Life and Travel in China

I have bad news - CHINA DON'T NEED US ANYMORE! Us, i.e. Western investors, recipients of goods from China. While shopping recently, I was terrified by the crowds of people. It wasn't a holiday, but you couldn't even get out of the subway this weekend. Large shopping centers were overcrowded, there was absolutely no crisis in sight. We had to walk single file on the sidewalks and stand in lines to get somewhere at all. The Chinese buy a lot of underwear, clothes, shoes and even jewelry. In electronics stores, cameras like Nikon D300 and Canon 5D Mark II sell like hot cakes, people pay for everything in cash or with ATM cards. Hardly anyone buys such things on credit or in installments. In Poland we can only dream of such mass consumption. Even the bakery offering French rolls was overcrowded and there was no free table. Whatever it is, such rolls are not among the nutritional priorities of the Chinese. Simply put, in big cities, every shop, restaurant, bakery, salon, and bookstore is full of customers. It's not like in Poland, where everyone goes around, compares prices, analyzes, thinks, and finally buys cheaper online or in installments. Here you just go to the store and shop. What's more, it's not cheaper here than in Poland. There are more and more company stores and branded clothing. A small leather bag costs PLN 400-500 here, a shirt (not even cotton, but polyester) costs PLN 200-300 in such stores. I'm surprised by this demand, they simply buy in droves. Their market is already doing very well without Western interference. They have already developed their products and patterns, copied a bit from us, added something on their own, learned the technology and are really doing great. We can be afraid now! China is becoming a power in its own right.

More and more people come to the conclusion that English is the hardest language to communicate in China. Many travelers, businessmen and students always have problems on the street, in shops, on trains or buses. Some people are lucky to meet someone young, educated and then they can communicate better or worse in English. I remember once watching an American reality show: "Race Around the World". The pair of players couldn't communicate with the taxi driver at all (sometimes even a Chinese address doesn't help in finding the right place). The Americans were furious and the taxi driver didn't understand a word! They finally gave up, died in China, dismissed the taxi and threw away their backpacks shouting "freaking China". I have noticed that in Indonesia and Thailand a large group of people speak English. It happens that in Africa you can also communicate without any problems. However, China is an exception! What amazes me is the number of English schools, courses, private teachers, books, DVDs, multimedia, language bookstores - I wonder where the effects of this teaching are!

In Chinese cities, everything is as well thought out, planned and built as in the Sim City game. There are car showrooms nearby, driving lessons and they are immediately building a large hospital for future drivers and accident victims... how well is everything planned? Just kidding, but the number of blind, uneducated drivers in China increases every day. This is probably the only country that currently sells the most new cars and no decent brand ignores the fair in China. The roads are excellent, the cars are very decent and their skills are beyond words.

I recently read that a Polish disco-polo band is preparing a concert tour in China in 2010! With all due respect to this band and this music, but is this all that Polish culture has to offer in the Middle Kingdom? Melodic chants will probably sell well here, but Poland will not be famous because of it. I would rather see a pop or rock band that is currently on top in Poland. Even Polish hip-hop would be more interesting here than rehashed wedding hits from the 90s. Especially since in China there is no dancing at weddings!

Life in a bucket... sometimes I meet such workers on city buses. Young married couples, simple people from the countryside who move from one construction site to another. All their belongings consist of folded bedding and a rolled-up duvet. They usually don't have any luggage or backpacks - they keep all their small items in a bucket. There is soap, towels, hangers, clothes, sometimes some pots, dishes, cups. They live in big cities, but they don't eat in any restaurants, they don't go to discos, they don't sleep in hotels. They work on construction sites, build luxury hotels, huge hospitals, or stunning shopping malls - none of these places will be intended for themselves. They always sleep in simple barracks on the construction site and send the money to their family in the countryside. They try to keep their jobs, but if there were no construction jobs, they would not be able to survive in such a city and would return to the countryside.