Motherland
It’s late and I’m not sleepy. I’ve nothing I want to do in Warcraft, my Facebook games are all up to date, and I actually coded several hours earlier today, so am not feeling guilty about that (for once). Therefore, the only thing I have left to do is write. >_> And I have some things leftover in my head in my head, still, leftover from my China visit… so here we go.
This trip was, I think, a little uncharacteristic of me. I haven’t generally shown or felt much interest in international travel and even less interest in my so-called motherland. So when my parents extended the invitation to me earlier this year, I think they expected me to say nothx. I think I expected myself to say that, too.
But… I had a few good reasons for going against the grain. Well, all good reasons, really. For one, it took place during a transition phase, where I wouldn’t yet be employed, so I wasn’t exactly occupied with other things. Another is that they were planning to visit the World Expo which happened to be in Shanghai, which is an amazing thing in itself. Yet another was that I don’t spend much time with my parents, and (let’s face it) we’re all getting older, so I should take advantage of what time we do have, right?
The final reason was one I alluded to already, in that I felt that maybe I’m finally old enough to appreciate things that I would have missed when I was younger. And the idea that I would be visiting the house that my grandmother grew up in was surprisingly arousing, when nothing else ever had been. I wouldn’t say it inspired ethnic pride, but I found myself moved to a curiosity I never possessed before, at least.
So I went. And I watched and listened, smelled and tasted. And though I rested my brain by reading a great deal (understatement), other times it was provoked into consideration of things I was observing.
If asked if I “enjoyed” my trip, I admit I wouldn’t readily say “yes”. There wasn’t exactly any particular moment in which I would have refused the opportunity to go home early. But there were absolutely times where I was amazed or awestruck. And I feel like I did a lot of learning, which IS something I like. So I would hardly say that the trip was a wasted one, either.
If I had to name China’s “worst” quality, in my opinion, it would likely be the population of people, and all the problems that entails. I complained about the crowds and the smoke, for one. Average level of hygiene is still something very much to be desired… spitting is terribly common, and even urinating in public has not been totally ostracized, much to my dismay. People regularly hose down the streets and sidewalks that they live or work on and up until this trip, I never stopped to wonder why.
I know I’ve said I don’t like to stereotype, but here I can’t avoid it: in China, the people are very impatient. This may seem strange… I would have thought that people would grow accustomed to the need to wait, but it seems the exact opposite is true… people are so tired of waiting all the time (and in China, you have to wait All The Time) that they become accustomed to resorting to any means necessary to avoid a wait.
In traffic, the cars never yield to pedestrians because they’re afraid of being swamped by people and being unable to move. Taxis would very frequently, without any hesitation, swerve into the oncoming traffic lane to get around a brief obstruction in front of them. And at the Expo, people in line behind us would start screaming at some perceived hold-up when in reality, the line was being redirected and shortened. Not to mention the number of people who would shamelessly shove their way to the front of a huge two hour pile-up.
Seriously? And why exactly is your time more valuable than mine, again?
The total lack of basic human courtesy that this impatience resulted in was really appalling and it’s my guess that it’s the sheer overpopulation of China that causes it. It’s like when you have a six lane highway funneling down into a two lane bottleneck. In America, drivers won’t exactly be happy with the situation, but they’ll settle down and manage it as politely as possible. But in China? One third of those cars will just start honking nonstop while another third will curse and swear about how stupid the other drivers and/or the city planning was and then turn their cars 180 degrees to find another way to their destination, heedless of any possible danger they might pose to others in the meantime.
So that’s the thing I hated the most, I think. Though mosquitoes are an exceptionally close second. They weren’t bad until we left Shanghai, and then they were really, really bad. I was in total agony in the last few days, including a couple of sleepless nights, because I would be falling asleep and suddenly hear a mosquito buzz past my ear, shocking me into paranoid wakefulness. That was pretty horrible, too, though in a totally different way.
I also didn’t like how everything in China just felt dirty, no matter how clean it looked. This might have just been something about me, rather than the actual environment… but I’m not really sure. And I hate how asking for ice water at a Chinese restaurant would just confused the waiters. >_> Oh, and of course, I hated the internet censorship. Seriously, that last thing alone would be enough to make me never, ever want to live there. I mean, it’d be one thing if they wanted to censor, like, only porn. But Twitter’s not quite porn, is it? (Despite some efforts to the contrary, I’m sure…) I take it back. Not that I’m in favor of porn, but the whole point is that it’s all or nothing. So nyeah.
Hmm, so what about what I will miss about China? Or, if “miss” is too strong, what aspects of China do I wish existed in the states?
I’ll miss how picturesque it was, certainly. I didn’t take 571 pictures because I wanted to bore people with a slideshow afterwards (although I could certainly do that XP ). More often than not, too, I would be taking a picture not because I thought something was beautiful, but because something was old… and therefore aesthetically interesting because of it. If there’s anything common in China (besides people), it’s old things. Like this or this or this… or this. (that pagoda/tower totally floored me, btw, when I saw it… felt like something out of Okami. >_>; )
Along with that, I’ll miss how I could look at certain buildings and structures, and be forced to wonder at its history, because it almost certainly had a colorful one. This in addition to things that obviously had history and/or cultural significance, like this. I think I manage to retain some healthy amount of reverence for symbols of religious significance, even when I ascribe to agnosticism myself. Especially for Buddha, since … well, if I HAD to pick a religion at this point, I’d probably go with something like Buddhism, cause I never heard of a Buddhist engaging in holy war or genocide. (And yeah, that would be my only reason. Sorry. ;P )
I’ll also miss how cheap everything was, not that I ever paid for anything. ^_^;
Ultimately, I’m pleased to leave this whole experience exactly as it is and not make too much of it: it was educational and enlightening, but also totally reassuring: you guys can have your Great [Fire]Wall, cause I’m still a citizen of the better place.
But damn, if it isn’t taking me a long time to readjust my sleep schedule. Not helped by the lack of anything demanding on my time. ::sigh::
