Disclaimer: Iâm not trying to bash anyoneâs country!
Between me and China thereâs a love-hate relationship. This place can give me the best and the worst days altogether, packed in the same week. Sometimes I curse its guts, sometimes I feel like it is home. Itâs a paradox, but actually this paradox-like feeling defines my experience here: itâs all about contrast, and this is how I would define this culture. You can see contrasts everywhere around: luxurious tall glass buildings, fancy malls and expensive clubs and bars, but walk a bit more and you wake up surrounded by slums and poverty, dirty streets and crazy smells. Itâs the place where you can walk inside the fanciest coffee bar and the second day in the poorest, creepiest hospital. But Iâm not bitching. Ask me to choose between eating in the fancy restaurant or the dirty food street, I would totally go for the dirty food street, God knows what they do to it, but I swear the best taste I got was from the food they sell there. And I hate the fact that one day Iâll go back home and there will be no dirty Chinese food street where I can eat. For me that thought is really disturbing. Also, Iâm proud to say I never got any stomach sickness from eating there, or any problems whatsoever. I guess all the spices and hot peppers already killed any hopeless germ or virus that tried to survive.. But letâs continue talking about contrasts: itâs the place where youâll see a poor-looking woman, half bald, countryside clothed, entering a mall and buying two pairs of shoes that cost as much as your salary for one month. China is full of these newly rich people, that were born and brought up in a poor, modest environment, but through ways I donât completely understand got filthy rich almost overnight. Itâs the place you heard about that they eat dog meat, but where youâll see people treating their dogs like their children. Iâve never seen so many people appreciating dogs so much. Ask a Chinese, whatâs his/her favorite animal, I bet 90% will say dog. Actually I want to bust this myth, in my experience, eating dog meat itâs not a common thing in China. Itâs just a province here where people eat all kinds of crazy things, dog meat included. These customs would rather disgust any average Chinese, actually all the people I met here donât like or agree to this idea, and theyâre as disgusted and intrigued as I am. They also have their own volunteers and organizations that go over their heads trying to rescue cats and dogs from this cruel fate, paying from their own pockets, as they get no official support, because the government does not care to make it illegal. Itâs also the place where youâll be treated so nice or as youâre some movie star, just because youâre white and a âwaiguorenâ ( ć€ćœäșș - foreigner) and for the exact same reasons, other times you will be despised and treated like shit. The place where, as a girl, youâll find the cutest, strangest, weirdest, coolest outfits and accessories, for a quite low price, and yeah, low quality as well. And yes youâll buy them, because theyâre so cute or so cool, and youâll match them to your ZARA/H&M outfits, and your fashion sense will twist and youâll start to look like a Western/Asian hybrid, completely losing your original identity and appearance. Youâll proudly wear some outfits on the streets of China, only to go back home for holiday, and be ashamed for buying and bringing that cheap plastic fiber stuff with you. And vice-versa, back to China youâll start thinking your new Bershka/Pull & Bear outfit makes you look too slutty, daring or boring and youâll toss it at the back of your wardrobe and never wear it again. The place where wearing an extremely short skirt is normal, where you wonât get a bad eye or any pick-up lines for wearing it, but wearing something semi-transparent or a dĂ©colletĂ© would give you the biggest slut stamp. Where you can be 30 or 40 years old and not too old to wear bunny or teddy bear cute pink coats, but way too old to get married. The place where almost any worldwide known brand loses its nameâs identity, only to be known for its Chinese name. Ask for a Budweiser or a Carlsberg, for Hello Kitty or Rilakkuma, youâll only get strange looks. Because here Budweiser is Baiwei çŸćš, Carlsberg is Jiashibo ććŁ«äŒŻ, Hello Kitty is Kaidi Mao ćŻèç« and Rilakkuma is Ke Ai Qingsong Xiong ćŻç±èœ»æŸç (meaning âcute relaxed bearâ). It absolutely makes no sense to me, the reason why they twist these names or why people think they canât remember or pronounce the original name⊠except some brands like LV, Chanel, McDonald's or KFC. Here Chanel is some sort of god⊠but well, this is another story! Although big and developed enough, I live in one of the poorest provinceâs capital city, therefore my experience might differ from what you would get in an average city in China, where people might be more educated or had more contact to western culture. I think maybe my stories will bother some of the readers, especially if they are from this country, but I would like to assure you that by no means do I consider my country to be perfect, an example, or completely superior, and by no means I intend to impose. Iâm sure many foreigners living in my country or other countries have felt frustrated, bothered by local customs, behaviors, or found different ideas to be absurd, experienced racism or xenophobia, misconceptions and preconceived ideas. I myself was not aware of many negative or positive aspects of my own country, before meeting and talking to foreigners living there. And to tone things down, I would like to honestly admit, that with all its ups and downs China is among the top 5 countries I would live in. And that while someone would have to force me to eat almost any common/traditional Romanian food, I am willingly eating almost any Chinese food, as long as it doesnât contain meat (Iâm vegetarian). I absolutely love Chinese food, and now I can no longer imagine living my life without it! Iâll be posting whenever I can, or whenever something interesting happens. If you have any similar experience, please share it or if any questions, feel free to ask. No rude or hateful comments will be accepted! The reason why I decided to start this blog is because I want to share my experience with other people that might be interested, and also because over the years I want to remember all the funny things that happened to me and my friends in China. So, welcome to China!