Life and Travel in China

I watched the end of the fencing fight in which, after difficult struggles, the Pole defeated the Chinese. What surprised me was that the Chinese was sitting holding his hip (I don't know if he was imitating) and the Pole was jumping for joy. Later, our player approached the Chinese, but he didn't even pay attention to it. The Pole kept jumping, and the Chinese almost lay down. When the injured man finally got up, the Pole approached him again, but they both ignored each other. The Pole made a stupid face and kept jumping. It would be nicer behavior if the Pole, regardless of the result, approached his rival and checked if he was okay. He gave him his hand, helped him up, waited a moment, he just jumped and approached the Chinese like a rooster. And now, as WP described the end of the fencing fight between the Chinese and the Pole: "I shake his hand, but the Pole doesn't extend his own to the Pole. The hero of the Polish team rejoices in the victory for a moment, then returns to the Chinese. He hopes that he has already cooled down and wants to give him a high five. Nothing happens! Wang still thinks he's cheated and doesn't return the Pole's gesture." As you can see, the facts can be interpreted differently.

I haven't written anything for a long time, I have a lot of different things to do. I moved the website to a new server. In addition, I sell more and more photos and have a photo studio at home. Two weeks ago I was also in Yunnan province, the mystical town of Shangrila and the famous Lijiang. I will try to add some interesting photos. I would like to remind you that I will no longer use the domain www.foto.xip.pl - I will stay www.fotochiny.com.

If you were going to China, in most cities and towns I recommend visiting company stores: Li-Ning, ANTA, 361. They all have a logo similar to Nike. These are Chinese Adidas - branded clothes. They are produced in the same factories as Nike, Puma, Adidas etc. They are usually half the price and have the same quality and durability of fabrics and footwear. I really recommend it! 361 usually has interesting promotions in Shenzhen, I buy one pair of shoes - the second one is free, I buy a sweatshirt for 200 RMB (the Adidas one costs 380 RMB), I get the second sweatshirt worth 100 RMB for free. It happened to me that I bought nasty Adidas shoes, and after a year the sole fell apart. Some time ago I bought Li-Ning sports shoes, 2 years ago everything is fine, recently I bought 361 shoes, they are also comfortable and well made. As you can see, Chinese branded items can also be decent, and the accusation that they are 'made in China' may equally apply to Puma, Adidas and Nike. The reality is that you pay for a global brand or you get a Chinese brand for half the price.

The average Pole lumps Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, and sometimes even Thais and Filipinos into one bag. After a long stay in China, I can definitely tell the difference between these nations. Apart from the language and writing (Chinese and Japanese characters are similar), they differ greatly in appearance (eyes, height, nose, eyebrow shape, hair), as well as clothing and behavior. I've met Japanese people, recently some Korean students, and Filipinos, and I would never consider them Chinese.

I'm wondering about this stereotype of Chinese fortune cookies. I just saw them for the hundredth time in an American series. Well, in 5 years of my stay in China, I have never encountered this. I did some reading and it turned out that these cookies were invented by a Japanese in 1914 in San Francisco, USA. A similar idea had an emigrant from Hong Kong who invented the 'fortune cookie' in Los Angeles in 1918. As you can see, the famous Chinese cookies come from America and actually have little to do with Chinese culture. They only exist in CHINA TOWN and in Chinese restaurants outside the Middle East. The only connection with China is that in the 13th and 14th centuries there was an uprising against the Mongols and secret messages were hidden inside mooncakes. But these are completely different cookies... and yet another legend.