On Culture

‘Evening, everyone. Or morning. Or whatever time it is wherever you are. I have, as promised, a post discussing things that I knew to expect when I came back to China. I have two categories: “things I’m already used to from last time,” and “things I was exposed to last time but never actually had to get used to.” These lists may expand as I remember more tidbits. But, without further adieu….

Things I’m used to already from last time:

Hocking loogies everywhere and often- this is a fact of life in China, wherever you are. Spit happens. Men are more likely to do it in public than women are, but the girls’ bathroom in Beijing still held a loogie chorus most mornings and evenings.

Belly shirts for men-Belly shirts for women aren’t big here, but men with the Chinese equivalent of beer bellies (and maybe they are beer bellies—I dunno) enjoy rolling up their shirts and letting them rest on the “shelf” of their bellies whenever it’s warm.

Many people wearing the same clothes for 2+ days in a row- I remember being so utterly confused by this when I first came to Beijing. My roommate would wear an outfit for 3-4 days, changing her underwear daily, and then she’d change into a new outfit. So weird, right? Actually, though, as somebody who often wears a shirt twice without washing it, I can appreciate this manner of dressing. After all, why stick a worn shirt back in a drawer with all the clean ones? (That’s still what I do though—even in China, old habits die hard)

People washing their underwear (if not their whole outfits) nightly- This was another confusing part of my first weeks in Beijing, I didn’t understand why my roommate didn’t just wait and do a lot of laundry at once, but if you’re hand-washing your clothes anyway, you may as well get a head start, right?

People who shower with a basin instead of under the faucet- My Chinese roommate here in Lincang takes what we would call “showers” regularly, but many others don’t. They sponge bathe instead, and wash their hair in the sink, showering only occasionally.

Chinese cabbies (and traffic in general) are insane- Like American cabbies, Chinese cabbies have thick accents, crazy stories, and absolutely unbelievable driving practices. They actually make American cab drivers look quite tame, but I actually hear that Chinese cabs are nothing compared to the horror of those in other Asian countries.

Public transit is freakin’ crowded-- Be ready to spoon standing up with whomever you happen to be next to. – Beijing subways are insane, and buses are super crowded. I’ve not experienced public transit in Lincang, but if the buses here aren’t also crowded I will be quite surprised.

Chinese bread is strange and sweet and fluffy and often filled with stuff- American bread is hard to come by in these parts. There is bread, but if it is not steamed it is usually very sweet and usually flavored in some way. And yes. Fluff. Oh so much fluff.

Jiaozi, baozi, mantou, and sesame balls are awesome— Actually, a lot of Chinese foods are awesome, and since I’ve lived in China before I know what some of them are. There’s still a lot yet to be discovered, especially as regards Yunnanese cuisine, but at least I’m not starting more or less from scratch this time.

Chinese bars are weird but can still be fun-- They’re just not typical. Not that I am an expert on bars, but most of the ones here are strange and dark and just…odd.

Soy milk is served warm- I think you can get cold soy milk, maybe, but for the most part soy milk is served at breakfast and warm. It’s also (usually) unflavored and thus less sweet than its American counterpart. I’m learning to like it a bit more, but I’m still not a huge fan.

A lot of milk isn’t refrigerated—From what I understand, the packages of milk sitting on room temperature shelves are perfectly safe—sorta like parmalait in the states—but I still don’t feel comfortable drinking them. Maybe that’ll change.

Food is slurped or eaten with chopsticks—When I came to study abroad, I simply could not use chopsticks. I’d tried to teach myself in the states but with no success. Needless to say, eating was hard for the first few weeks until I figured it out. But now I know exactly how to use chopsticks, I’m accustomed to the practice of using chopsticks to take food from communal dishes, and I know that it’s not at all rude to slurp in most situations.

Pants for unpotty-trained babies don’t have crotches, which allows for their parents to easily hold them up and let them pee/poop outside—This is a big one. While I’m sure diapers are available in China, many parents don’t bother. Instead, they dress their children in “buttless pants,” as many expats have christened them. It is not at all uncommon to see a mother holding a small child over a gutter.

China smells—good and bad—but it smells- In the states, a lot of scents are covered up somehow or another. Even in NYC, there’re a lot of places that just smell like air. In China, almost everywhere smells like something distinct. And maybe I smell it more because I’m not Chinese—I don’t know.

As a foreigner, you will be stared at, and people will try to rip you off when you shop—I feel like I’ve covered this one already, and I’m sure it’ll come up many times in this blog over the course of the year.

Being followed around in stores—It is not at all unusual, in Chinese shops, for the shopkeeper to follow customers around, sort of like how teenagers get followed around in the mall. It’s annoying, but what can you do?

Chinese women use “sunbrellas”—basically, the parasol is back in style. Chinese women feel about pale skin the way many American women do about tans, and thus they work as hard as possible to keep themselves from being exposed to sunlight.

Almost everything is cheaper here than in the states, but at the same time there are quite a few things sold at American-like prices, which many locals can’t possibly afford—I think of China as really having two economies: the one for the wealthy, and the one for everyone else. My breakfast each morning costs from 1-3 kuai, and lunch and dinner are both 4-6. That’s less than a dollar. I can also go to restaurants with “western” food that cost 40 kuai a person for an entrée. That’s about 7 bucks, so still cheap compared to American food, but for people who make not so much to begin with it’s an impossible expense. That’s just one example, and I wouldn’t be surprised if an extended post on this topic pops up sometime.

Being illiterate—This is a big one, and one that I’m having to get re-used to. I hate not being able to read. I can understand some words but not nearly as many as I’d like. The last time I felt this way with English, I was about seven and didn’t actually need to read outside of school. Being, as I am, 23, I kinda need to know how to get around in the community I’m a part of, and that’s made much more difficult when I am pretty much illiterate.



Things I had some exposure to last time but didn’t actually get accustomed to:

Washing clothes by hand- CET (my study abroad program) had washers and driers in the dorms that we could pay to use. I might have hand washed small things once or twice, but generally I used the machines.

Squat Toilets- While I was exposed to many a squat pot while abroad, and while I used many a squat pot, they were not my normal bathrooms because CET had Western toilets in their dorms.

Whitening Lotions I knew that Chinese women liked their skin to be as pale as possible, but I brought my own lotion from the states last time and thus avoided the issue of having to find lotion, somewhere in China, without bleach in it. So far, no luck, but that goes back to the illiteracy thing.