China (Pt.1): No longer the name for a fancy plate your mum hides away for special occasions!

Hello you, the 老外!

I've decided I am finally going to write about my time in China and what I've learned from being there. There is so much about that HUGE country that people seem to either miss, or just choose not to see. Here are a few simple guidelines I followed and hope others follow too:

1) When in Rome... YUP! When in China, remember you are NO LONGER AT HOME! You are in China! This is THEIR country, they have their own rules and their own judicial system! Respect their culture and rules and you will have an amazing time, don't and well... you won't! This, fortunately, comes quite naturally to me. However, I feel many foreigners, or laowai (老外) as we are referred to in China, do not seem to come to grasp with the situation they are in. "YOU ARE NO LONGER AT HOME!!" is something I end telling a lot of my friends there, "So, don't expect people to treat you the same way!" So, when in China, do as the Chinese!

Note: Most Chinese are extremely hospitable and genuinely nice. Just give them a chance and experience them!!

2) Beware the Terribles T's: Tibet, Taiwan and Tian'anmen! China is controlled by a government that wants to forget the past and look to the future, so discussion of the past or sensitive subjects is highly inadvisable. They consider that their own politics are their own business. In a way its true... Would you want a foreigner to come into your own country and tell you how to run your own affairs??

• Tian'anmen or 天安门. Any google or wiki search will give you the international account of what happened in Beijing in 1989. However, the official chinese government account is completely different. Discussions with good friends in China has come up on this subject many times, and they all seem to agree on one thing: it is a part of their history they would rather put behind them even if they don't agree with how the government handled the situation then. In short, they would talk to a very close friend in a private situation to voice their real opinion, but in public, they either change subjects or repeat their official mantra "it happened in a different time and we don't want to go back. The students did the wrong thing, but the government back then could've also handled it differently".
• Tibet or 西藏. This is an even more taboo subject in China. None are more divided about that subject and even less will tell you their true feelings about it. The Chinese in general would agree that China owns that territory and that it should be part of the PRC. The French for example, disagree... To this day, the French nationals in and outside China are complaining about visa issues. In April 2010 I was planning a trip with some friends to Tibet, although I had to cancel my participation in the trip, I was present during the planning. They had an embargo on French nationals wanting to go to Tibet because of a mayor of Paris having said something against the Chinese handling of the situation in Tibet. I even passed through one of the rallies against French products in early 2008 at a huge mall in Wuhan (Hubei Province) that houses a french branded hypermarket called Carrefour. So this is a subject I would advise no one open, or if you do, respect other people's opinion (even if it is completely false in your point of view). And whatever you do, DO NOT wear a "Free Tibet" T-shirt unless you feel like being blacklisted and kicked out of the country!!
• Taiwan or 台湾. This is less of a taboo subject. Here lines are blurry. Most would truly agree that they wish Taiwan to be part of the PRC because it always had been. Also, it is a matter of national pride. The Taiwanese, however, consider themselves different from the mainland Chinese. This is true since Taiwan is a democracy and they had been "open" to the world far longer than the mainland Chinese. They are far more advanced in their understanding of the occident and other cultures than the mainland Chinese. However, should Taiwan be part of the PRC? This is a long long debate that I myself do not like to get into, but some Chinese would talk to you about it.

In short, do not discuss Chinese politics in China. There is no use to do so, and if you are there for business or scholastic purposes, there is no real reason to do so either! The Chinese are extremely nationalistic and so they should be, it is their country after-all.

3) The Chinese people have a hunger for knowledge. Some would go so far as to use you for that knowledge. The thing they would most want to learn is a language. They are also borderline, if not actually, racist in this regard. To them, and in most cases true, a person who comes from a certain country would best speak the language. If that person was of african origins, they want less to know of them, if that person was of the arien race (i.e. blonde and blue eyed), they would be all over them! Even though I do not condone any type of racism, I would like to add that this is something most, if not all, Eastern cultures share (Korea, Japan and China). They think a blonde blue eyed person is much more of a representation than any other race of Europe and North America!

This was a longer than expected blog post, but trust me when I tell you... When in Rome, do as the romans do!

Any questions? Any comments? Suggestions?

Let me know my fellow 老外 or my fellow 中国朋友们！

夏小龙