Thankfully, our life in China has become easier as time went on. Our Chinese (especially Melanie’s) improved, and we became more experienced in the daily rhythms of China.* Our move to Shanghai also helped. Shanghai is a very cosmopolitan city and a much easier place for foreigners to live than Hangzhou. Since there are such large numbers of foreigners living in Shanghai, we can find far more food and other items from home. And while Mandarin remains the best language to get around with, it’s surprising how much you can do in Shanghai knowing only English.
Even with life becoming easier in China, there are still aspects of our daily life that I’m not sure we’ll ever fully adjust to, for better or worse! Here are my two cents:
And the great wild card on China’s roads are the bikes. While cars are increasingly popular in China, many in China continue to ride bikes, especially electric bikes capable of going 20-30 mph. Bike riders essentially follow no rules in China: they will drive in the wrong lane against opposing traffic, run red lights, drive on the sidewalks. Everything is fair game! And for all that bike riders don’t wear any protection (helmets are exceedingly rare), they don’t hesitate to cut in front of cars and buses. All too often, the results of this reckless behavior are deadly. In Hangzhou, there have been so many bike accidents involving foreigners that the city has banned foreigners from riding electric bikes.***
In this kind of environment, Melanie and I have absolutely no desire to drive in China, but even as pedestrians, we can’t escape the chaos of China’s roads. Bikers love to whir onto sidewalks at 20-30mph to get around traffic, happily honking away at pedestrians to jump out of the way. Crossing the street is always a risky proposition. You first need to look in ALL directions for bikes, as they might suddenly come at you from any angle. You next need to look for cars turning. Drivers here seem to believe in an absolute right to turn, no matter the traffic light or whether pedestrians happen to be in the crosswalk. The end result is that crossing the street is often a long wait, punctuated by a brief sprint as a hole opens up!
While China has developed into the world’s top manufacturing center, making some of the best products in the world, China’s own domestic market place lags far behind the quality of its manufacturers. Overwhelmingly, the products for sale in China are cheap in price, but of exceedingly bad quality. Most clothes will disintegrate after a few washes. Shoes fall apart after 2-3 months. Televisions break after a year or two. Toilets leak perpetually. There’s an almost total absence of quality household goods (Bed Bath and Beyond would be a dream come true here). The uniform awfulness of most products is absolutely astounding, but I suppose the one saving grace is that these items are usually quite cheap.
The result is that most foreigners in China hoard items from their home country. Every time a foreigner goes home for a visit, they will typically take empty suit cases for the sole purpose of buying items to bring back to China. Toiletries, clothes, food, pretty much anything is fair game. And for any readers out there wanting to visit Melanie and me in China, expect us to request a few items from the US! :)
These are two issues of daily life in China that I doubt we’ll ever fully adjust to. In the grand scheme, they are minor issues, and we overall enjoy our Asian home. Still, on those days where you’re nearly run over while crossing the street, or your newly repaired toiled promptly starts leaking again, all we can do is sit back and sigh, “That’s China!”
**Conversely, when there is no traffic, such as late at night, Chinese drivers will push their cars to the max! When Melanie and I returned from the Shanghai airport late at night a few days ago, our taxi driver topped out at 95mph!
***Why the city of Hangzhou doesn’t think this problem applies equally to locals I don’t know…
****I should note you can also find items that would be considered luxury items in the US, such as Prada hand bags or luxury wrist watches, in China. These items are also expensive, but since I’ve never bought one, I couldn’t say how the prices compare!