Inspired by the recent c/AskLemmy question about Myanmar.
As a PRC-born ethnic Han-Chinese person who currently is a US Citizen and reside in the US, I’m curious on what people think of my former country.
Order. Conformity. Mystery. Impenetrable language. Impossible writing. Eating anything that moves. Mindless nationalism. People who don’t talk or even care about politics. Depressed single young people obsessed with shopping. Security cameras. Police. Airport-sized train stations. Electric scooters. Electric cars. Utopian-dystopian sci-fi.
Yes, I have been there multiple times.
PS: to be clear, I was very, very impressed by those trains and especially by the electrification of city transport. In Shenzhen the air is now cleaner than any big city in the West and with all the greenery and silence it really does have a utopian feel. The progress there is genuine, it’s amazing, it deserves lots and lots of credit.
Impossible writing.
Native Chinese speakers often forget how to write after they finish school. Especially exacerbated by technology. All you need to known is Pinyin.
Eating anything that moves.
My grandmother told me a joke, roughly translates to: “anything with 4 legs and with the back facing the sky, with the exception of a table, is food”. I mean… there were famines, so you can’t judge with western lens. You gotta eat whatever to survive.
People who don’t talk or even care about politics.
Its honestly the same with Americans. (to a lesser extent)
When I was in Highschool (in the US). Nobody in my classes seemed to be interested in voting. 🤦♂️
Depressed single young people obsessed with shopping.
Huh? I mean, I left when I was a kid so idk what this is, I never heard of this “obsessed with shopping” thing.
Very interesting history and culture, plastered over with bland authoritarian turbo-capitalism that disguises itself as communism.
Complicated. Big.
A collection of a wide range of geography, languages, and peoples. Held together by a mix of national pride, iron fist, and a solid record of on the whole very good for most people improvements in life quality in living memory.
Big. Brazen. Splashy. But with an inability to face problems, and a resignation to the world as is. An almost fatalistic attitude paired with naïve or blind optimism on its dexter side.
A place filled with potential, as well as already existing food, culture, history. But hard to find much of it as modernity does a speed run towards uniformity and mass production, while historical sites are rebuilt as poured concrete facsimiles.
Eh, it’s a country. I do dig American Chinese food, I know it’s not the same.
Chinese slave-workers helped build the American West, their contribution and sacrifice is rarely recognized.
Proper tea.
winnie the pooh
Oh Bother
Very rich culture, and the government.
A ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for their citizens¹ while also being a cultural / societal system I never want to live in. For some reason super obsessed with outside appearances.
1:
From 1995 to 2025:
- GDP/c: 603 to 13973
- Literacy rates: 77% to 96%
- University graduates per year: 900K to 10M
- Life expectancy: 33 to 77
- Railway km: 54616 to 160000 (50000 high speed)
- Urbanization rate: 29% to 67%
etc.
University graduates
You forgot the Gaokao that’s 10x harder than the US SAT/ACT 💀
I like the idea that these were your first impressions of China, as in you stepped off a plane, had one look around and thought “Wow, this place seems like a ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for its citizens but it’s certainly a cultural-slash-societal system I never want to live in.”
Uyghur people in concentration camps while tourists invade their homes
Absolutely fascinated by Chinese culture and mythology. I’m a cdrama fan especially costume and cultivation themes. I am currently taking a Mandarin course so I can read, write, and better understand the language. I hope to travel to China soon if the orange clown in the White House doesn’t ruin my plans. I even homebrewed a cultivation ttrpg based on Investiture of The Gods that my friends are playing through right now. They love it! For context I’m not an Asian person - just a neurodivergent person with a deep interest.
Edit: sorry didn’t recognize your lol username, you’ve probably seen me bloviate on my xianxia addiction before.
The sets of fancy expensive-looking porcelain plates and cups my older relatives all had on display in a glass-fronted cabinet for use on some theoretical special occasion, but no occasion was ever actually special enough to allow anyone to use it.
Authortarianism and censorship to the point where I can never return to my former homeland until that changes for the better. No worker’s rights. Human rights issues in the north and west in areas that weren’t part of China historically.
Possible conflict with Taiwan (if that happens than I’d be sent to the camps to die by orange cheeto, unless I leave).
1.4 billion people & had the One Child policy for the longest time.
Lots of enviornmental problems, air pollution (and apparently much of the country has really really hot heat indices in the summer, avg high of 40C and low of 30C already… no thanks).
Really difficult language to learn (tried to learn it back when I was in school, couldn’t really and basically forgot it all).
The internet has really fucked my brain, because the first thing that comes up in my head is an old meme of The Orange One (back when he hadn’t been president yet, and so was funny instead of scary) saying “CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA” (sorry)
AFTER that – Disney’s Mulan, and all the orientalist aesthetics that come with it (sorry²)
And AFTER that – Years of internet discourse trying to convince me that a growth in Chinese international power would be worse than the US holding that position alone, which I find EXTREMELY hard to believe as a third world citizen whose home nation has been fucked in the butthole by the Americans like seven different times in lived memory (NOT sorry)
Then AFTER that – The stories told by my one friend who lived there for a few months. To be honest they made China seem like a pretty cool place to live in. Or at the very least, a fun experience as an exchange student.
And AFTER all that – Bootleg video games. They are interesting!
the food, cuisine. szechuan numbing peppercorn. shenzhen tech. hongkong dresses. wing chun. samo hung.
“do not pursue lu bu”
Massive cities with LED buildings, beautiful mountains with paved hiking trails all the way to the top and gondolas to get down, Long queues that are still orderly and move quickly, families eating large meals outside, friendly and very curious people.
I’ve spent a lot of time there. Compared to the west the cost of living is super cheap especially for all the options and amenities you get. Even in the hippest part of Chongqing I could rent an apartment 2x the size of my house for half the mortgage. If the US is headed towards a permanent authoritarian regime I would trade life here for over there. At least their dictator appreciates science and education.
I would trade life here for over there.
If you are white… maybe
Otherwise… it isn’t that pleasant…
