Happy Birthday, JBI

[Neely]

Ha, ha, good interview, I could feel you getting more irritated with China as you went on.

[JBI]

Ha, ha, good interview, I could feel you getting more irritated with China as you went on.

This is a country where people think friends are resources they can "trade" like cards. So they have no problem giving their other friend your phone number when he wants something of you, then calling you racist when you get mad, and say you just are a bad person who hates Chinese culture or some other crap. It gets frustrating when the whole country tries to use for free English lessons, or as a prop in their family photos.

[JuniperWoolf]

The photos thing would give me an anxiety disorder. I know someone in China far off the beaten path who gets it all the time.

[louisgeorge]

Happy B'day JBI

[Pensive]

As for travel in China, the whole thing is super artificial, but not in the sense one would expect - rather it is designed and selling China to Chinese people.

Hmmmh it's really interesting now when you mention it because I noticed the chinese girls I talked to had little or no idea about what it was like in other areas of China (outside Beijing). They spoke as if Beijing actually represented whole of China.

You got out lucky 5 days in the cheapest tourist city in China. Imagine paying 30$ to get in to see every little crappy attraction. That's what tourism in China outside of Beijing is. Every little village 20$, every little cave 10-30$, the road leading up to the cave, 10$ - traveling in Europe is arguably cheaper, and Europe at least didn't burn the Sistine Chapel down the way China burnt virtually the whole country down, and rebuilt it for show. It's nerve to charge someone more to see some heavily damaged caves, no matter how beautiful, than the Pope charges to go into his private country and see the world's greatest collection of art on display.


If people want as tip, don't bother going to China for tourism, it's a waste of money, and it is disappointing. It reminds me of those amusement parks where you line up 1 hour to go on the roller coaster, only to be unamazed by it.

I know with my extremely limited experience of Beijing I can't really say much about China and Chinese people so it has been interesting to hear of the place from the perspective of somebody who has been there for quite a while.

One thing I am really curious to know is whether you initially had any trouble with communication in China. I was in Beijing which is supposed to be the most international city in China and despite of that I faced severe communication issues (nobody appeared to know basic English even though I had heard they were taught English from a very early age) Transport, bank services (like currency exchange) and almost everything appeared to be in Chinese. Chinese, as a language, also appears pretty challenging (especially the written Chinese).

And would you like to share where and what are you actually studying in China? I was actually staying at a place close to Peking University (almost their dormitory) and hanged out quite a lot in the campus and I found the university campus really cool, especially the library building and all the cool statues out there (and I heard somewhere their library is the biggest in Asia I wonder if it is true) oh and I was not there for tourism purpose actually it was an education-related thing, but since I had come all the way to Beijing I thought why not see around a bit as well)

[papayahed]

Happy Birthday

[JBI]

I came knowing basic greetings and how to do some basic things - that is a long intense year of effort with working 2+ hours a day. I could basically get around, but had no clue what anything on the menu was, nor how to read it. I also could not read any real document, though I could read many signs.

In order to get to the stage of conversation for every day things (how to live, if you will), it took me 2 months or so. Banking was hell, and is hell, because you need to wait forever to get to the counter, then fill in 100 pages of forms before they can do anything. In comparison, opening my Canadian account took 3 minutes, and the teller did it while I was filling out my credit card form. And we don't wait an hour for the bank to take our money in Canada either. OF course, this doesn't hurt you if you are rich in China, since there is a VIP line for all politicians and rich people to basically go ahead of everyone else.

As for people reading and speaking English. Virtually nobody. The country is useless, and it is one of the four subjects on their university entrance exams, yet I have met masters students in prestigious universities who cannot make a sentence. The country as a whole is relatively incompetent, with basic knowledge we take for granted being unknown. Someone, for instance, a university educated person mind you, would not believe me hot water cleans better. That is what, grade 6 science?

As for what I am studying, I am doing a masters in Ancient Chinese literature at Fudan university. Basically I regard it as a field work, and not real education as I feel the country's education system beneath me. Likewise, it is all 100% funded by the Chinese government. As for Peking university, the group is hit and miss. If you are from Beijing, you automatically get in to the best universities in the country, whereas the poorer places make it near impossible to get in (some provinces get like 1 person per province). So you know if the person is not from Beijing and is there, they are the smartest person in the country at writing the test. That isn't to say they are that smart, but there is a good chance they are at those particular 4 subjects, Math History/politics Chinese and English. That still doesn't mean they can make an English sentence. As for them though, usually a self possessed bunch of rich kids, which is the whole middle class here.

[Clopin]

So wait a minute. You're most proud of your intelligence and the fact that you never compromise and yet you allow yourself to be employed by the government of China?

Whatever, enjoy the heavenly kingdom.