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← Back to all essays | Author's essays 2024 living in China FAQ
by Deogeo
Published: 2024-08-28 (last update: 2024-10-07)
5-15 minutes
Intro
I've lived in China for over a year now. I moved here at the beginning of last year. Send me questions! You can hit the button marked 'Discussion' up at the top of the page to do so. I like writing so feel free to ask me anything about life here China!
Questions
Everything in this section was asked by Netizens like you! Feel free to contact me here, or thru my socials. My Twitter is @josepharaines and I'm on the prolewiki discord with the same handle as my prolewiki name: Deogeo
Have you talked to Chinese about communism and the CPC?
I have! 've asked Chinese folks what they think of communism and the CPC, and both are very very popular! Same as what all the polls say. Something like 90-95% of Chinese are happy with their government. I've found a few Marxist philosophy book clubs here, but my Chinese isn't good enough to join them. The largest bloc within the CPC are farmers. About 1 in 7 adults here are party members. I've met (and confirmed because they were wearing their badges on official party business) about a dozen members so far. When my Chinese is closer to C1 level I'll try to talk about this stuff with them.
I've heard people in some cities like Shanghai and Beijing are more liberal and western than in others. Is this true?
Shanghai by reputation is very western and very liberal. Beijing is to a lesser extend described this way as well. Shenzhen where I'm at, is a Cantonese-speaking Chinese city. The Cantonese part of China, that is the South-East is historically the only part of China that the outside world, particularly the west, interacted with. The vast majority of foreigners live in these areas, or in Beijing. So there's definitely more western influence here than most, maybe the rest of all of China.
I find Shenzhen to be very influenced by the United States like how Hanoi, where I live for a year before China is heavily influenced by the French. In Vietnam, those bidets the French are famous for are in near every bathroom. I miss bidets. In Shenzhen, every elevator starts with 1 as the ground floor. As opposed to G being ground floor like in European countries.
How much is food? Price and quality?
Food is very cheap and clean. Because there's more spices and less sugar/salt, food is significantly more flavorful and mild. Most Chinese are wimps when it comes to spicy 辣 food. Only Chinese from/fans of Sichuan and Hunan can tolerate it. I kinda miss Mexican food. It is not popular here at all.
Many companies and all schools have canteens that serve meals 3x a day 5x a week. All university have at least two canteens: one halal and one regular local Chinese food. This is anywhere from free to 3-8 rmb a meal. About a 0.5 to 1 dollar US per meal. Eating Chinese noodle or rice dishes can be super cheap or a bit more. There's a lot of flexibility here. A solid rice and vegetables with a soup is roughly 15-20 rmb here or $2-3 and that is very expensive compared to other cities. Shenzhen hovers around the 3rd most expensive city spot in China's rankings so it's a far bit less in most other cities. Western food is considerably more: 30-50 rmb or about $4-8 US and around 80 rmb or $10-11 US to get a big 3-4 person meal. A big meal for 2 eating non-western food with alcohol and snacks is about 120 rmb or less that $20 US.
I'll update when I move to a different city on how the prices change.
What is the junk food? How's the taste? How unhealthy is it?
#1 junk food is fried chicken. Pizza, Chinese BBQ(also not v healthy) and various fried meats and bread are popular. None to the extent of fried chicken and Chinese BBQ. The BBQ comes in a lot of varieties, depending on what province the BBQ comes from. Similar to the southern United States BBQ regional/state variations.
It's a bit healthier than United States junk food, everything has way waay less grease and salt. Bread tastes a lot better here compared to the usa which adds tons of sugar to its bread and to everything else. Ice cream also has much less sugar and in general is mildly sweet. I don't really like sweet food and vastly prefer salty food, so I don't know much about Chinese sweets.
What western stores/chains are in China?
KFC is the king of foreign restaurants here. I'm in Shenzhen writing this, which is one of the special economic zone cities. Supposedly there's far fewer western chains beyond the coastal cities south of Beijing. McDonald's is present and mildly popular. Starbucks is here but not very popular. Bubble tea is much more popular than coffee shops. Luckin coffee is much much bigger than Starbucks. I'd guess Burger King is about as popular as Starbucks. Maybe a little less so.
There's a few Walmarts in Shenzhen. The supermarkets in them carry most of the same stuff, though with far more fruits and meats. Big/small varieties of persimmon, chicken feet and so on. Bread with pork in it, sort of like pigs in a blanket is surprisingly popular.
What are Chinese eating habits?
Communal dining is huge here. There's 1.4 billion Chinese so every lifestyle approach has millions and millions of adherents. Many older retired folks cook a lot. Many people in cities don't have a kitchen and never cook except when visiting family in their home towns or during holidays. Restaurants are popular with families and friends getting together. Same as everywhere else in the world.
My observations
Shenzhen (2023-Present)
Meeting an ex-soviet foreigner and other foreigners
I've met Shenzhen (2023-Present) 2nd Ex-Soviet citizen here! The first was in Vietnam back in 2022. He's a cool guy who likes Stalin and does dialectical materialism instinctually. Grasps that things are defined in terms of motion, that is fading away/coming into being and by relations to one another. Much more rational than most every other 老外. The only thing in common amongst all the foreigners （老外）here is a sense of humor. An ability to laugh at the strange, ancient and simultaneously hyper-modern world we find ourselves relearning to swim in. Talking with other westerners who're communists here in China, I become acutely aware: most communists live in communist countries.
Economic life and trans people
I really like the economy freedom everybody has here. The Chinese constitution guarantees the right to a job. Food, housing, internet and phone are all extremely affordable here. Put those two facts together and you get an environment where parents/elders don't have immense economic power over children like they do in the USA where I'm from. I've seen too many (more than zero) parents financial abuse their LGBT+ children. China is far far closer to abolishing the family in its negative aspects than any western country.
Proletarian dictatorship and violence towards capitalists
Billionaires and bankers are periodically executed here. It's a healthy proletarian dictatorship (https://redsails.org/china-has-billionaires/) getting stronger and healthier day-by-day. See China daily for about 85% videos/pictures of cute animals and 15% corrupt capitalists and white-collar criminals getting [redacted].
Physical intimacy
Chinese are more physically intimate with each other than in the United States. Locking arms and holding hands between women is common and men will do this too from time to time. Men even hold each others shoulders out in public. For comparison, Statesians mostly just shake hands and nothing else.
Chinese are generally not concerned about personal space. If necessary people will lean over one another's shoulds or get so close to one another that hugging would be easy. Many times I've been out in a large group with 20 ish other foreigners in a tight circle and Chinese walking by will stick their head into the circle for a bit to see what we're up to.
Chinese language and red flag behavior
In the English language, a person giving off violent or deviant hints is a red flag event. In Chinese culture red is a symbol of wealth, luck, power, and the proletarian dictatorship. So their equivalent of the English "that's a red flag" is quite different. In Chinese we say "that's a green flag" for sussy behavior. This is made a bit complicated since green politics are huge here. There are weeks where I feel like half the stuff the government puts out at a local level is gentle suggestions on how to do green things for your home and environment. There's also a cool tree-planting system (see also: gamification) that rewards you for using public transportation, metro/buses/ebikes/tram by planting a new tree in exchange for points.
Quietest cities ever
Shenzhen is quieter than every city in the United States.
Everything's electric. All the buses. All the bikes. All the cars. Shenzhen is so quiet what with the city being without combustion engines. The background roar replaced with a quiet road vibration and the wind. I can here the wind so clearly. I can hear birds chirp and the road vibrate! This has never happen before in the dozens of cities I've been in throughout the United States. I'm going back to visit family for a month in 2024 July. The noise is going to be tough.
China and the future of football
I know football (soccer fellow burgers) is the #1 sport in China, same as most countries. I have a sneaking suspicion that Basketball will overtake Football as the #1 sport worldwide. Basketball is huge in Vietnam and China and growing in popularity. As more an more people move to cities (about 60% as of 2024 of China is urban) football fields become way less common and basketball courts explode in popularity. In a dense place like a city, space is a premium, so basketball courts are a significantly more efficient use of space. Now that China is building up the infrastucture of the global south --something the global north failed for centuries-- （see How Europe Underdeveloped Africa) this trend is poised to emerge all over the belt-and-road system. ==
Explaining racism to Chinese and Vietnamese
I've struggled a lot trying to explain racism to locals in China and Vietnam. Since black people aren't targeted by banks and cops (with red lining and so on...) in either country like they are in the US of A, its... difficult.
My comrades' Observations
What being black is like for my black comrades in China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEb9cBsYNn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKE9UlCbMlo
Local foreigner reporting
Jerry Grey is an Australian man who has lived in China for more than 2 decades. His experiences in China, in general, echo my own. You can find his YouTube where he discusses his own experiences and obeservations here https://www.youtube.com/@jerrystakeonchina799 He is more into psychology and I am more into philosophy (in part because of the replication crisis in psychology) so there are areas where our opinions different in depth and in our frameworks of political-economy.