facts that they hear are not entirely correct. Tibet is not only a free country but also very much part of China. Osama bin Laden was a ‘good father’, ‘very manly’ and an ‘idol’. Prince Harry got married to Kate Middleton. Ahhh, gotta love the media.

10. Everything else!

The cities; the towns; the bus system; the carb – loading; the students sense of humor; being loved because we are white, getting away with being stupid because we don’t understand the language; Chinglish ( the mix of English and Chinese); the subway; the funny things you can buy in a grocery store; the temples; the gardens; the Buddhist culture; the intelligence and discipline of the people; KTV; nightclubs; badminton; basketball; rice wine; not having to dress up to go out; the soap operas on television and of course, the people in general.

So at the end of the day there are so many things that I do love about living here but after 4 months I am saying goodbye to this lovely country after a weekend of madness in Zhuhai with my new found teaching colleagues and hosting a ‘Western style’ dinner with the Chinese teachers at the school. I feel I have experienced as much as I can really, and that staying the extra few weeks will not add anything more to my time here. It’s definitely time to move on. My bags are nearly packed (OK, that’s a lie. They are nowhere near ready.), resignation handed in and my flight out of Hong Kong has been booked. Next stop (insert very cool, very beautiful destination here)!

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