6 lessons learned from 3 months in China

sunnylin01

Everything you say is right and wrong all at once

I imagine that my American friends from Washington state would probably scoff at the generalization that they’re the same as everyone in Texas (and vice versa). Seattle isn’t the same as Houston. There are enormous variations in culture, food and even language across the United States.

Now imagine 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, possibly hundreds. Now quadruple the population and you have modern China.

The biggest lesson to learn about China is just how big it is. China is hard to describe because few generalizations are very accurate. Depending on where you go, China will be impoverished or opulent, polluted or pristine, densely packed or nearly isolated. As such, everything I experienced and have written about will be true of some people who go to visit China and false for others.

China began as the backup country when visa complications came up. It ended as a place I can’t wait to go back to.
I can’t sell China as being a perfect experience, free of worries. English is sparse. You need to watch out for pickpockets and scams in the bigger cities. Pollution can be bad. Internet can be frustrating. But, if you want an adventure and a chance to change your mind about the world’s biggest, oldest and possibly soon-to-be the most powerful nation on Earth, I highly recommend going yourself.

yajuan88

China is a big country that contains a lot of tradition and culture.

geoxian

Therein lies the problem, he spent almost all his very short time in one city.  I have lived here for almost 4 years and I can count the number of times a Chinese person has come up to speak to me on one hand and I don't mean to 10.  I was going to say more but the heck with it.

Dracarys

Chinese love peaceful life /..

KIyer

Good thread!