February 28, 2008
Life in China — Three Quick Examples
These three things happened in rapid succession to me today, which I thought were pretty illustrative of life in China:
1) In a plane … I had an aisle seat, but was standing at the back of the plane before take-off. A woman arrived who had the seat next to me (the middle seat). She sat in my seat where I had placed my neck rest (she sat on top of the neck rest, lol). I walked over and told her to move. Then the guy who had the window seat showed up. He said do you want to switch with me, the window seat is very comfortable! I declined.
2) In a cab … the fare was 86 kuai, I gave him a 100 kuai bill. He gave me 10 change. I said where’s the other 4. He said oh, you want that? and then grumbled “cheap $^&*@” under his breath.
3) In a restaurant … ordered some stuff to eat. The waitress came over and said they didn’t have one of the dishes I ordered, and did I want to cancel it. I said yes. The bill comes. The cancelled dish is on the bill. I say remove it. They do, grudgingly.
My point is that life in China is a struggle. :-) Practically everybody is *constantly* trying to get over on everybody else, and foreigners make especially good targets to screw because the locals believe a) you’re rich, and b) you’re clueless. It’s dog eat dog to the Nth degree. 1.3 billion people all struggling to get ahead at the same time. It’s wild.
If you’re new to living in China, here’s my advice: keep your eyes and ears open, understand that this is a culture deeply informed by scarcity, keep one hand on your wallet, stay cheerful!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
sorry to see those. i don’t feel comfortable to live in beijing as well, even though i was a native beijinger. i got pissed off easily here. maybe it has a rapid growing economy, but the quality of life sucks and i hate it.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
CM: Although I don’t live in China, my experiences have been similar when I was there.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Thanks for stating the truth.
The typical “they are just the most hospitable people you’ll ever want to meet”, which is said about every underdeveloped countries’ peoples, is a bunch of crap. There is a reason billions live in poverty and this is it. Life is created by giving and destroyed by taking.
The bubble will not only pop in china, but explode, and the phrase “it won’t be pretty” doesn’t even begin to describe what it will be like.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I can see the parallels with India.
I had my (US-made) treadmill repaired in India from a brand-name “exercise equipment” store. After repairing it the guy asked me for $100. I paid him $50 and asked him to come back with a fully itemized bill (showing the breakup of labor and parts), and then I’d pay the other $50.
He never returned. I suspect the cost of the repair was closer to $20.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Reminds me of the Chinese in Sarawak. My nature is to trust people, but I think what saves me is I don’t speak Hokkien, so my wife makes up the responses for me. The real kings are the foochow. They wear me out.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Very interesting. You may be interested in my nineteen posts from my 4.5 months in China is 2007. See here for my pictures, observations on capitalism, food, hotels, construction boom, etc. See my other blog for my observations about Christianity in China.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I agree with most of the above comments that inefficiencies are apparent. Cultural differences will make you annoyed frequently. But Maoxian are you not richer than most of the locals! In all countries with low GDP per capita there are going to be people struggling to make a better life for themselves. If you were one of them would you be humble and content with your lot in life? Also a question do you think poor people in China are more content than poor people in the US? I think its difficult to see it from a have-nots perspective but I am thankful anyway that in my 4.5 yrs in Beijing I have never been robbed or assaulted or seen or heard of any violent crimes (against foreigners).
February 29th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Nik: I’m not asking for people to be humble and content, I’m just looking for honesty and decency in everyone, ya know, the little things. :)
February 29th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Yeah, I hear you. If only. It’s called suzhi “素质” in Chinese and I think most Chinese would agree to say that the suzhi levels are not high by any means on the mainland :)
February 29th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Nik: Yes, “suzhi” is a tough term to translate and I often use it to chastise people (anyone I see litter will get a nice talking to) … in fact, probably the most frequent expression I use here is 你这什么素质？lol.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Similar story here in Thailand, main difference is here they’ll try to screw you while remaining polite and smiling :-)
Vietnam btw tops the chart I think, but only just slightly beating India to it.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
eyal: My experience in Thailand was that the locals weren’t interested in making the effort to screw you … they just couldn’t be bothered. This is why ethnic Chinese control 98% of the Thai (and every other SE Asian) economy. :)
February 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
They’re a lot more subtle about it, but it’s definitely not uncommon.
On the oversea Chinese thing, I think it’s partly out of necessity as immigrants and partly out of a risk taking nature, kind of like the positive flip side of gambling :-)
March 1st, 2008 at 1:14 am
Great post Maoxian.
Sounds like an auto mechanic are decendents from Asia.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
the post could have just as easily been describing life in nyc with only lofan involved.
March 1st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
veb: What’s a lofan?
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
“It’s dog eat dog to the Nth degree. 1.3 billion people all struggling to get ahead at the same time. It’s wild.”
Loved that comment - so aptly described what China is today. While I can understand that it definitely hurts big time quality of life in this country, esp in the big cities.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
crazy people say crazy stuff. so what do u call enron, worldcom, tyco, arthur andersen, etc.? have u watched ‘american greed’ on cnbc? come on guys, crooks r everywhere. not only in china, india, thailand, etc. get used to it, and move on. as they say, if u dont like it, go back to ur own country. trust me, ur native country (which is not ‘native’ in the 1st place) is more corrupt than u think!
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
ydeng: Crooks may be everywhere but it’s the difference between occasional acts of lawlessness within a lawful society (US) and occasional acts of lawfulness within a lawless society (China).
Things are getting better and better every day in China as it moves toward a system ruled by laws (the new property law is a *huge* step in the right direction, for example).
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Very fascinating post Maoxian. I actually feel that way about London - but I know its more peaceful in London than China (still everyone scrambling and competing though). When I first went to China in 2001 (south and southwest) I dont think it was like you describe - I was actually amazed how community minded people were. 6 years more of capitalism has made them more competitive Im sure.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
“The waitress came over and said they didn’t have one of the dishes I ordered, and did I want to cancel it.”
I don’t get it. What was the other option? :)
The one thing I remember about my visit to China and India was the lack of lines. I got cut in front of by 4-year-olds prodded on by their parents! You won’t find that in London, everyone loves to queue up.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Jonathan: The alternative is they insist that the dish was served and I must have hid the plate. :) The British aren’t normal… they’re kind of pathological about queueing, lol.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Came across the linked article and thought it was over reactive. In fact it reminded me of y2k predictions. What’s your take on it, as you see it first hand. Are you expecting riots?
March 18th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
dayo: I don’t read anything written by small four-eyed bald men, especially when they have silly moustaches.