I’ve been in and out of China since 2010. More times than I can count. I stopped counting. Overall I have a really high opinion for most of China, the Chinese citizens, and the culture.
It has it’s ups, and downs. It’s flaws, just like every country.
One of the things I don’t really like is the censorship, the great wall. Not that it matters anymore. It’s more of a nuisance. Anyone who knows how to use a phone or laptop has a VPN in China. The great wall that China uses only affects non-tech people. With the generations growing up on computers and tech, every single person knows how to bypass the block, so essentially the great wall serves no purpose.
The best thing about China, and the culture there is how friendly everyone is. It’s positive discrimination. Everyone wants to meet you, everyone wants to take a picture. People who are complete strangers will meet you and 5 minutes after talking they are inviting you to their homes to share a meal. Overall, from a foreigners perspective, they are very friendly.
One thing about being a foreigner there for a while, is you get introduced to something people refer to as a white monkey job. White monkey jobs in China is where the only qualification to 100% get the job, is being white. That’s it, you don’t need to know any Chinese. And in some cases if you do, they’ll tell you to pretend you dont know it. Whether your paid to eat at a certain restaurant, or paid to sit quietly in a board meeting for a company, or paid to give a speech about – it doesn’t matter as long as it’s not in the Chinese language. Being white in China attracts customers, it attracts better business deals. Especially if they want investors. And these (usually illegal) jobs sometimes pay very well.
Dogs. I personally have always thought of dogs as a pet, growing up in Canada, it’s the culture. Seeing thousands of dogs in marketplaces in China was a culture shock. I’m used it now. I’ve sat at hundreds of tables over the years where people eat dogs in restaurants. I’ve never personally ate dog as far as I am aware. I do not condone the abuse the dogs receive before being slaughtered. But I still respect the traditions (that is dying out). Less and less people eat dogs, and I think it’ll phase out within 40–50 years.
Recently in China more and more insurance companies are now offering what is called helping insurance. This is where if another human in China needs assistance, you are insured to help them. Now you might be thinking, what, why? China has a very ‘it’s not my business’ type of approach to everything. If it doesn’t affect you, don’t interfere. This can be attributed to the growing scams that affect China. It’s not uncommon that the person you may want to help, ends up blaming you. Example: lady falls, you help her up. She blames you since you touched her to help, saying you caused it from the start…. you pay her medical bills.
Besides the government issues, and alarming growth rate of scams, just about all else in China is amazing.
Not all of the China government is what I feel to be backwards, they have made great progress the last 5 or more years especially with the economy, and environment.
China is in the position with it’s growth to be the worlds biggest powerhouse, and it’s doing it. China makes more millionaires than any other country. China’s catching up in the tech world and surpassing everyone. It’s the best opportunity as a foreigner to make a lot of money by investing in China’s businesses.
China also has the best food. You can live in China for 20 years, travel all over and never eat the same food. Every province you go to has a complete different palate.
I’ve eaten everywhere, and wow, the food is amazing. I’ve got over 7200 images saved up over the years from food pictures I’ve taken. I would have had more too if two of my phones weren’t stolen while I was there. If you are a big foodie, then China has to be one of your stops.
Corruption in China exists, it exists in all levels of society, military, and government. It’s not really growing, but it’s not really going away. It’s not too too bad, there are many other countries that are worse. And I got to experience it first hand from spending a lot of time in China.
One thing is driving as a foreigner, whether you have a license or not, it doesn’t always matter. Some police, not all, if they want money will target foreigners who are driving, and may make up a fake excuse that you did something wrong. What they want is money, you pay them money, and they won’t write you a ticket and let you go on your way. This is true even if you have no license, they’ll let you drive off once paying them their fee. This doesn’t happen in big cities where things are more strict, but it still happens in other areas.
Toll routes. Tolls routes are very easy to get by without ever paying, even as a foreigner. There are countless places that will make you ID’s. Teacher, Special Driver, even Military. Flash a military fake ID at a checkpoint/toll route and you can get by without paying the 5, 10 or 20 RMB (varies). But if they catch you, they will either call the police, or request under the table payment. It depends on who you get.
Import/export corruption exists too, it’s very political. Everything that high up has to do with relationships. If you have a great relationship with very powerful people in China, their influence has a lot of reach. So much so that certain people (even if they are not government) has the power to restrict or change exportation out of China. So if a large company like Walmart pisses the wrong person off, they could essentially increase Walmarts export tax rate on their own. And I’ve seen how this can work (Walmart was just an example). Or if some powerful person doesn’t like a foreign company, suddenly that company can be cut off from all Chinese business.
Because of all the government work on environmental issues, pollution in China is decreasing. Areas that were smog before and hard to breathe have great big blue skies and fresh air.
Which brings me to my next point, China has the best locations. China is an amazing country for tourists. You can go to China 20 different times, to 20 complete different areas and still not see everything.
The first week I was in China for business, I got off the plane in Shanghai back in 2010, and took a 8 hour bus to Yiwu. On that trip I went to zoo’s, I went white water rafting and got a bad sunburn, I went to water parks, ice caves, etc. I got to see ancient cities and film/movie locations. There is just soo much to see there.
Each time I went, I got to do new stuff. In 2011 I did archery for the first time. But I never hit the mark, so I didn’t win a free chicken. I saw even more ancient cities from famous movies. Soo many to see.
Then there is the really famous tourist locations.
I’m talking GuiLin. The Li River. Yangshuo. And all the areas around there.
Without a doubt the best area in all of China for tourists. It deserves to be talked about more.
GuiLin area is my favorite in all of China. So much so I own a ton of property there. Farmland, factories, retail stores, houses, apartments, you name it, I got it now.
Each time I go to China, I got to go there also. If not for the scenery, then for the noodles.
The Li River, is a great quiet place. It smells fresh, and amazing. Nature there sounds wonderful.
There is nothing like the feeling of being on a raft in the river, and just drifting. From sun up, to sun down. It’s amazing.
It’s such a calming area, that you can literally fall asleep on a raft, on the river and have the best sleep you’ll ever have in your life. I just wish I could get wifi there and I’d be taking out my laptop there to get work done.
One other great thing I like about China is the shopping/night life. When the sun goes down, the street vendors come out. And as a foreigner, it’s really cool to see it all.
Side/smaller streets get closed off from calls, and Chinese Entrepreneurs with a cart comes and setups. They unfold their carts and tents come out, tables, and all their products.
Food vendors setup, with beer, BBQ and everything you could want in an evening meal. Tables and chairs get setup and they’ll come take your order. Meats and vegetables fried in oil, then grilled on the BBQ with tons of chili sauce. Mmmmmm, even spicy grilled corn on the cob.
Everything in China is very inexpensive compared to other countries. So this makes China great for foreigners.
You can work 1 year in a pace like Canada, or the USA, and live off of that money for 5 years in China.
Everything is cheap from internet, rent, travel, phones, food, drinks, etc.
I was given a VIP Exclusive Lifetime Pass for free to all movies in China. Because I am a foreigner and I like to drink there. I can see any movie I want for free.
Beer in China is around $0.50 cents Canadian (CAD), where as in Canada, that size would be about $6.50.
I paid I think $50 CAD per year for Internet in China at one of my apartments. In Canada I pay $119 CAD per month. That’s 28x cheaper in China.
Phone, same thing, cheap in China, expensive everywhere else.
Out in the country is unique in itself. Seeing where all the vegetables, fruits and rice is produced that makes it’s way to the USA and Canada. I got my hands in all of it just to try it out.
And I have respect now for the farmers in China. A regular tourist to China wouldn’t normally get to the countryside in China, it’s too far out from the tourist locations.
But I got to haul rice up to rooftops by hand, big bags. Up two, three, sometimes four flights of stairs, and dump the rice out on flat roof tops to let it dry before it gets sold.
I got to move up and down rows of fresh growing produce. Like lettuce, taro, celery, cabbage, and more, and learn how to ‘weed’ it to get rid of the bad stuff.
It’s been an amazing experience that I was doing between my business work there.
You can even pay a camera and makeup/costume crew of 10–12 people to follow you around for 2 days for same price as getting 1 person for 1 hour in Canada.
Most of everyone I have met in China has been amazing.
China does have some issues, but the good is way better. It’s a great country. And everyone needs to visit it at least once in their lifetime.
I have just over 19,000 photos taken in China since 2010. I never did sort it all, there is just too much. 40% is food, 40% is scenery, the rest is mixed.