7 lessons discovered FROM 3 MONTHS IN CHINA

Posted: 11/20/2014 | November, 20th, 2014

China is a interesting as well as quickly altering country. Old customs as well as routines hang on as contemporary skyscrapers go up every second, the country becomes a lot more of a worldwide powerhouse, as well as people from around the world step there. My good friend Scott Young, finest understood as a discovering hacker who discovered MIT’s entire computer science program in one year, stated to me, “I’m going to travel the world for a year as well as discover languages.” I was thrilled with the idea! Today, he shares what he discovered while living in China for three months — as well as exactly how the media portrays countries is commonly extremely wrong.

Recently my good friend Vat as well as I completed a three-month stay in China. The plan was, with very little preparation, to show up in China as well as speak as bit English as possible, in buy to discover Mandarin Chinese.

We shot a mini-documentary about the experience here:

The trip transformed my understanding of China, from the unfair picture it often has in the West. In this article, I want to share the greatest lessons I discovered about China, life, as well as travel from that experience.

1. when you’re thinking about the regional culture, people open up more

Originally Vat as well as I hadn’t organized on going to China at all. We were alerted that China may not be the very best location to satisfy friends, since people were unfriendly to Westerners. Instead, we were told to go to Taiwan.

Some visa issues made it impossible to stay the full three months in Taiwan, so we changed to a three-month stay in China at the last minute.

From the very first day I shown up in Kunming, I had my perceptions flipped. far from being insular as well as hostile to foreigners, people came as much as speak to me the very first time I went out on the street. It occurred to be all in Chinese, so I didn’t comprehend much, however it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.

As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who might assist us discover Chinese, to getting to understand the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.

If you’re thinking about other people, their culture, as well as their language, they’ll be friendly to you. China isn’t an exception.

2. Don’t judge a country by its media coverage

Hating China is a prominent pastime of Western media. a few of the accusations are at least partially true: parts of China are rather polluted, political flexibility isn’t the exact same as in the West, the Web is firewalled, as well as some parts of China are rather poor.

I saw a extremely different type of China. Kunming, where I lived for a lot of of my stay, wasn’t polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about communism, Tibet, as well as democracy. Some sites are blocked, however China has its own versions of YouTube, Netflix, eBay, as well as Google.

China is still developing, however the economic growth indicates that a lot of people have seen their living requirements enhance quickly in the last 20 years. people I spoken to were normally optimistic about the future.

3. whatever is food here

The connection with food in China is fascinating, as well as I was surprised at the diversity of components as well as flavors.

Western countries tend to simplify Chinese food down to chow mein, fried rice, as well as general Tso’s chicken. That’s a bit like stating Western cuisine is just burgers as well as sandwiches.

Chinese food in China, on the other hand, is a few of the most different food on the planet. Not only does regional diversity indicate food can modification totally from province to province, however almost every possible component discovers its method into some type of Chinese dish. Chicken, pork, beef, as well as vegetarian dishes are all options, of course, however where else can you eat fried insects, try stewed frog, or shop at a Walmart selling online turtles?

Food is likewise an avenue for connection. In the West, each private has his or her own plate, separate from others. In China, each person has a bowl of rice as well as eats directly from shared plates in the center. While this style of eating makes it difficult to dine individually in some restaurants, it produces a communal feeling, making food a lot more than just nutrition.

4. Chinese is both exceptionally fascinating as well as very difficult

I won’t lie to you, discovering Mandarin Chinese was a struggle. countless characters, with lots of nearly precisely alike. For example, try as well as area the difference between these two characters:

Chinese is a tonal language, which indicates that the intonation doesn’t just modification emphasis however likewise what words mean. My good friend went to a restaurant as well as attempted to buy “shui jiao” (boiled dumplings) however instead bought “shuì jiào” (go to sleep).
Finally, few English words borrowed into the language make it through unscathed, commonly sounding totally different from their original. McDonald’s, which is offered throughout China, adopts the Chinese name “Mài dàng láo.”

While the Chinese language, like China itself, may seem daunting, it hides one of the most fascinating linguistic systems on the planet. Chinese words have a tendency to be developed up out of easier pieces, like building a sentence out of Lego:

panda = “bear cat” (xióngmao)

chameleon = “color modification dragon” (biànsèlóng)

pumpkin = “south melon” (nángua)

potato = “soil bean” (tudòu)

university = “big learn” (dàxué)

movie = “electric shadow” (diànying)

With excellent difficulties likewise come excellent rewards. discovering Chinese may have been mind-bending at times, however it likewise enabled Vat as well as me to interact with totally different people in China than an English-only point of view would allow.

Near the end of our stay, I conversed over tea with a tattooed Buddhist. together we talked about Tibet, religion, as well as cultural differences. That conversation would never have occurred had I refused to discover any type of Chinese.

5. You can count to 10 with one hand

The language differences prolong even to basic gestures. The Chinese, for example, have a system of gestures for counting all the method as much as 10 with just one hand.

If you’ve only been counting to five with one hand, you’ve been missing out. The Chinese have a system for counting 6, 7, 8, 9, as well as 10 all with just one hand. Months after leaving China, I caught myself utilizing this technique to count things while I held a book with the other hand.

One to five are what you’d expect, however see this video for six to ten:

The very first time I saw this, I was in a store as well as the shopkeeper was telling me the cost was 10 yuan, indicating it with forefinger as well as middle fingers crossed. I saw this a number of times before I realized they were telling me the cost as well as not just holding out really hopes that I’d come back to get more.

6. China has the very best locations you’ve never heard of

Ask people which locations they understand of in China as well as a lot of people will raise their hand for Shanghai as well as Beijing. The a lot more geographically inclined may get Sichuan, Guangdong, or Xi’an. however what about the tropical island of Hainan? The excellent wintertime festivities in Harbin? The bamboo forests in Chengdu?

It’s arguable that China has the exact same linguistic as well as cultural diversity as the whole of Europe, except far fewer tourists. While — until the last few decades — China’s closed borders made travel in the country a daunting experience, China is full of excellent locations you’ve most likely never believed to explore.

I had never heard of Kunming, a “small” city of around seven million in the southwestern province of Yunnan, before researching locations to live. It ended up being one of my preferred locations I’ve ever lived in, with weather condition a perpetual spring, mountain temples, as well as lunch for under a dollar.

My advice: don’t clear up just on Beijing or Shanghai as locations to visit. Doing a bit research study on the internet can turn up lots of locations that will offer the Chinese experience for less money as well as fewer tourists.

7. whatever you state is ideal as well as wrong all at once

I envision that my American good friends from Washington specify would most likely scoff at the generalization that they’re the exact same as everybody in Texas (and vice versa). Seattle isn’t the exact same as Houston. There are massive variations in culture, food, as well as even language across the United States.

Now envision that instead of having a history of a few hundred years as a nation, you had a few thousand. instead of one or two mutually unintelligible languages, you had dozens, potentially hundreds. now quadruple the population as well as you have contemporary China.

The greatest lesson to discover about China is just exactly how huge it is. China is difficult to explain since few generalizations are extremely accurate. depending upon where you go, China will be impoverished or opulent, polluted or pristine, densely packed or almost isolated. As such, whatever I experienced as well as have written about will be true of some people who go to see China as well as false for others.

***
China began as the backup country when visa issues came up. It ended as a location I can’t wait to go back to.

I can’t offer China as being a best experience, complimentary of worries. English is sparse. You requirement to enjoy out for pickpockets as well as scams in the bigger cities. contamination can be bad. The Web can be frustrating. however if you want an experience as well as a possibility to modification your mind about the world’s biggest, oldest, as well as potentially soon-to-be the most poweRull Nation on Earth, suggerisco estremamente andare da solo.

Scott Young compone l’apprendimento, i viaggi e l’efficienza nel suo blog, Scotthyoung.com. Cerca di prendere cose complesse e rendere routine in via di sviluppo e scoprire semplici e semplici.

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