NationStates Jolt Archive

Since Daistallia did the Japan Q & A thing that went down well, I guess I'll do the same for China. Like Daistallia I've noticed a lot of misconceptions about my country of residence so I'm open to any questions. I haven't been here as long as Daistallia has been in Japan but after a year and a half I have a pretty good fix on the place. Just don't ask me any questions in Chinese since 我的普通话不好.

Do you have pictures of Chinese schoolgirls? :D

(I can't believe I forgot this on the other thread...)

There are 4 total hot girls in the entirety of Mainland China. Its a mix of the bad air and the oppressive government. There are some lookers out in Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities though.

How are the Buddhists and Christians treated in your country?
How about the gay Chinese? Are you happy with the situation there?
Do you think Mao was a good leader or tyrant?

There are 4 total hot girls in the entirety of Mainland China. Its a mix of the bad air and the oppressive government. There are some lookers out in Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities though.

Not from what I've heard/seen :eek: :D

Buddhists are treated well and the government gives a lot of money to building Buddhsit temples, etc. The government has a hands off policy towards most Christians but Catholic leaders in China are not allowed to recognize the supreme power of the Pope. I don't think the Chinese government even acknowledges that homosexuality exists... if you are gay you will be cast out of society, you become a non person to friends, family, and society. I think Mao was a tyrant.

Holy shizzle. That sounds like something Dante wrote.
Now here's a better question-
Would you rather the country weren't socialist?

Wait, why are you (HE HATE ME) answering for this guys post?
I think you're just on a mission to get booted from the forum.
Don't you have anything else to do?

China isn't very socialist right now... the nation is a fascist corporate police state, the corporations can basically do whatever they want. There are no real worker safety guidelines so that's why every week you hear about 2000 coal miners dead from a mine shaft collapse or natural gas explosion in some random corner of China. The environmental regulations are horrid, taxes are low, and tax collection is highly irrregular. THeoretically China is a communist labor-centric nation but that is a pretense that died 30 years ago... the health care system (which used to be about universal) has been slowly been dismantled, and many times you'll have to pay before an emergency room admits you. Economically, China is far more capitalistic than the USA. I do think that for China, this robber baron phase will pass sooner or later and society will become more decent. So to answer your question, I'd rather not China be the collectivist state it was in the past.

Wait, why are you (HE HATE ME) answering for this guys post?
I think you're just on a mission to get booted from the forum.
Don't you have anything else to do?
Dude what is wrong with contributing things to an interesting thread? Yes I have a psych final ( :upyours: ) to study for but I'm not going to be booted for my input in a perfectly normal thread, and the thread creator can't tell me to stop so ( :upyours: again).

Dude what is wrong with contributing things to an interesting thread? Yes I have a psych final ( :upyours: ) to study for but I'm not going to be booted for my input in a perfectly normal thread, and the thread creator can't tell me to stop so ( :upyours: again).

Well, without starting off with something like I've just been to China, or I live(d) in China, or even I know what's going on in China-
You just looked like you were fucking with me (like you have been doing to everyone else all evening), and I really wanted to know.
Got pissed cuz your answers were so convincing.
Which is it? Or do you have family/friends over there?

No need to give me the flickey-flickey.

I'm Chinese, I live the US, I go back to China once in a while, last trip back was this summer.

And yes I am being serious in this thread.

How (if you think it is at all) would you say America's capitalism is better than China's form of it? (Or vice-versa?)

Yeah I think the American economic and social system is better than China's. Here in the US there are good regulations and the people are more decent. In China the collaboration of dictatorship and corporations is tragic, in my opinion. People want only to make money, and sure there is a lot of money out there in China right now due to the boom times, but the unbridled greed can be shocking. For example the AIDS crisis in China was caused by some assholes who decided to open up his private blood bank. Their needles were used over and over again so when a bunch of poverty stricken farmers sell their blood, the AIDS gets everywhere. This has caused an epidemic in Henan province, which the government tried to cover up for a few years. The perpetrators have never been prosecuted, and Im not aware of any new laws or enforcement preventing such abuse. The government also cooperates with corporations and gangsters, leading to great corruption... there was an investigation about drug smuggling and slave trafficking in Hong Kong but once the probe got to close to President Jiang Zemin, the entire bust was called off. Theres a lot of examples of this sort of abuse, that is why there are thousands of riots every year in China protesting corruption and exploitation. There also a great demand for reform and democracy so I think things will get better. And anyways modern China is probably preferrable to the manmade famines and cultural desecrations caused by Mao.

OK, I haven't replied thus far because HHM's answers reflected my experience but...

There also a great demand for reform and democracy

Hmm, not in my experience there isn't. On what do you base this, if you don't mind me asking.


Oh, and Goed Tweed: I don't have any pictures of Chinese schoolgirls but I do have about 250 pictures of female Chinese university students.

Why don't Chinese mix with alcohol?

Why don't Chinese mix with alcohol?

Well quite a large proportion of Chinese, and Japanese, in general, are "allegric" (actually a mutant gene that affects alcohol metabolism) to alcohol, hence the red face reaction. Also Asians tend to have a higher metabolism than caucasians. So more alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream.

Plus there's the whole drinking culture here which seems to be solely aimed at getting everyone plastered and then forcing them to drink even more. This is why most private rooms in restaurants have their own bathroom.

And finally there's baijiu which is the single most foul tasting concoction on the planet and has a strength of around 60%. I'm actually getting used to the taste, though, which is a worrying sign.

how can you expect to get a good handle on a country as complex as china without learning the language?

Oh, and Goed Tweed: I don't have any pictures of Chinese schoolgirls but I do have about 250 pictures of female Chinese university students.

All right, let's see 'em! :)

how can you expect to get a good handle on a country as complex as china without learning the language?

First, I really don't expect to get a good handle on China in the time I am here, like you said it's a complex country. TBH, most Chinese I've met don't even fully understand it. IMHO anyone who says they understand China probably doesn't.

As for the language I am learning. Currently I have 4 language exchange teachers I work with. Last year was mostly lost because I was trying not to completely balls up my teaching. Now that I have more free time, brought on by being able to recycle the materials from last year, I'm aiming to catch up. My reading is still well behind my speaking, though.

You can actually glean a lot of info about a culture without needing to say or understand anything, though. Just watching can give you a lot of insight. I also have a large circle of English speaking friends and acquaintances who I talk to. Plus I've been reading as much as I can. I've read a few general culture books, at the moment I'm working my way through some philosophy books and I've got some international studies books on order.

But, like I said, these are all bits and pieces. And to be honest learning about China has only been one part of the experience, it's been just as much about understanding my own culture.

I saw on Hey Spring of Trivia that babies in China wear bottomless pants instead of diapers and can just go wherever they have to go and usually leave a mess on the floor. How often do you actually see that happen though?

All right, let's see 'em! :)

They're only head shots (used for remembering who the hell is who come assessment time) so wouldn't be that interesting, probably.

Oh, and anyone who read "hea shot" and instantly thought "bukake" is a sick monkey.


That'd be me, then.

They're only head shots (used for remembering who the hell is who come assessment time) so wouldn't be that interesting, probably.

Oh, and anyone who read "hea shot" and instantly thought "bukake" is a sick monkey.


That'd be me, then.

May I still see them, though? :D

Oh, and anyone who read "hea shot" and instantly thought "bukake" is a sick monkey.


That'd be me, then.
Finally, somebody sicker than me.
:D

If you don't mind me asking. What's the current China/Taiwan situation?

All i know at the moment is that China has purchased a post- soviet aircraft carrier to add to PLAN. I was wondering if you had any more knowledge on it.

The coastal area of China seems to be all-westernized (the cities, the economic freedom of western companies there), but what's it like in the interior of China? Is life there any different from life in the Soviet-Union?

Where are the pictures? :(

May I still see them, though? :D

Well, everyone knows the PSB monitors everything that's put up on the internet within The Great Firewall so it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Would most likely end up with me being sent to a "re-education camp" in Xinjiang.

(disclaimer: China actualy isn't like this. Too much)


If you don't mind me asking. What's the current China/Taiwan situation?

All i know at the moment is that China has purchased a post- soviet aircraft carrier to add to PLAN. I was wondering if you had any more knowledge on it.


台湾是中国的一部分!!!!
(translation: TAIWAN IS A PART OF CHINA!!!!)

It's hard to get a real grasp on the situation because with many people you never get beyond that statement. The vast majority of Chinese people feel pretty passionately about the subject, or at least act like they do. Press them on it, though, and many will admit that they wouldn't want to actually go to war about it. Many say they would be, though.

As for the government's policy, your guess is as good as mine. About the only way to judge what the CCP thinks is by what churns out of the propaganda machine. From what I've been told teachers constantly tell students about how lovely and wonderful Taiwan is and, oh, wouldn't it be great if it came back into the fold. CCTV churns out the usual pretty pictures of Taiwan (look carefully and you'll note the odd Beijing bus in the background) and "discussion" shows where the panel's views vary between "Taiwan is a part of China" and "Taiwan REALLY IS a part of China." Basically Chinese are inculcated practically from birth that the Taiwanese are being deceived by their government which is diverting them from their true path.

I really don't know what would happen if Chen Shui Bian tried to force the issue. On the one hand this is a very pragmatic regime which isn't likely to blunder in on the basis of ideology. On the other hand they've invested a lot of mienzi (face) into the whole thing and so backing down would mean a massive loss of face. And don't underestimate how important face is.

The upshot is, then, that I'm unclear on what's going on behind the scenes. Which puts me in the same camp as pretty much every sinologist. If I had to guess I'd say that if Taiwan seceding became inevitable the regime would probably find a face-saving way of letting it happen. Or at least that's what I hope.

Oh, and the aircraft carrier is just a prestige thing, I doubt it's strongly related to Taiwan. I mean, the Taiwan strait isn't wide enough to warrant a carrier in it.

The coastal area of China seems to be all-westernized (the cities, the economic freedom of western companies there), but what's it like in the interior of China? Is life there any different from life in the Soviet-Union?

I haven't been too far into the interior but Xi'an and Chegdu are as westernised as anywhere on the coast. I don't have first hand experience of the deep interior (Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai etc.) but those who've been there have told me it's much the same but a little less modernised and more reliant on raw materials. Plus chock full of ethnic tension in some areas. Outside of the cities it's different but these places have been largely untouched for centuries, especially in Xinjiang, so it's not so much Soviet as traditional.

And then Tibet's just weird.

I saw on Hey Spring of Trivia that babies in China wear bottomless pants instead of diapers and can just go wherever they have to go and usually leave a mess on the floor. How often do you actually see that happen though?

The bottomless pants? Everywhere. They're sometimes frontless too. Nothing makes a meal extra special than looking up from your over the bridge noodles and thinking "oh look, it's a boy".

Actually going whenever they have to go? Haven't seen it yet. Someone told me they say a baby drop a load off in a lift, though. I have seen a little old lady and a smart suited businessman doing number 2s on the street (well, just off to the side), though. Not at the same time, I hasten to add.

Please can I see the pics? :(

Since Daistallia did the Japan Q & A thing that went down well, I guess I'll do the same for China. Like Daistallia I've noticed a lot of misconceptions about my country of residence so I'm open to any questions. I haven't been here as long as Daistallia has been in Japan but after a year and a half I have a pretty good fix on the place. Just don't ask me any questions in Chinese since 我的普通话不好.


If you are of non-asian ethnicity living in China, do many people still try to compare you to Dashan regarding your language skills ?

JIANG GUO SH WOR DUH

bump

If you are of non-asian ethnicity living in China, do many people still try to compare you to Dashan regarding your language skills ?

God yes. It doesn't help that I really, really, hate the smarmy get. Chinese seem baffled as to why Dashan generates such a negative impression amongst laowai (foreigners). I tell them wait until they live overseas for a while. They'll feel just the same about Jackie Chan.

The Chinese in general love the Candians as much as the dislike the Americans, BTW.


JIANG GUO SH WOR DUH


No it isn't
(You were saying "China is mine", right? If so it'd be zhongguo shi wode in pinyin, and 中国是我的 in characters. Sorry, just showing off, but it's one of the few phrases I'd be able to actually write).

Please can I see the pics?

No.
Try www.asianbikinidolls.com if you must get your fix.