Have you tried the Red Bull import? It has Thai writing on it and costs 1Kuai more so it must be legit?
Today was awesome btw. My boss met some foreigners at the mall shopping, so she gives me the afternoon off from work to take them to hot pot and opened like 6 bottles of red wine. I'm already drunk and its 4pm.
Is anyone familiar with the term "laowai bash"? I got the idea from Japan. Its just means stuff like at a KTV bar, barging into a random room with people you don't know. 9 times out of 10 you get free drinks, a new girlfriend, best friends forever (at least until the next morning when you forget everyone's name).
Chinese people are really friendly, especially to non-Chinese.
I used to "laowai bash" at the clubs in Chongqing, I guess. Though most of the time it was THEM asking me to come over. It is insane how easy it is to get a girl's WeChat in a place like that, also. Got my girlfriend that way!
People are really cool in China. Way more friendly than in Tokyo, where I went to after. Might get to return to CQ soon for work, so I'm super excited. I'll post pics from my stay there when I get back to my apartment.
I've never seen anyone who SE Asian or Caucasian in Chinese film or TV. So I really don't have a clue.
Regarding general attitudes towards black people that I have seen, mostly I would say that there is a lot of ignorance amongst Chinese but not overt racism. That being said, most of my experience is either Shanghai - where not many people seem to take note of it anyway - or a few months in a small northern town, where there was 1 black dude who had been there for 10 years and had a Chinese family.
edit: And given the talk on the previous page, I suppose it's worth mentioning that this small town had a population of 4 million.
Sup China GAF. Got family and property in Shanghai so we hit it up once or twice a year. Shanghai is best city, but I really like Hangzhou. Chengdu is good for the spicy. Where ever you are get you some jianbing... or just regular biscuit looking bing. Tibet is interesting if you can tolerate the elevation sickness.
Only thing I hate is never being able to get any ice.
What's up Chinba Gaf, going to Shanghai next Month for a 2 weeks stay. Is there any recommended tailor shop there to make a well fitting suit or two? A friend of mine brought one back from his last trip a couple of years ago and it was of good quality.
This stuff is shit! It has a completely different taste than the PBR in the normal can. I used to get the big bottles of PBR all the time, low price, decent beer. But the WW2 version is nigh undrinkable.
When I moved to Beijing from Nanjing, I took the high speed train. It took 4.5 hours. Was cheaper than the flight and considering the distances from the airport to the cities, I saved time. I also went in the first class carriage. It was a fantastic experience overall. Highly recommend traveling by high speed train.
Of course everyone says the trains were built by companies who bribed government officials to get the contracts and that they used subpar materials so the tracks will degrade, but I don't truly believe it, especially after the train tragedy a few years ago.
Nothing special I would say, but maybe because we also have those in Germany.
Of course everyone says the trains were built by companies who bribed government officials to get the contracts and that they used subpar materials so the tracks will degrade, but I don't truly believe it, especially after the train tragedy a few years ago.
That is true to a certain degree. The father of my gf is a lead engineer for one part of the railway track in beijing and you wouldnt believe how often he gets offered a bribe by some companies.
He never takes those though, because he really thinks safety is more important. Otherwise (if he would accept those) I would drive around in a Porsche right now I guess
Besides that the bribes people get offered in such positions are not just like 10.000 RMB or something small. Some collegaues of my gfs dad got really really rich by that, could afford villas and whole appartment blocks and similar things.
They can be racist, most definitely. Especially schools looking for teachers. I've got many people asking me to introduce foreigners to them as teachers, but they only want someone white. It's really annoying since I know a lot of great English speaking Africans looking for jobs.
Otherwise, being friends I don't think they have a prejudgment, but for work, they most definitely can.
I guess trains are cool for me because there really isn't much train action here in Atlanta. Roadtrip or plane is the main travel method.
Only times i've done long distance train travel was in china. There is just something great about eating instant ramen with some beef jerky and green tea egg while on a train lol.
I worked in Qingdao and Jinzhou two summers ago, it was a fantastic experience. I didn't see another western person for the eight weeks I was in Jinzhou, I got used to being stared at and taking selfies with random girls on the street.
I was also able to take a weekend trip through parts of Inner Mongolia, which I would also highly recommend. I still talk to my tour guide from that trip on QQ. She's studying English at a Chinese University and I help her out with it as well.
I worked in Qingdao and Jinzhou two summers ago, it was a fantastic experience. I didn't see another western person for the eight weeks I was in Jinzhou, I got used to being stared at and taking selfies with random girls on the street.
I was also able to take a weekend trip through parts of Inner Mongolia, which I would also highly recommend. I still talk to my tour guide from that trip on QQ. She's studying English at a Chinese University and I help her out with it as well.
I recommend inner mongolia as well.
Actual mongolia, well, Ulan Bator is a depressing place, but the golden eagle festival is something to behold.
They hunt wolves with eagles.
Let that shit sink.
When I go to Shanghai, Nanjing or Qingdao, I always take the train, about same time door to door as flight and ten times better.
What I really like about it that I don't need to plan or anything, it's Friday and nothing going on in town?
Maybe you feel like hitting the beach for the weekend, maybe party in Shanghai?
Fuck it, let's head to the train station and go somewhere.
I think the Xian Chengdu line is supposed to open this year, fuck, making it in under 3 hours will be a game changer, it's a fucking gorgeous route too.
They really should send Americans to Asia so they can appreciate how awesome trains are.
I took a bullet train from Shanghai to Changsha last year during the new year and it was so nice. Better than any airplane I've ever been on. The trip took about 5 hours at like a constant 300km/h.
Their apartments are pretty nice and they have free wifi included, reasonably priced I suppose, although you do still work with an agent and pay a fee, the convenience was there. You can also do some negotiating.
Cool, will give it a go.
I would also recommend China: A History by John Keay, it's long book (China has a long history) but it's well written and easy to read.
I really, really liked The Search for Modern China by Johnathan D. Spence, which is similarly voluminous (in fact, it's longer) but only covers the 17th century onwards. Really great, however, and somehow also quite detailed.
I recommend inner mongolia as well.
Actual mongolia, well, Ulan Bator is a depressing place, but the golden eagle festival is something to behold.
They hunt wolves with eagles.
Let that shit sink.
The bags of beer certainly were unique. Many dinners consisted of me grabbing a bag of Qingdao beer on the street and some grilled veggies, lamb, and squid from another street vendor.
The bags of beer certainly were unique. Many dinners consisted of me grabbing a bag of Qingdao beer on the street and some grilled veggies, lamb, and squid from another street vendor.
You made me miss that place, soon, when the summer comes...
By the way, for people wondering, this is not a euphemism for anything, they sell fresh unfiltered tsingtao by the pound (by the jin to be technical) in plastic bags there like everywhere.
Just normal supermarket bags, and it's as awesome as it sounds.
Qingdao™, you didn't even know it was a thing, and now you need to go there.
Just went to Qingdao last Sept for my MBA's graduation trip, it was freakin awesome. One of our classmates is a well connected dude there, so we had ton of fun and went to a lot of different places.
I just wanted to thank you for helping me plan my 1 month trip to China a year ago, It probably was the best trip I ever did, and hopefully I will be able to go there again in the future. I fell in love with Chengdu as a city, Shuhe (Lijiang) as an ancient place and Mt. Huashan as a natural landscape
How many of you are actually Chinese? Not necessarily Chinese in blood or whatever that means, but as in, born or immigrated at a fairly young age. It seems like a lot of people are ex-pats.
Really dont like the word expats, since to me those expats are often the ones living in their german, italian, spanish, american compound not going out besides going to their job.
He did good, I wouldn't recommend going in blind, especially if you don't speak chinese.
Even if you speak Chinese often they try to scam you because you are a foreigner. I heard from a lot of people who didnt get their deposit back till they threatened to sue them. Another co-worker was thrown out of his appartment without notice and of course the contract stated thats not possible.
Another co-worker got threatened by some Mafia looking guy to pay for the damage after his whole sink fell down in the middle of the night because of chinese "quality" craftsmanship.
I just wanted to thank you for helping me plan my 1 month trip to China a year ago, It probably was the best trip I ever did, and hopefully I will be able to go there again in the future. I fell in love with Chengdu as a city, Shuhe (Lijiang) as an ancient place and Mt. Huashan as a natural landscape
Great video man. I just got done visiting my friend in Chengdu during the winter. Love all the cities that I've visited so far, and your video captures a lot of that love and interest people have in the country. Good job.
I moved there for my gf/soon to be wife and not really for work. We will go back to Germany at the end of this year. I dont really think I could stay here my whole life, since it is sadly not a good enviroment to build up a family compared to Germany.
Again, not that there's anything wrong with that-- I obviously don't consider myself Chinese in the sense I am asking because I've been to China maybe twice in my life... I was just wondering how many people here were actually Chinese, or if this is more of an "expats discuss China" thread.
The latter. But that is because most mainland-Chinese do not really participate in the "western internet world". It still feels they are kinda secluded.
The censorship doesnt help with that.
I mean, I guess there's a difference between staying in your own compound, and going out and travelling.. but still, do most people actually give up their own culture or at least adopt Chinese culture when they move there? Or is it all temporary?
I dont really give up my "culture", but what do you mean by "Chinese culture" in that context?
In my case I go out, I talk to chinese, been to the countryside, go to KTV, (and live with the parents of my gf). But I still throw my trash into a trash-can, follow the traffic rules, dont spit on the street and try not to be the first to get a seat in the train/subway.
There is one official pinyin these days, Tsingtao is in old European transcribing (Qingdao was a german colony) that predates that standardization.
It's kinda like the Wu Tang clan, which today will be transcribed as wudang.
And that's my friend, is the real secret of the wu tang clan, that d and t sounds awfully similar in Chinese.
How many of you are actually Chinese? Not necessarily Chinese in blood or whatever that means, but as in, born or immigrated at a fairly young age. It seems like a lot of people are ex-pats.
I am not Chinese, just had an opportunity to work in China for a few years, been here for about two, planning on probably 2 more, but who knows, it's been great so far, though I kinda doubt I'm going to spend the rest of my life here.
Ah, okay. I did not know that about the meaning behind expat-- I mean, I've heard of these compounds where people live in their own ethnic enclaves, but I didn't realize there was that much of a difference between expats and immigrants?
At least in the US, white people are expats, brown people are immigrants.
In China, I don't consider myself an immigrant because I don't plan to immigrate here permanently (and I don't think it's really going to be possible for me), in conversation I usually say 'foreigner', but honestly, I have not thought about this too much.
How many of you are actually Chinese? Not necessarily Chinese in blood or whatever that means, but as in, born or immigrated at a fairly young age. It seems like a lot of people are ex-pats.
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Sometimes I feel like there's some sort of Asian Internet and nonAsian Internet. Being in America, you never think about things like QQ or weibo, but apparently they rivel facebook, google, etc. That's crazy. A whole other half of the world, "modern," and yet untouchable. Wonder if the two will ever combine.
Actually it is kinda sad, because of that a lot of products wont be released in the west. I mean the chinese Internet e.g. has a really huge Indie-Manga/Manhua scene with great titles that can rival japanese manga.
But somehow outside of China no one even gets to know about that.
I was actually thinking more of the things like filial piety, the collectivism mindset being combined with the new(er) [relatively speaking] idea of capitalism.. or the subtle indoctrination of Mao & Chinese cultural values... though I have no idea what China is like anymore. I'm afraid the extent of my "Chinese culture" is outdated-- when my grandparents fled from China to Taiwan, and then my parents moved from Taiwan to America, their cultural values sort of "snap shotted" in a sense-- so I think it's more conservative.
Like, is it still true that you're supposed to refuse a gift three (two?) times, and only accept it after the third time? Is that still the polite thing to do?
Actually the young chinese Culture is fixated on brands and capitalism. And sadly everyone, outside of family, is thinking just about themselves. From my experience a colleague would stab you in the back if he could be promoted by that. I mean you can see that by how common bribery still is nowadays.
I think the indoctrination isnt really that important anymore for young people, because even though everything is censored, everyone still knows what is happening in the world.
Old people love their WW2 dramas though.
I think the brand fixation though is really sad. I mean I love my Nike shoes. I love my Bape-shirts.
But chinese take it to another level. People saving 3 months to buy themselves some (in China) overprized Prada/LV/Gucci bag just to show on Weibo. It is strange to see because in Germany everyone who works can afford these things easily, but actually I never really saw normal people wearing such bags, but here in China people save to buy just one Wallet by these brands and even people who do not earn that much somehow walk around with an LV bag.
I mean, I guess there's a difference between staying in your own compound, and going out and travelling.. but still, do most people actually give up their own culture or at least adopt Chinese culture when they move there? Or is it all temporary?
There are definitely people here who never learn Chinese, only eat western food and shop at western supermarkets. They tend stay at their apartments and complain about how bad is the air and how rude are Chinese people.
Hey, you could have been born and raised in China . One of my old coworkers had blonde hair and blue eyes, but was raised in a small village in China (her parents spent their lives in China as missionaries). I don't think she really thought of herself as Chinese, but if she did I wouldn't have questioned it at all.
I just wanted to thank you for helping me plan my 1 month trip to China a year ago, It probably was the best trip I ever did, and hopefully I will be able to go there again in the future. I fell in love with Chengdu as a city, Shuhe (Lijiang) as an ancient place and Mt. Huashan as a natural landscape
I am also confused by the poster who is asking what the deal with expats is. I can kinda understand some westerners moving to Shanghai and surrounded by other expats, drinking starbucks eating hamburgers everyday, etc...But alot of us live in tiny places (my city barely breaks 1 million in population, this is considered a village by Chinese standards) middle of nowhere places where that would not even be possible.
Does that make me a more "cultured" expat than others? I don't think so. I speak so-so Chinese, eat 6 kuai noodles, and don't mind peeing on cars, but there is no way my lifestyle is going to pass off as Chinese anytime soon. Why should it? Its not a contest to see who can fit in better or something.
Do you have to work and live in China for a substantially long time to access this? Could I, as an American, participate if I didn't read Chinese very well? haha
Hm...
I also can not read Chinese that fluently. I just remember someone gave me a website and I saw they really have a big Manhua/Comic-scene, that is almost exclusively to the Internet or art-communities.
They tend stay at their apartments and complain about how bad is the air and how rude are Chinese people.
