Life and Travel in China

Recently, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces were hit by a typhoon, even two typhoons. According to our friends, heavy rain and storms lasted all day and all night, with winds reaching speeds of 150-200 km/h. At the beginning of my stay in China, I also witnessed a typhoon. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, especially on the 27th floor. I had the impression that the whole building was creaking and bending under such a storm. Interestingly, many people do not make it a tragedy. Maybe because they most often work in factories, live there or rent apartments - so they do not lose their own belongings. It may sound absurd, but for some people it is even such an attraction. Work at the factory has stopped, there is water everywhere, they send one person who is waist-deep in water to go get some lunch. People are just waiting for the water to recede. A friend of mine wrote to me that now they travel around the city of Ningbo by boat (instead of buses), it sounded very natural, like 'there is water, we go by boat' and wrote that 'it should be better tomorrow'. Young people do not panic and do not dramatize. The situation is certainly worse somewhere in the countryside, where people lose their houses, belongings, animals, farmlands... Fortunately, thanks to meteorological warnings and alarms, some people managed to evacuate, most of the boats returned safely to ports and there were not so many victims of this storm.

Some time ago I had the opportunity to observe how rapidly villages, for example in Hunan province, are changing. I mentioned it earlier - all the families rebuilt their houses as ordered! From small rural cottages, tenement houses 3-4 stories high have grown. The higher the house, the better the family status, so the thinking goes. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to tragedy. Two feuding neighbors, one of them Zhang was told by the other that he had no right to build a taller house and that he was a failure. The conflict continued for some time until Zhang decided to take revenge. He kidnapped his neighbor's grandson, an 8-year-old boy. He was accompanied by two girls, aged 9. Initially, he planned to kill only the boy, but was afraid that the girls would be witnesses, and ended up killing three children. A shocking crime and perhaps difficult to understand, sick envy. In China, unfortunately, material status is an important determinant in life. If someone despises another person by pointing out that he is poor, can't cope, doesn't have a big house, doesn't drive a new car, then it is a very serious insult. Ordinary insults in China are not as painful as bringing up financial issues. I have witnessed such situations myself. Many young Chinese pretend to be richer than they actually are. Without it, even their family would not respect them. However, nothing justifies such a terrible crime, killing three children - because the neighbor has a taller house?! Sick...

I have further proof that the Chinese are getting better and better. I remember when I bought some pants in 2005, they were often too tight at the waist. I joked that in China, men's pants are cinched at the waist. My Polish friend laughed a lot about it, but that was the reality. Jeans were often tight around the waist or even around the thighs, and the tracksuits had super-strong elastic bands so that they hugged the belly. I'm not a big guy, but their clothes were really tight, for slim or even skinny guys. Now that I see it, it's changing... pants are available in a wider range of sizes and no one narrows them down so much anymore. Of course, 'slimmer' versions still predominate, but there are also ones for bigger guys. Looking at Chinese youth, this trend will continue, there will be demand for XL clothing ;-).

It may be hard to believe, but 'cleaning the apartment' is a rather foreign concept in China. It is similar in the case of an office, a desk, etc. There is simply no habit of cleaning, arranging things, putting them away, dusting them, and hardly anyone uses vacuum cleaners. Of course, there are people who care more about cleanliness, and there are also lazy people. In general, however, people do not pay as much attention to cleanliness as we do. This is due to a simple fact: many people come from the countryside, and life there is modest, sometimes apart from ordinary tables and chairs there is not much furniture - so where to dust? There are no beautiful floors, only concrete and dirt floors. Why a vacuum cleaner? Mops? It's only in the city that it changes a bit, but I haven't met a typical Chinese family yet that has a vacuum cleaner or a liquid for dusting, washing floors, etc. Of course, there are exceptions that I may not know... I'm not saying that the Chinese don't care about cleanliness, they just don't have the 'know-how' when it comes to cleaning. They also often use the help of cleaners and cleaning companies, because they have the knowledge, skills and chemistry that works wonders and makes Chinese apartments shine. It also often happens that the housewife is surrounded by layers of dust and general mess, and this is the case at home and, for example, in the office where she works.

I haven't spoken for a long time again, I'm a bit overworked. Moreover, holidays mean additional duties and little rest. Our good friend is getting married - I mentioned it, a uniformed fianc