China Observations 2019

In the summer of 2019, I taught a class at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an China. There are pictures of the trip in the Photo Albums section of this website. See here. It was an interesting experience. I walked away with some casual observations. You should keep in mind that I was only there for 3 weeks and only visited this one city so what is written could be totally off. However, I've listed some things that I noticed.

1) There a lot of people in China. I had never heard of Xi'an before being invited there. However, the city has over 12 million people. What's more interesting is that it's not considered a particularly large city by Chinese standards. For reference New York City had about 8.3 million and is the biggest in the US. 

2) All of those people have to live somewhere. As far as the eye can see, there are buildings reaching 30 to 60 floors. Some were even taller. And these aren't office buildings, people live in them. By my count, the city had over 2,000 of these buildings. It was probably closer to 3,000 but I couldn't keep up. For reference, Oklahoma City (where I was living when I went to China) had exactly 2 buildings over 35 floors. There are a couple pictures of the skyline of Xi'an. 

3) Traffic is a total nightmare. There is a picture of me on the German Autobahn where it appears that I pooped my pants because I was so scared. One trip on the streets of Xi'an had me wishing for the Autobahn. It appeared that street lights, turn signals, driving lanes were all optional. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles, and vans would go in any direction they pleased at any given moment. They would go on the sidewalks if they wanted to. They would make a U-turn against six lanes of traffic or simply stop in the middle of the street if they felt the need. The main traffic control appeared to be the horn which people blasted constantly and for all reasons day or night. Parking? Just about any place there was a space and several times where there wasn't a space. 

4) I stayed at a hotel during my stay which provided me with a free breakfast every morning. People warned me about Chinese food and the bad reactions my stomach might have. I seemed to have survived it all. In fact, I apparently impressed the locals with my ability to eat anything put before me. Hot? Exotic? Slimy? I ate it all.  However, the hotel did this weird thing with morning liquids. Every liquid would be warm. I don't mean room temperature but heated. That included milk, water and fruit juice. I don't like warm milk on my morning cereal. I definitely don't want heated fruit juice. Hot water with lemon? No thanks unless I'm having tea.

5) Some public toilets. There is a picture of what they consider a toilet at the university. I saw this in Paris a few times also. It was simply a hole in the floor where you squatted and did your business. Yikes!

6) Speaking of squatting. It appeared to be the main way to simply sit. You'd see some guy or girl waiting for a bus or something simply squatting. I've got a picture of a guy doing just that. I think my knees would pop out if I tried that. More so, it looked terribly uncomfortable but was simply normal and relaxing for them. 

7) Privacy. Of course, the government wants in on all things you do. Hence, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, and even LinkedIn are blocked. However, people in their private lives did things that I found odd. They didn't seem to be big on headphones or hands-free devices. They would simply pull out a phone and start talking. Not only could you clearly hear what was being said in front of you (not that I could understand) but also what the other person was saying. Concern that all around you can hear your conversation? None at all. I'd be on the treadmill with my headphones on next to two other guys just blasting their music on their phones. Same thing on elevators or just going down the street. And people would be loud. You could here them from 20 feet away. 

8) The pollution was a real thing. I was in what was considered one of the cleaner cities and I still felt a burning feeling in the back of my throat. On a few mornings I would wake up with a headache and most mornings I'd have a slightly bloody nose. The day that I got home this all stopped. On most days there would be this haze that hung over the city. Hard really to tell where a cloud started and another ended. I knew the sky was up there. Just hard to see. 

9) After spending years in Europe I expected the cars in China to be mostly small and non-American brands. Neither were true. While I didn't see any big Suburbans or Escalades, I saw a ton of Cadillacs, Buicks, Fords etc. And these were standard US mid-sized sedans and crossovers. What was considered a "family" car in Europe I always saw as s "Compact". Apparently the Chinese felt the same way. 

10) The fashion there was strictly US. Everything I saw had English writing on it. I can't be sure that it wasn't counterfeit but it was definitely western style. This was rather refreshing in a sense. After spending decades in Europe watching guys wearing "skinny jeans" with no clear distinction that they didn't take those pants from their little sister, it was nice to see a guy who didn't have his junk all bunched up in some jeans. 

11) They really need to get with the program regarding recycling. It was strange because up until about 2017, the place where most US recyclables went was China. However, the place I was saw none. They gave you a plastic straw for all drinks whether bottled or canned. You didn't even need to ask. They even gave you these little plastic cups to drink beer from even though you had the bottle right in front of you. They seem to have a thing about drinking directly from a bottle or can. Might be health related. I had a huge pile of plastic water bottles in my hotel room waiting for there to be some indication where I might recycle them before I finally gave in and tossed them. 

12) I had heard some horror stories about race relations in China. I didn't observe any Chinese citizens giving me stink eye. In fact, the only hint of racism that I encountered came from the few white Europeans that I encountered. I guess they brought that garbage with them. Apparently, Chinese people have a hard time distinguishing African Americans from Africans. There are a ton of African students in the country now since China is really doing a number on stripping Africa of all its natural resources (that could be a blog post in itself). In some parts of the country where these students are overstaying their visas some resentment is building. 

12A) Apparently, Kobe Bryant looks a lot like me. I've actually heard this from some students in the US also. No less than a half dozen times, I was stopped on the street and asked if I were Kobe. Would Kobe Bryant be walking down a street with a backpack eating a sandwich in a random city in China? Of course not! Unless I really am Kobe and I was trying to fool people by blending in.