We left China almost 2 weeks ago (sorry for the lack of updates since), and decided that it would be good for us to include some final thoughts and answers in one last post about Chengdu, the Sichuan Province, and China.
Experience in China in 7 words or less
Ann: Juxtaposition of a traditional culture in transition
Taylor: Duplicitous, in both good and bad ways
Taylor: Duplicitous, in both good and bad ways
Most Memorable Moment
Ann: My most memorable experience would have to be seeing the vast population of terra-cotta warriors and thinking about the emperor who directed this work, and the sheer number of skilled workers it took to create this army made of stone with all the fine details designed into each and every warrior and horse.
Taylor: I think I have two: the first was less than 72 hours after arriving in Chengdu – when walking down an escalator, we saw a parent holding their child over a trash can so the child could poop. That was a nice orientation to children’s toilet habits. The second was much more positive, and was when we had finally made it to the summit of Emei Mountain just in time to see the clouds clearing around the golden statue of Samantabhadra.
Taylor: I think I have two: the first was less than 72 hours after arriving in Chengdu – when walking down an escalator, we saw a parent holding their child over a trash can so the child could poop. That was a nice orientation to children’s toilet habits. The second was much more positive, and was when we had finally made it to the summit of Emei Mountain just in time to see the clouds clearing around the golden statue of Samantabhadra.
Culture Adaptation
For both of us it was relatively easy to adapt to life in China. During the work week, we would wake up every morning and take a bus to work, work, eat Asian cuisine for lunch in small family run restaurants, go back to work, take the bus home, go out to eat or do some sort of activity around Chengdu, come home, read, go to sleep and repeat the following day. The small amount of free time we had was spent planning our next fun weekend adventure, so we were always looking forward. We packed in a lot and are so glad we did as we felt as though we learned what we could about the history of China and the importance of its traditions and what is was like to live and work in Chengdu.
There were a few things we surprisingly became accustomed to. One was the overcrowding of the people on the buses, in the parks, on the streets, highways, and at every tourist location we visited. Even eating out in restaurants that could, in a single word, be described as sketchy – became normal. And in our four weeks, we almost became accustomed to the total lack of adherence to any road rules. We definitely decided if there are rules, they must really only be guidelines. There were two specific and unfortunately regular things that neither of us could become accustomed to. Spitting and children’s bathroom habits. Everyone spits, anywhere and everywhere (yes, everyone and yes, it’s everywhere) and children when out in public very rarely use actual toilets (ie. they just drop their pants on the sidewalk and go). We were actually amazed how frequently we saw this happen and we saw it in every city we visited. Overall it was an easy four weeks, the people we met were great, we enjoyed the food, the language barrier wasn’t an issue and we did not encounter any major roadblocks to prevent our stay from being anything other than an enjoyable month in a totally different culture.
There were a few things we surprisingly became accustomed to. One was the overcrowding of the people on the buses, in the parks, on the streets, highways, and at every tourist location we visited. Even eating out in restaurants that could, in a single word, be described as sketchy – became normal. And in our four weeks, we almost became accustomed to the total lack of adherence to any road rules. We definitely decided if there are rules, they must really only be guidelines. There were two specific and unfortunately regular things that neither of us could become accustomed to. Spitting and children’s bathroom habits. Everyone spits, anywhere and everywhere (yes, everyone and yes, it’s everywhere) and children when out in public very rarely use actual toilets (ie. they just drop their pants on the sidewalk and go). We were actually amazed how frequently we saw this happen and we saw it in every city we visited. Overall it was an easy four weeks, the people we met were great, we enjoyed the food, the language barrier wasn’t an issue and we did not encounter any major roadblocks to prevent our stay from being anything other than an enjoyable month in a totally different culture.
Naps!
Taylor: It is widely known throughout China that Chengdu is a laid back city. There’s a pretty slow pace for everything (except driving), which ends up making an appointment that it 15 minutes late seem early. There was an after lunch phenomenon that seemed to happen nearly every day in my office. I do not know if this phenomenon was just in my office, or all around Chengdu, or even all of China, but the number of times I spotted a coworker taking a nap after lunch was a little bit nonsensical.
Things we will miss
Ann: The things I will miss the most about China are the food, tea time and the people. I know we have mentioned the food many times, but the Sichuan cuisine vegetarian style was simply yummy and oh so spicy and flavorful. I’m just hoping I am able to replicate the flavors when I get home. I will also miss tea time whether it was the standard and accompanying tea for lunch or dinner or it was the special tea breaks at work or in a tea house in the evenings or on the weekends. It is such a nice way to relax and enjoy time with family, friends or co-workers. I now have so many more teas to add to my favorite selection(s) that I had to actually start a list. And the people; I already have several friends in other parts of China, in particular Shanghai and Beijing, and it was great to see that the people I met and worked with in Chengdu were just as friendly, helpful and caring. Some say it takes a while for some Chinese to get comfortable enough to share a good conversation and something about themselves, but I found the opposite. I was pleased and equally engaged in sharing by the willingness to share stories about themselves and to ask bold questions about the American culture, as well as engage in some pretty good conversations about social topics.
Taylor: There are a lot of things I will miss about China. The food, for one (I know, I know, we’ve said it a million times). I especially enjoyed eating out with coworkers because it gave me an opportunity to get to know them and the food they typically eat. And I will definitely miss the people I got to know at work – there were two women in particular who I spent the most time getting to know and I’ll miss being able to ask them questions about themselves and Chinese culture (and answer their questions about the US). I’ll miss all the history. Almost everything in China has a massive documented history, which means that everything and everyone has a story to tell that is sometimes centuries old. And I will definitely miss those weekend trips (although we are taking them in Morocco, as well). We only had three weekends to enjoy in China and there were so many things to see. Living in Chengdu for a month was such a great experience. I don’t know that I could live there much longer, but my four weeks gave me a much different insight than a shorter period of time as a tourist would have.
Taylor: There are a lot of things I will miss about China. The food, for one (I know, I know, we’ve said it a million times). I especially enjoyed eating out with coworkers because it gave me an opportunity to get to know them and the food they typically eat. And I will definitely miss the people I got to know at work – there were two women in particular who I spent the most time getting to know and I’ll miss being able to ask them questions about themselves and Chinese culture (and answer their questions about the US). I’ll miss all the history. Almost everything in China has a massive documented history, which means that everything and everyone has a story to tell that is sometimes centuries old. And I will definitely miss those weekend trips (although we are taking them in Morocco, as well). We only had three weekends to enjoy in China and there were so many things to see. Living in Chengdu for a month was such a great experience. I don’t know that I could live there much longer, but my four weeks gave me a much different insight than a shorter period of time as a tourist would have.
Things we won't miss
Ann: I was often bothered by the pollution in the air and although the air quality in Chengdu is better than places like Shanghai and Beijing. I can’t help but think about how damaging this is to others and what the impact this will have on future populations if something isn’t done to work on solutions for cleaner air. Four weeks of breathing polluted air was enough for me and I will not miss breathing that poor quality of air into my lungs.
Taylor: There are some things I definitely won’t miss: the terrifying experience that made up crossing any street, the staring, the spitting, the lack of always breathable air in the city, and the children defecating in trash cans (Yes, we did see that more than once). But this experience was more positive than I think I had even anticipated it being, and while I’m happy to move on with our trip and to see new places, I am very glad to have spent those 4 weeks in Chengdu.
Taylor: There are some things I definitely won’t miss: the terrifying experience that made up crossing any street, the staring, the spitting, the lack of always breathable air in the city, and the children defecating in trash cans (Yes, we did see that more than once). But this experience was more positive than I think I had even anticipated it being, and while I’m happy to move on with our trip and to see new places, I am very glad to have spent those 4 weeks in Chengdu.
Recommendation for others
We initially signed up to work in a panda care program in Chengdu, so we started out with a pretty big change. But doing a business assignment gave us a better opportunity to explore the city and Sichuan province in general. I would, however, suggest a change based on the fact that we had a 30-day visa. If I was talking to someone who was planning on doing the same 4-week stay in Chengdu, I would tell them to: shorten your assignment to three weeks, arrive on a Friday and use the weekend to explore the city (and see the pandas!), take one weekend to see one of the mountains in Sichuan, take the other weekend to explore more of the Sichuan province (like the Jiuzhaigou Fairy Pools), and then take the fourth week to travel to Beijing or other locations (Xian, Shanghai, Guangzhou) in order to see as much of the country as you can within the range of your visa.
Final Thoughts: Ann
I leave China with a greater respect for its history and traditions and an appreciation for the long history of people’s ingenuity in design. With the great abilities it took to build the Great Wall, the terra cotta warriors and to design the intricate details of the palaces and their furnishings in a time period with little resources, they built wonders. But I wonder about the current transition of the country and its people, even if it is a country which has survived and excelled through significant changes over their history. The traditions and history is clear about the importance of respect for each other, a caring attitude followed by selfless actions for family and neighbors, all for the benefit of creating a cohesive environment in which to live. And yet what you see in the new forward looking cities is more of what appears to be very self focused and materialistic versus the good of the whole. My reference to the juxtaposition between the old and the new that is ever so present is with those wanting to ensure the history and traditions live on and another who is showing no loyalty to keeping those traditions. My thoughts on this were primarily influenced by seeing and discussing the amount of wealth and the availability of new personal and luxury products being infused into the country over a relative short period of time, along with the enamored idealism about the western cultures, primarily around materialism and yet for the most part the people and cities do not yet have safe drinking tap water or filter systems to manage emissions and pollutants. There is also no evidence that resources are being put into place for educating the public about ways to work together to create a sustainable cleaner breathing environment for themselves and the generations to come.
Final Thoughts: Taylor
There are so many new things I’ve come to realize and learn in the time I spent in China. Before, I had a hard time understanding certain aspects of the culture. Now, I think it’s easy to understand why China is the way it is (in general; I’m certainly no expert). How I now see it is: everywhere in the world, there is some connotation of “Old China” and they’re currently working to combat that stigma with their “New China.” In forcing their way from “Old China,” there has been a developed sense of materialism – it’s important to own the expensive (real) handbags and drive a car that costs more than a home (we saw more Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, and Aston Martins than we’ve ever seen before). I can’t say why for sure, but it seems that with the extensive amounts of Western influences in marketing and in the media, they’ve adopted a materialism based off of what they believe first world countries to be and have. American’s have expensive clothes. So should we. The British drive fancy cars. So should we. In gaining this newfound consumerism, some of China has lost its sense of human necessities: breathable air, potable water, and sewage systems that can process toilet paper being just three examples. For the 2008 Olympics, 60,000 taxis and buses were taken off the road by the end of 2007 and all manufacturing plants had to shut down two weeks before the hordes descended on their capital city. There was a 70-80% decrease in carbon monoxide emissions around Beijing thanks to these efforts. And the reason this happened? The government recognized that the air quality was not good enough for the world’s greatest athletes and did something about it. Something that was not permanent. Something that would not help their own citizens in the long run. I had a very hard time understanding why a country could neglect these basic needs when they have the ability to make it happen. I have such a great respect for China’s history for how different it is from our own, and because of how well documented it is. I loved having the opportunity to stay in a country where everywhere you look is a reminder of the past, and a sense of hope for the future. This is so evident in the architecture and the clothing, where you can typically see a building originally built in the 16th century just down the street from a modern skyscraper or a modern dress inspired by the traditional cheongsam (mandarin dress). These small moments give me hope that China won’t forget all the old, and will take their time adapting to the new instead of trying to leap ahead and miss the important bases.