This evening I came home to catch up on reading my feeds and discovered this wonderful animation giving an overview of What is China? in 10 minutes by someone called ‘Eno Jin’. As I watched it I realised something sounded familiar, then I realised that the voiceover was reading almost word-for-word a series of posts I wrote back in 2009 called ‘Chinese Culture 101‘.
If you’ve lived abroad long enough you’ve undoubtedly encountered other foreigners who are also there either by choice (like myself) or because they’ve been sent there by their employer. In my experience a lot of them tend to fall into 1 of 2 categories – those who go out of their way to integrate with the local culture and those who band together and try to recreate a feeling of “home” while constantly moaning about how much it isn’t.
When I moved to China from London I took a large pay cut and left the majority of my worldly possessions behind me. It was of course my own decision but a year later I’m not missing any of it. Surprise surprise, wealth and material possessions make little or no impact on your happiness. This got me thinking about the way most of us live our lives, and in particular after watching the “Story of Stuff” which tells provides some chilling truths about the underside of our production and consumption patterns. You might be surprised to learn that 99% of what we produce every day is thrown out within 6 months where it usually ends up in landfill, and in the past three decades,…
I wrote this sitting on the beautiful island of Jeju in South Korea where, with the rare occurrence of time to spare, came time to reflect on my current life in China. It’s been a whirlwind year with work, life, travel and learning all struggling for my attention but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Whilst my experiences in China have been overwhelmingly positive I’ve found over the past year that I’ve developed somewhat of a love-hate relationship with the country which seems to be the case for many foreigners who’ve spent an extended period here. I’ve summarised some of these feelings below in my top 5 love/hate list: Love People – I have almost always found the Chinese people to be kind, helpful and friendly. I’ve made some…
The west loves to bash China over its lack of freedom of speech but as with all stories there are two sides to the coin, and in this particular case one side has been massively overlooked. Let’s look at the facts – All news media in China is controlled by the government directly or indirectly. Anything which is published or aired has to pass up through a series of editors who are frequently briefed with what can and can’t be said. Usually the top guy is a member of the CCP and any lapse on their part can have severe consequences (demotion / job loss / prison). This is why everything you’ll hear / watch / read in China is full of praise for the Party…
If you don’t know what this means then you probably don’t have the problem (via). The biggest time suck in my digital life right now is Twitter which has a tenancy to get worse with the more people you follow (and the more you are followed). While my inbox is usually manageable my Google Reader subscriptions (100 of them) also have the ability to sap my attention with endless interesting articles to read and follow up. Where it will end I don’t know… During quiet moments I daydream about being a cave man.
In the past two weeks in China there have been two separate incidents of buses bursting into flames, firstly in Chengdu, then worryingly closer to home in Shenzhen (warning: links contain graphic photos). Tragically in the first instance 27 people died when they were trapped inside. There have been no official reasons given for the causes of the fires although there are a number of theories going around: Mechanical failure due to poor maintenance Air conditioning overheated in 30+ °C weather Passenger carrying flammable item / liquid Domestic terrorism (Tibetan independence groups etc.) When you combine any of these possible causes with the fact that most buses in China are usually horrendously overcrowded then you have a recipe for disaster. What makes it even…
If you ever wanted to know what it feels like living in the dark ages come to China right about now. Seemingly in timing with the 20th anniversary of the 1989 “incident” (as they call it around here) many popular international websites have been blocked (including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, Blogger & Hotmail) and anything that isn’t blocked is loading at a snails pace probably due to extra filtering/monitoring going on. As a citizen of the internet this makes me mad and not just because I can’t share my inane thoughts with random people online any more but because I know full well that the anniversary will pass here and no one will bat an eyelid. Whether they don’t know or don’t care…
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 updated for 21st Century China (and my current mood): Photo by wvs Oh Great Firewall shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? No, I shalt compare thee to a thorn in my backside. Thou art more restrictive and more disruptive. Rough connections do shake the darling congress of March, And 1989′s memory hath all too long a block. Sometime too hot the eye of CPC shines, And often is Youtube’s complexion dimmed; And every post from BBS sometime declines, By chance, or golden shield’s changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal censor shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that power thou ow’st, Nor shall freedom brag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.…
I was reading a great post on Shenzhen Undercover recently about the frustrations of expatiates living in China. The author hits the nail on the head; China can certainly be a frustrating place to live for foreigners. That said I think there are a few points to bear in mind here for anybody living or thinking of relocating to another country not of their own – Illustration by o_hai You are a guest in another country – don’t forget it. Treat people with respect even if they don’t show it to you. All to often expats get a bad reputation for the minority running amok abroad, don’t be one of them. Accept differences – even if you don’t like them. Shanghai is not Southend…