General Life Style
We understand the topic of Chinese lifestyle can be very broad, and we will only display our thoughts, insights and commentary on the areas we visited and the University we taught at located just outside of the city of Xiangtan. This for any new onlooker into Chinese lifestyle should be plenty to wet your palate for the first time, and in some ways want to visit and see these amazing people.
The people here in China are VERY friendly, especially if you have children or are older. On numerous occasions we had people move for one of us to let us sit down with our child. Also, students saw us walking in the rain without an umbrella and they gave us one to borrow (as they left we were thinking, "How do we return it?"). And many times when we have gone to eat food, at any location, they are always trying to buy the meal or item for you.
The picture at left is the VERY common "bundled baby" that we would see all over. The older women would get mad at us if our little boy wasn't bundled up like these little Eskimo dressed looking kids (at least our imagine would think you should be dressed like when you live in freezing weathers, not so much here). The interesting part was, they would bundle these little babies up, but...their little bums would be hanging out through the "split pants" they would have on them. They later told us that when the mom or grandma would make a special sound (like a whistling sound), it would do a reverse type Pavlov effect and the baby would release.
Tailor made cloths and getting clothes mended are really where it is at here in China. Both my wife and I got suites done for under $80 each. I went with some very expensive fabric, but they could have been much cheaper too. We also got many of our shirts mended for literally a few dollars (most always around 3-4 RMB), and I was able to get my nice expensive doc martins sole fixed for just 5 RMB. Of course these prices will change where ever you go, and know that negotion can all be apart of you fun to get the prices lower (most negotions will be done in turisty spots, or for more expensive items), but its just incredible how cheap it is to get things done here. Really labor is so cheap, and you’ll also notice that by seeing how many people it takes to get almost any job done here in China. From the big store names to some of the smallest restaurants, there will always be to many people to the the job done, and most of them spend there time watching you shop or eat your food (their bored).
When we came over to teach, we came with a group of about 20 Americans that all taught in the same university. Most of them lived in the same building. What we found out upon moving in was that each of their newly built apartments had all been furnished with new AC/heaters, but no one seemed to know where the remote was to control them (this was the only way, no manual way to control them that we knew of). So all though out the semester they (we lived in another building) had to pass around one remote for about 10 people that needed to turn on and off their AC/heater.
The people here in China are VERY friendly, especially if you have children or are older. On numerous occasions we had people move for one of us to let us sit down with our child. Also, students saw us walking in the rain without an umbrella and they gave us one to borrow (as they left we were thinking, "How do we return it?"). And many times when we have gone to eat food, at any location, they are always trying to buy the meal or item for you.
The picture at left is the VERY common "bundled baby" that we would see all over. The older women would get mad at us if our little boy wasn't bundled up like these little Eskimo dressed looking kids (at least our imagine would think you should be dressed like when you live in freezing weathers, not so much here). The interesting part was, they would bundle these little babies up, but...their little bums would be hanging out through the "split pants" they would have on them. They later told us that when the mom or grandma would make a special sound (like a whistling sound), it would do a reverse type Pavlov effect and the baby would release.
Tailor made cloths and getting clothes mended are really where it is at here in China. Both my wife and I got suites done for under $80 each. I went with some very expensive fabric, but they could have been much cheaper too. We also got many of our shirts mended for literally a few dollars (most always around 3-4 RMB), and I was able to get my nice expensive doc martins sole fixed for just 5 RMB. Of course these prices will change where ever you go, and know that negotion can all be apart of you fun to get the prices lower (most negotions will be done in turisty spots, or for more expensive items), but its just incredible how cheap it is to get things done here. Really labor is so cheap, and you’ll also notice that by seeing how many people it takes to get almost any job done here in China. From the big store names to some of the smallest restaurants, there will always be to many people to the the job done, and most of them spend there time watching you shop or eat your food (their bored).
When we came over to teach, we came with a group of about 20 Americans that all taught in the same university. Most of them lived in the same building. What we found out upon moving in was that each of their newly built apartments had all been furnished with new AC/heaters, but no one seemed to know where the remote was to control them (this was the only way, no manual way to control them that we knew of). So all though out the semester they (we lived in another building) had to pass around one remote for about 10 people that needed to turn on and off their AC/heater.
Savanna, Aries, Sophia, and Zora. Students.
Chinese High Schools are something very interesting. From the sound of it, you’d guess that they had started college early. Most students live at the school, and for most Chinese this is when the schooling is the most difficult and they have the less amount of freedom. It’s a very strict and controlled time. There was a student at the Number 1 middle school (just named a middle school, but actually a high school) that I tutored that said he lived in the city where he went to high school, but he didn’t live at home. He told me that their schedule was very intense all day long and soon our weekend lessons had to come to and end because the school was beginning classes on the weekends too. Wow, not quite like high school in America for me.
This made it interesting for us, not having a cell in China and people trying to reach us on our home phone with no answering machines. My recommendation would be to get a cell phone, they are very cheap, and there is no commitment, it’s a pay as you go kind of plan. We are not sure how many invitations we might have missed out on all through our stay and we even missed a very important call we didn't know when it was going to happen for a stay with friends. So we went the route of saving some money, but just fork it out, its not much, and it really is the only way for people to really get a hold of you. We would tell people we didn't have a cell and they just couldn’t believe it.
We looked into the cost of a maid. In Xiangtan the cost of a maid to do all of the cooking cleaning stuff would cost about 700 RMB ($102) a month if the maid lived at your home. A friend said that the maid got two days off each month, but the rest of the time they were working in their home. In the bigger city, that cost would go up to be about 800 RMB. Of course, I’m not sure, but it would probably be less if they didn’t live at your home.
You can also get a maid to help take care of your child. We thought about that, and for us to do it, it would probably be around 900 RMB, which is about $130 for the month. So for about $28 more dollars we can have a cook, cleaner, and a baby sitter (It sounds tempting sometimes). What we want to do is hire a cook, just to come in a cook for us, we’d love that. We found that its hard to get used to the different cooking methods here, so we just go out to eat at various places. Its all so very cheap, we’d just pay more for convience.
This made it interesting for us, not having a cell in China and people trying to reach us on our home phone with no answering machines. My recommendation would be to get a cell phone, they are very cheap, and there is no commitment, it’s a pay as you go kind of plan. We are not sure how many invitations we might have missed out on all through our stay and we even missed a very important call we didn't know when it was going to happen for a stay with friends. So we went the route of saving some money, but just fork it out, its not much, and it really is the only way for people to really get a hold of you. We would tell people we didn't have a cell and they just couldn’t believe it.
We looked into the cost of a maid. In Xiangtan the cost of a maid to do all of the cooking cleaning stuff would cost about 700 RMB ($102) a month if the maid lived at your home. A friend said that the maid got two days off each month, but the rest of the time they were working in their home. In the bigger city, that cost would go up to be about 800 RMB. Of course, I’m not sure, but it would probably be less if they didn’t live at your home.
You can also get a maid to help take care of your child. We thought about that, and for us to do it, it would probably be around 900 RMB, which is about $130 for the month. So for about $28 more dollars we can have a cook, cleaner, and a baby sitter (It sounds tempting sometimes). What we want to do is hire a cook, just to come in a cook for us, we’d love that. We found that its hard to get used to the different cooking methods here, so we just go out to eat at various places. Its all so very cheap, we’d just pay more for convience.
They don’t really like to let you pay for the food, let alone their food. And mostly they don’t accept tips, they consider it an honor that you are eating at their establishment. Which for us, was so foreign, because that is how we usually show our appreciation, was in tipping the server.
Spiting, burping, farting, you name it it’s all legal here (we had heard stories, but it never became alive like it did when we were sitting right next to someone that did that). Even having your mouth wide open while chewing is fine too (very hard to get use to that, even harder to teach your kids not to pick that one up).
They really like to do things last minute. Don’t be late to anything you know about, but the communication here is awful, no one seems to know what is going on as far as the exact dates of the holidays and if the students have class or not. And this really could of been due to who we worked with and how much they cared to inform us on, but it just seemed to be a common thing for so many of our fellow teachers.
Meaning of a Law… the chinese have a very different meaning of a Law… they believe, from what I found, that it is more of a guideline in a general sense. As I made rules in my class I would have to tell them that there are penalties for breaking the rules. Traffic and littering laws are two of the biggest that are not enforced much at all. Everyone just looks at them as something we should do, but don’t. Also, in many places around Xiangtan, like on the public buses, there will be signs that say no smoking with words and pictures, but still you will always find someone smoking, and half the time it’s the driver.
Spiting, burping, farting, you name it it’s all legal here (we had heard stories, but it never became alive like it did when we were sitting right next to someone that did that). Even having your mouth wide open while chewing is fine too (very hard to get use to that, even harder to teach your kids not to pick that one up).
They really like to do things last minute. Don’t be late to anything you know about, but the communication here is awful, no one seems to know what is going on as far as the exact dates of the holidays and if the students have class or not. And this really could of been due to who we worked with and how much they cared to inform us on, but it just seemed to be a common thing for so many of our fellow teachers.
Meaning of a Law… the chinese have a very different meaning of a Law… they believe, from what I found, that it is more of a guideline in a general sense. As I made rules in my class I would have to tell them that there are penalties for breaking the rules. Traffic and littering laws are two of the biggest that are not enforced much at all. Everyone just looks at them as something we should do, but don’t. Also, in many places around Xiangtan, like on the public buses, there will be signs that say no smoking with words and pictures, but still you will always find someone smoking, and half the time it’s the driver.
•The Government owns so much over here, in fact I heard that they even own the sports teams too. A friend of our said that the land is given by the government out to the people but no one owns it, it is only leased to them on a contract of 40to 50 years.
•The land is divided up to the families on a biggest family gets the most basis. The land is given for free, but the family must prove that they can farm the land or let someone else rent it from them. Also, they have no fences to show property ownership. They say that the land has been in the family for years so everyone just knows where the line is.
•Farmers, that is what they are, excellent farmers. Their gardens look so perfect, and they spend so much time taking care of the plants they grow on their little plot of soil. But what kills me more than anything is the plant their plants right next to plastics and trash. We think that this is the reason why fresh salads are no popular. The Chinese say they don’t like any uncooked veggies. Trash in the gardens isn’t the most wonderful sight, but old old women and men working hard is so amazing to see. (Photo of the Garden Trash)
•From the rice fields to the gardens they are all built on sort of small hill, allowing the water to be used for many fields and many plants. It’s a system of allowing the water to be passed on from one area to the next, just on a very small scale.
•The land is divided up to the families on a biggest family gets the most basis. The land is given for free, but the family must prove that they can farm the land or let someone else rent it from them. Also, they have no fences to show property ownership. They say that the land has been in the family for years so everyone just knows where the line is.
•Farmers, that is what they are, excellent farmers. Their gardens look so perfect, and they spend so much time taking care of the plants they grow on their little plot of soil. But what kills me more than anything is the plant their plants right next to plastics and trash. We think that this is the reason why fresh salads are no popular. The Chinese say they don’t like any uncooked veggies. Trash in the gardens isn’t the most wonderful sight, but old old women and men working hard is so amazing to see. (Photo of the Garden Trash)
•From the rice fields to the gardens they are all built on sort of small hill, allowing the water to be used for many fields and many plants. It’s a system of allowing the water to be passed on from one area to the next, just on a very small scale.
•Babies…they love to touch our little brayden, after the first two weeks, we just had to tell people no, and we did slap a few hands. They have a hard time understanding why we do this, because in their culture, if they like the baby and think he or she is adorable then they will touch it. But after getting sick for a bit (brayden and i), we decided that we must carry hand sanitizer with us, and if anyone touches him, we need to sanitize right away.
•Washing Hands… I’d carry sanatizer with you, many of the bathrooms don’t have soap, so noone is washing their hands. Be careful what you touch.
•One thing I found to be so helpful here in China was taking my digital camera everywhere I went. It really was my best friend for capturing those quick glimpses of random parts of Chinese culture and daily activities. Also, it really can help in ordering past food that you found very delicious. We were able to show photos of the dishes we enjoyed, and this was helpful in getting the same food as before without the Chinese name.
•Good numbers and bad numbers…they have them. When buying things they will be numbers that business owners don’t want to use, but because they can’t, but simply just because it’s a bad number. So when you get confused as to why, just find a simple solution around by either agreeing to the amount the want or shoot for lower than the initial amount. Some numbers I found that were bad or unlucky were: 250 and 360. Although there are lucky numbers, and I found that 9 is one of these numbers.
Their retirement is very similar to America, men retire around 60 and women around 55. If they worked with a company long enough they will receive a salery for their retirement.
Grandparents living with the kids, it's tradition that the grandparents live with the kids to help with the child and the kids have the responsibility of taking care of them. But I did find a few families where this is not the case, it is up to the kids, exspecially if the new daughter in law doesn’t like the new parents, or just doesn’t want to do it. But for most cases, they all live together.
•Washing Hands… I’d carry sanatizer with you, many of the bathrooms don’t have soap, so noone is washing their hands. Be careful what you touch.
•One thing I found to be so helpful here in China was taking my digital camera everywhere I went. It really was my best friend for capturing those quick glimpses of random parts of Chinese culture and daily activities. Also, it really can help in ordering past food that you found very delicious. We were able to show photos of the dishes we enjoyed, and this was helpful in getting the same food as before without the Chinese name.
•Good numbers and bad numbers…they have them. When buying things they will be numbers that business owners don’t want to use, but because they can’t, but simply just because it’s a bad number. So when you get confused as to why, just find a simple solution around by either agreeing to the amount the want or shoot for lower than the initial amount. Some numbers I found that were bad or unlucky were: 250 and 360. Although there are lucky numbers, and I found that 9 is one of these numbers.
Their retirement is very similar to America, men retire around 60 and women around 55. If they worked with a company long enough they will receive a salery for their retirement.
Grandparents living with the kids, it's tradition that the grandparents live with the kids to help with the child and the kids have the responsibility of taking care of them. But I did find a few families where this is not the case, it is up to the kids, exspecially if the new daughter in law doesn’t like the new parents, or just doesn’t want to do it. But for most cases, they all live together.
•Drivers licenses and ID cards. Recently I found that this is changing, but what exists now is that there are many people without drivers licenses, let alone a car to actually drive. I have a friend that is in here mid 40s who is just now learning how to drive a car and getting her license. Many of the younger generations are thinking/getting their licenses even without the ownership of a car.
But just like the drivers license is in America (usually a main source of ID), the ID cards are here in China. Said to be given at the age 16 everyone must get one, this is what they use for identification in and around their own province. Also, just a side note, most everywhere we traveled and stayed, we found that we needed to use our passport as our ID in China. Most places won’t let you stay if you don’t have your passport as your ID.
As well as exchanging money at the Bank of China (this is the place with the best rate, and as far as I know outside the black market this is the only place to exchange you money. We really didn't do it a lot, these were the two recommendation from natives.), they won’t let you unless you have your passport with you too. Another friend advised us to make a copy of our passport and use that to show them, just as a precaution if you passport is ever stolen. Its just scary always traveling with it, when it is needed to badly.
•As far as we found, there aren’t nearly as many credit cards let alone the problems as in America. Many people just us cash and account numbers to buy big purchases like travel or hotel. Train is by far the biggest way to travel, but buses (normal and sleeper) are also very popular too.•Sending mail…Postcards to America costs 3 RMB, where as letters cost 8 RMB each. They use a special envelope to mail things out of country and that costs ½ an RMB.
•Because there are no or very little quality checks on the products made and used/consumed, so here the products within China are very poor. We have never had a day in our apartment where everything was fixed (basically speaking we walked in to our apartment with broken things, and more things in bad need of repair).
•Speaking to many people that don’t understand spoken English much at all, but their reading in English is ok, its not a bad idea to write down what you are trying to communicate. Many people don’t admit that they know much English, and some are telling the truth, but the fact of the matter is, they all know so much more written. So try writing your message if speaking slowly doesn’t work.
•Very few floors have carpet, in fact we haven’t seen any floors in any homes that have carpet. Most are either tile, concrete or wood. Although in hotels we have found that their floors do have carpet and nicer living arrangements. Because the floors are tile, the winter times can be very cold if you take off your shoes. Adapting to the Chinese culture, we liked to take off our shoes, but because the tile floors are so cold in the winter times (and sometimes during other parts of the year too) we used their slippers to keep our feet warm.
But just like the drivers license is in America (usually a main source of ID), the ID cards are here in China. Said to be given at the age 16 everyone must get one, this is what they use for identification in and around their own province. Also, just a side note, most everywhere we traveled and stayed, we found that we needed to use our passport as our ID in China. Most places won’t let you stay if you don’t have your passport as your ID.
As well as exchanging money at the Bank of China (this is the place with the best rate, and as far as I know outside the black market this is the only place to exchange you money. We really didn't do it a lot, these were the two recommendation from natives.), they won’t let you unless you have your passport with you too. Another friend advised us to make a copy of our passport and use that to show them, just as a precaution if you passport is ever stolen. Its just scary always traveling with it, when it is needed to badly.
•As far as we found, there aren’t nearly as many credit cards let alone the problems as in America. Many people just us cash and account numbers to buy big purchases like travel or hotel. Train is by far the biggest way to travel, but buses (normal and sleeper) are also very popular too.•Sending mail…Postcards to America costs 3 RMB, where as letters cost 8 RMB each. They use a special envelope to mail things out of country and that costs ½ an RMB.
•Because there are no or very little quality checks on the products made and used/consumed, so here the products within China are very poor. We have never had a day in our apartment where everything was fixed (basically speaking we walked in to our apartment with broken things, and more things in bad need of repair).
•Speaking to many people that don’t understand spoken English much at all, but their reading in English is ok, its not a bad idea to write down what you are trying to communicate. Many people don’t admit that they know much English, and some are telling the truth, but the fact of the matter is, they all know so much more written. So try writing your message if speaking slowly doesn’t work.
•Very few floors have carpet, in fact we haven’t seen any floors in any homes that have carpet. Most are either tile, concrete or wood. Although in hotels we have found that their floors do have carpet and nicer living arrangements. Because the floors are tile, the winter times can be very cold if you take off your shoes. Adapting to the Chinese culture, we liked to take off our shoes, but because the tile floors are so cold in the winter times (and sometimes during other parts of the year too) we used their slippers to keep our feet warm.
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Bathrooms
Bathrooms in general are all very interesting, most are a bathroom and shower all in one (sometimes it kind of makes it hard to keep the toilet paper dry). In our whole stay here we only had one shower curtain and that was at a hotel in Beijing.
