What's it like living in China for the past 6 years without going back home ? Ask me! PART 1

Originally posted by crackerjack

Originally posted by theknuckler
reply to post by crackerjack

Congratulations! It took you 6 years to figure that out. Takes most normal people, I don't know, 10 seconds.

edit on 9-10-2012 by theknuckler because: (no reason given)

Hey I know what, how about you come here, leave everything you know behind and start back at square 1.
Then tell me how long it takes you to figure out an entirely different culture.

Friend, don't let posters like theknuckler get to you, ignore them most are Trolls just look at their posting habits in their profiles.

So, do you and your wife get up North much?
What do you think of their trains, My husband couldn't fit on the bed, to tall and wide in the shoulders, he has to sleep on his side knees bet, he hates it
Of-course I'm your standard Chinese woman, 5'3" 118lbs then. Don't forget to tell any future travelers to China,,, they need to bring their own Toilet Paper to all Public places and on trains too.

Originally posted by antar
When did you learn the language? Did you learn while living in China or did you study before?

Also have you ever become suspect of being a spy? Are you concerned about it?

And one more for now, since you said your family is Chinese, when you do come home will you be able to get a visa for them? How easy/hard is it to get one?

Chinese is a hard language to learn with all the different tones, I know basic Chinese and I still have lessons twice a week.
When I first came over I knew absolutely nothing at all, I wanted to throw myself right in the deep end, it was my first time to travel overseas.
It's really not like that here. There's some area's that foreigners are forbidden to go.
For my wife, it should be fairly simple for visa's, she's well skilled, educated, very very fluent English plus she owns some assets here. My son is already an Australian.

Originally posted by antar
Opps one more, you said that much of the junk that they manufacture is slated to go to the EU, so what countries specifically do they send to the most? You know Americans have this idea that most of their business is with the American consumers and that they owe us a debt of gratitude for it, that if we just boycotted buying Chinese made goods that it would sink the Chinese economy.

Also what do the Chinese people think of westerners and how safe is travel to the country now verses 6 years ago?

From the factories I go, alot if it goes to eastern EU and Russia. Russians buy HUGE amounts from the Chinese.

reply to post by univac500


That is great man, I never knew that they did that. I love the design.

Originally posted by crackerjack

Originally posted by antar
Opps one more, you said that much of the junk that they manufacture is slated to go to the EU, so what countries specifically do they send to the most? You know Americans have this idea that most of their business is with the American consumers and that they owe us a debt of gratitude for it, that if we just boycotted buying Chinese made goods that it would sink the Chinese economy.

Also what do the Chinese people think of westerners and how safe is travel to the country now verses 6 years ago?

From the factories I go, alot if it goes to eastern EU and Russia. Russians buy HUGE amounts from the Chinese.

Just curious, what is tought about God and faith over there in China? Is Christianity only allowed to be taught a speciific way under certain rules of the government? I take it really depends on location but you might know.

Originally posted by OKThunder

Just curious, what is tought about God and faith over there in China? Is Christianity only allowed to be taught a speciific way under certain rules of the government? I take it really depends on location but you might know.

edit on 9-10-2012 by OKThunder because: (no reason given)

Funny you should say that, it's very regulated here, I know a die hard christian guy here who was telling about it.
Have to apply for a licence from the government for any religions worship establishment, it's really hard to get, but they do allow it.
My wife's mother got converted to a christian the other month apparently by door knockers and she lives in a small town.

The big no no religion over here is fa-lu-n g-ong, it's blacklisted on the mainland.

Originally posted by antar
Also what do the Chinese people think of westerners and how safe is travel to the country now verses 6 years ago?

Westerners are thought of by some as fairly 'open' people in regards to thoughts and sex.
I think the security has improved a little since six years ago where I live, alot smaller factories got pushed out of the larger cities and the area's redeveloped for residential, more of a middle class society feel now.

Originally posted by guohua

Friend, don't let posters like theknuckler get to you, ignore them most are Trolls just look at their posting habits in their profiles.

So, do you and your wife get up North much?
What do you think of their trains, My husband couldn't fit on the bed, to tall and wide in the shoulders, he has to sleep on his side knees bet, he hates it

Of-course I'm your standard Chinese woman, 5'3" 118lbs then. Don't forget to tell any future travelers to China,,, they need to bring their own Toilet Paper to all Public places and on trains too.

Thanks, I'm used to ATS trolls now, trolls under the bridge for me.
I migrate to Shangdong with my wife about once a year, I love the trains if going by group but hate the thefts.
I'm only 5'10, 70KG so the beds suit me fine.
Toilet paper ahh yes, my wife has like 2 spare rolls anywhere we go.

what kind of cars do people drive.
what is the price of gas.
do they have doughnuts and pizza
are the women cute
do they have any sports(traditional) local leagues
do they have pachinko? everywhere like Tokyo
hows the food, what is there version of take out/fast food
here we have chinese fast food joints, do they have like fast food steak houses or something lol?
what is the speed limits
my friend and co workers all say its real humid there, is that just in the Beijing areas? does it snow there?
do they celebrate christmas/halloween
how are the cops are they mean dorky strict?
can you smoke marijuana or any other drugs legal there
how strict are the rules, do you get a hand cut off for jay walking or something
how expensive are the houses/apartments
how much do american cigarettes cost do the chinese have own cigarettes, what are they called
do you see ninjas around every corner and if so is everybody kung fu fighting?
what kind of pets do they have, and when they die , do they eat them?

reply to post by crackerjack

Two Spare There's a Smart Woman.

Westerners just don't understand that at all. Do you use the Western style toilet or the standard Squatting type?

It use different at first to use American Toilets and to not have to carry paper with me, but I must admit, I like it.
Especially on moving trains, it's hard for most westerners to squat as the trains moving and you don't have any hand-bars or railings to hold on to.

Westerners would be alarmed as they went into a large store in a main city and had their hand bag / purse strapped shut with some sort of ties so you could not open your purse and steal something.

Thank you again for the thread and a trip done memory lane, we were just back in Harbin last month to visit.
We never have problems with getting a Visa to visit.

reply to post by ~widowmaker~

do they have doughnuts and pizza are the women cute

Did you not read my post or watch the Hooters Videos?
Are the girls Cute?
Damn Right They Are! I can't keep my husbands hands off me, even at our age
Here she's Chinese and moved to America with her parent, they are also Professional Musicians.

Now she's Talented, Yes? Cute too by most Males Standards I Know,,, and You?

Sorry My Friend crackerjack, Don't want to Hijack Your Thread!
Some people don't read before they post!

I forgot to add, Tina Guo is a Friend of ATS'er ThePublicEnemyNo1

reply to post by guohua


I use a western toilet here, the local ones are much easier to keep clean though.
I know for the whole Visa thing next year they are completely changing it all again next June/July when the new administration comes in.
I heard there's only going to be a 45 day entry limit with all Visa's, so kinda sucks if you live right it the middle of China, for me a border run is only 2 hours away by train.

reply to post by ~widowmaker~

can you smoke marijuana or any other drugs legal there

I won't try it

Caught Using Or In Possession Of Marijuana You Not Only Risk Imprisonment . . . You Risk Your Life!

China marked the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking Sunday by ordering the execution of at least 24 people for drug crimes in one city alone, with five of them meeting their fates immediately, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, more than 10,000 people marched from Beijing's Summer Palace, a symbol of China's defeat in the 19th Century's Opi*um Wars, to raise awareness of the drug threat.

www.420magazine.com...

Death row inmates were escorted off the trial site to the execution ground.

www.ministryoftofu.com...
You don't want to get caught using or transporting drugs in China. They don't play games, executions are normally carried out the same day, there are No Appeals to File, You're just Dead!

welp seals the deal there then, wont EVER be visiting that country EVER, lol, ill stick with holland , much more friendly and everyone is a giant, including the women mmmmmm giant women mmmmmm



just a thought, i always find it odd when people are in executions lines or on way to death row or about to get head cut off, why they dont act out and go crazy, i mean wth they just gonna kill you anyways, mine as well get a few bloody noses in while your at it ^^

I own my own business that deal with wealthy Chinese people, I myself am American but mom is Taiwanese and the two cultures, despite their sharing of origins are MASSIVELY different.

I can tell stories all day that only people like the OP would get but in the end, all of his points are pretty accurate.

Mainland Chinese people can be a pain to work with but I don't blame them, its not their fault...it really isn't. Its not their fault that their economy grew faster than their morality. Developing an empathetic and moral society needs time, lots of time. We had about 40+ years before we became really wealthy, China only had 20.

Originally posted by ~widowmaker~
what kind of cars do people drive.
what is the price of gas.
do they have doughnuts and pizza
are the women cute
do they have any sports(traditional) local leagues
do they have pachinko? everywhere like Tokyo
hows the food, what is there version of take out/fast food
here we have chinese fast food joints, do they have like fast food steak houses or something lol?
what is the speed limits
my friend and co workers all say its real humid there, is that just in the Beijing areas? does it snow there?
do they celebrate christmas/halloween
how are the cops are they mean dorky strict?
can you smoke marijuana or any other drugs legal there
how strict are the rules, do you get a hand cut off for jay walking or something
how expensive are the houses/apartments
how much do american cigarettes cost do the chinese have own cigarettes, what are they called
do you see ninjas around every corner and if so is everybody kung fu fighting?
what kind of pets do they have, and when they die , do they eat them?

1) Many especially in lower tier cities drive domestic Chinese cheap cars (they can only afford so much). In the bigger cities, you often see a lot of nice cars.
2) Gas is a little cheaper there
3) Yes they have doughnuts and pizza but typically they aren't the same. Doughnuts aren't as sweet, pizza isn't as big and they have different toppings like corn and seafood.
4) Women...just like everywhere else there are good looking and not good looking.
5) Most sports are westernized
6) Food is excellent, quality is very poor in certain places (like street food) but Chinese food is GREAT! they have their own fast food of chinese food, KFC is huge there, you can get noodles, rice, BK, Japanese, Crepes..etc...Whats most interesting to me is that there are Haggen Daz ice cream cafes, they are EXPENSIVE! When I was in China a double scoop cost about $10 USD.
7) Speed limit varies, they have cameras on the highways that can see if you're going too fast and they fine you.
8) Humidity is higher in the south where they're closer to the equator, Beijing is dry and very cold in winter.
9) They celebrate western holidays more as a novelty so you won't be finding it in too many households.
10) Cops there power trip way more than here in the US, they get the job done though..haha. Its cause they have MORE power..aren't restrained by much.
11) No drugs..no weapons either.
12) Dude everybody jay walks in China, the rules aren't as strict as Singapore.
13) In the big cities, apartments can be equal to that of big cities in the US or somtimes even more. I recently read a city villa in Beijing sold for $43 MILLION USD.
14) Cigs are called "YIEN" smoking is much more prevalent in China than US..in my opinion.
15) no ninjas
16) Im sure many have pets...having pets is more of an American thing though.

reply to post by crackerjack


Haha! Circles, crackerjack, circles!!

Before I stepped into this thread, jus by seeing the title, I had an overall picture what you might say, and i'm not surprised that I am right. All you have said so far are FACTS, so I agree with you , although to some extent . To sum up 85 percent of chinese people , vanity is their main thing ... thus materialism is another.. (Is that also true for most human beings? maybe more on that later )....

As a thirty two yrs old chinese native, I based my views on first hand experience and observation , I would say that about 85 percent is rather safe an estimation, especially considering a country with SO MANY people.. And the numbers here are not static, means it is in constant change, maybe back and forth, or maybe the scale is just leaning to one side, more and more poeple are joining the 'new club'. As a whole what 'chinese people' think today is notably(because I know it and feel it) different than 6 years ago ,which is 2006. So this should be taken into account too.

However, ..... 'Common' folks here are just close minded, and lack of faith, (thus) ignorant, (thus) equally arrogant, if you got less or little substance 'inside', you have to search from 'outside' to fill in your empty, ---materialism is an understandable option, or lets just say, money!!!

1. Among the 85 percent, some crave for social image in a SICK way most often than not!!! I have been abroad too, I have to say some people in my country amazes me most in terms of the magnitude of their ridiculus pride. 'They' care so much about what they look like to others, what others would think about them....they use all means possible to show that they wont be disrespected among the masses. At this point, those foreign brands ,of all cool things(most were just luxuries) were chosen as a status 'mark' , .....

2. the reason 'they' go for the physical gain, is basically the same as why 'they' care less about the truth, the real knowledge , and the wisdom in life, as a consequence, 'What people THINK/SAY this is' is more important thant 'What it ACTUALLY is', generally 'they' do not have the motive to think/dig deeper, here the independent/critical thinking is absent. 'They' follow the masses, whatever that be. Thus 'they' might appear to you as smart, clever, or very intelligent, but again real wisdom which has something to do with 'the heart part' is not so often to 'pop up' if at all.

Given this situation, you literally have to learn WHERE TO LOOK to identify the rest 15 percent, and trust me most of them keep a very low profile...

You have to find the correct circles of people. ....as a typical case ,say a westerner (male) walked into a local bar in china ,trying to meet decent traditional female , only to get himself cheated on by someone who has a deeper plot...

Wrong spot! . Good girls dont go there for a 'foreign talk' ( ok, extremely rare exception)..

And for the wine , it has NEVER played a key part in my relationship with friends(all of them dont smoke or drink very very little) or business partners, although i know its important in the culture, but you can always choose not to follow 'their' rules can you .

Watch Ridley Scott's 'Black Rain', you might like to ponder on that film for a little bit, and if you already seen it you maybe know what I mean, same old story, my friend, same old story here, only a different 'reflection'...a different facet on that same CRYSTAL maybe..

reply to post by crackerjack


WELL DONE. Great thread.

1. I taught at a Provincial Capital Univ in a Southern Port city for 2 years there.

2. I taught at university in Taiwan for 13 years.

3. I loved both places. I loved China somewhat more in that many of the people I interacted with were very close to the nitty gritties of life. That is, they REALLY knew what it took to work hard; get ahead; study hard etc.

4. They loved that I was authentic, honest, sincerely loving, kind, servant-hearted, demonstrated authentic humility in contrast to most PhD's etc. and responded in kind.

5. Yes, the mercinary aspects were plenty present on the part of a ton of the people.

6. Yet, there were a fair number who had a lot of individual integrity and didn't stoop to such. They might be hard to find in some settings, groups and not in others.

7. I associated a lot with Christians when I could and Christianity there, ON THE WHOLE, is a much higher quality than Christianity in the USA. When Christianity cost your parents their lives or caused you to suffer prison and torture . . . it's not a SOCIAL thing. It's REAL FAITH IN A REAL GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB.

8. The ethic of valuing education there is still strong in spite of the Cultural Revolution--perhaps even more because of it.

9. Yes, the mercinary aspect is strong for the vast majority. Money is at least as much an idol there as in the USA.

10. So is status and certainly POWER.

11. I believe that the LACK of a Judeo-Christian substrate PLUS the moral hollowness of corrupt Communism has left most citizens with a dog-eat-dog--me-first mentality. Most see others who don't have such values as stupid.

11.1 HOWEVER, Even a Communist Party Government study documented that Christians in China were the most

A) reliable
B) trustworthy
C) dependable
D) industrious
E) honorable

etc. and therefore highly prized as employees and bosses.

12. Everyone complains about the back doors of corruption to get what they want--and yet are first in line to do it.

13. When I went to China, I was stupidly proud that the USA was not as corrupt. I was wrong. Now we have a Marxist globalist Kenyan traitor deliberately destroying the USA as rapidly and thoroughly as he can and all primed to do even far worse if he gets in a 2nd term. His administration is WORSE than many in China. He is a compulsive pathological liar; a clinical narcissist; arrogant to the max etc. far worse than the worst I met in China.

14. At least the leaders in China do better at PRETENDING to serve the people in SOME respects. And, there is, IN SOME contexts, much MORE group consensus work toward decisions that affect the whole group.

15. Authenticity, humility, kindness go a LONG way in China toward building genuine friendships that are trustworthy--much more than alcohol and other greasy "Gwan-shee."

16. When Tienanmen and the Democracy demonstrations brought China to the brink of Civil war, I had several families come to me quietly and say to me: 'Don't worry, Dr X, we will protect you and hide you.' when the government was stirring up anti-American propaganda to blame it all on the USA. THOSE FAMILIES KNEW THEY WOULD BE RISKING THEIR OWN LIVES AND JOB FUTURES. They meant it. Thankfully, it didn't come to that. I'll never forget that. Those priceless, loving, servant-hearted people will always have my heart.

17. People would often ask me if Chinese people had the same psychological problems as Americans. Yes! All the same stuff. People are people the world over. Some of the group EXPRESSIONS, NORMS of the same problems may be different but the root problems are the same.

18. Certainly loss of face and pride issues are more intense in Asia in general and certainly in China and Japan. A LOT of dramatic and costly even deadly stuff can occur because of those issues. Americans are a bit more covert about such issues.

19. Taiwan and Southern China have great fruit. Greatly miss that.

20. I finally found a place to get brown rice on special personal order where they milled it. They thought I was silly for wanting it but obliged me.

21. The guest house cooked elaborate special dishes--most of which the foreign staff didn't really like. Finally, I risked the unthinkable and sat down with the cooks and an interpreter and hammered out some basic dishes that were relatively easy--a lot easIER, actually--for them to prepare and which were safer and more palatable to the Western teachers. The cooks declared on my leaving that I was the best foreign Friend they'd ever had. Normally, even the Emporer was cautious about questioning or complaining to the cooks. LOL.

22. The Christians were priceless. I knew one invalid who used a hand crank tricycle to come 4 hours to church--I forget--maybe 3 times a week. That's dedication, folks.

End of characters. I'll stop here. I'd be interested in your responses to the above

well ive always been enticed to go, because i have a couple chinese friends/co-workers, but they all know i smoke so now i think they just trying to get a gringo killed lol,,, hahah what do they call white people for slang?
are they racist/ethno-centric? are there certain parts that are more so than others, say like southern america?

Originally posted by ~widowmaker~
what do they call white people for slang?
are they racist/ethno-centric?

They call us "Wy guo ren" . . . foreigners . . . Though . . . mostly, the culture calls us/considers us "Barbarians."

Anyone unfortunate enough to not be born Chinese, is, of course, a barbarian.

Certainly the Chinese and the Japanese are hyper . . . racist . . . as cultures . . .

Thankfully, not all individuals are. Many are not.

But it's pretty pervasive and probably all have some hint of it, at least.

I forget the Chinese saying . . . the ideal was something like this . . .

to have

--a Chinese cook
--a Chinese wife
--a German chauffer and mechanic
--a French mistress
--an American employer?

I forget the rest.

reply to post by ~widowmaker~


Mao told Julie Nixon Eisenhower that he'd only been able to change things around Beijing a little for a while.

I don't know anyone who seriously thinks they understand the depth and breadth of China . . . unless they are ignorant and arrogant.

It's a wonderously fascinating place and the people are super fascinating . . . and as precious . . . as some are ruthless.