See full original blog post HERE. Basically it goes on and on about how much the blogger hates China, despite the fact that the guy is living here. Here is my reply:
I'm so happy I found this post, thanks for sharing your opinion of the country I've made my home for the last 2.5+ years. I have lived in the USA and Brazil also and also visited 10+ other countries for days/weeks at a time including places like Nepal, India, Thailand, Turkey, Germany and France. I know all to well how difficult it can be to navigate in a foreign land where people and cultures are different from your own.
From the title of your blog "actually kind of enjoying it" it would seem you are trying to empathize with the people and actually understand them, which is why I'm bothering to post some counterpoints to some of your "hates". Let me start by saying that there are things in China that aren't great and should be corrected, the lack of personal freedoms (press, religion, and general decent to name a few) are really terrible and I condemn those and many other things about China. But I hope you'll understand some of what you are saying comes across as unwilling to understand how things work in China. Let me address a few of your points specifically.
Trash
There is trash EVERYWHERE. Why? Because of a peculiar case of mass social apathy. How do you get rid of some household trash? I’ve seen numerous people just throw it out the window. At night, street cleaners come and gather up all the trash in the streets. If there were no street cleaners (God forbid) then all of China’s cities would be uninhabitable within a month. I guarantee it. No body cares. And due to a waste disposal oversight, there are no other alternatives to street cleaners. There’s even trash in national parks! I’ve never seen so many people not care about something so important. Littering is my only real bugaboo it really makes me feel sick to my stomach.
1) Trash. I live in Suzhou and go to Shanghai and other parts of China frequently. I've been back to the USA several times while living here and have found quite the opposite. Going from Suzhou to NYC, Indianapolis and Columbus OH, I've found that the intercity areas of the USA are truly filthy and graffiti'ed and just generally gross. Trash and worse seem to be everywhere and the people are sloppy and unkempt in many parts of any large metropolitan area in the USA. Keep in mind Suzhou has 6 million+ people and Shanghai 20+ million people. With the super narrow Chinese streets and the huge congestion everywhere in Shanghai I'm AMAZED that they can keep the city as clean as it is most of the time. It comes down to an ARMY of street cleaners and small mostly 3-wheeled vehicles rather than large trucks to navigate the streets and because of the cost of labor it is a mostly efficient way to clean up such a huge area.
I'll also say that the quantity of trash generated by a single Chinese person has to be about 1/10th the amount of trash generated by a typical westerner. They don't waste almost anything and the mass of garbage they throw out is truly tiny compared to a typical Western family. In the USA we had 2-3 large trash cans that we wheeled out to the curb once per week and we filled them up most weeks. Here in China we share two very small trash bins with 7 other families and I'm always shocked that no one else ever seems to throw stuff out compared to the amount of stuff we are always piling in there.
There is a lot of apathy among the general population when it comes to trash, but trash is not left where it it thrown, it is picked up by profit motivated workers. Try this, drink a water bottle and place it on the street or in the train station or somewhere, then watch it for 5-10 minutes and see how long it is until someone comes around and picks it up off the street for the recycling deposit of 1 mao (1/10th of one RMB). People are motivated to pick up quickly to earn a living and that isn't a bad thing. Society here could do better and people could put things in trash bins, I agree, but overall I don't think the city is any dirtier than any other city of this size, and it is much cleaner than any I've seen in the USA or South America. Go to Sao Paulo or Bangalore for a while if you want to see real filth.
Bad Manners
A quick trip to and from Hong Kong will show you everything that’s different between most Western countries and mainland China. People push and shove, and despite all the talk about family and community Confucian values, no one cares about each other on the mainland. Go to Hong Kong where people are courteous and accommodating in general and see the difference a few decades of foreign culture makes. It’s actually turned me into a worse person. When people try to push past me or cut in front of me in a line I grab them and toss them aside. Meh. When in Rome…
2) Bad Manners: It isn't bad manners, its a lack of understanding of how things work in China. Have you been on the bus or train or metro? Elderly and young kids and pregnant women especially are always given seats readily. I'll never forget one of the first weeks I was in China when a 20-something punk (as I called him) pushed past me to get on the bus and get the last seat that I thought I deserved. I was angry like you because of his bad manners. Imagine my surprise when he was the first one to jump up out of his seat when an elderly lady came aboard at the next stop. It isn't bad manners, it is DIFFERENT manners. They don't queue up like the west and they don't honor "lines" like we do, but they do have manners. They generally won't flip people off or get "road rage" when they are cut off in traffic and remain remarkably calm in the face of what would be a "road rage" incident on a Western road. But more on that below. Have you ever tried to pay for a meal when Chinese person is in the group? It's almost impossible because it is bad manners to split the bill or allow someone else to pay. Just because you don't understand their manners, doesn't mean they don't exist. Their value system is just totally foreign to you because you know.. you're a foreigner!
Overpopulation
This is China. You will almost always be surrounded by crowds of people. At first, I felt suffocated by them. But now I’ve managed to tune them out for the most part. I’m usually so tuned out that I don’t even see them. I see shapes around me but not people. That’s the only way to bear living in a mega-city I think. In addition to the crowds, you also have to deal with the noise. There is always noise here. Deal with it or go crazy.
3) Over population. I'm amazed you are in China... why did you move to a city of 25 million people to then turn around and complain about them all being hanging around you all the time. You presumably aren't serving time in China as part of a sentence for some crime and weren't drafted here, so why complain about all the crowds. Yeah its noisy and crowded, but any city of that size will be the same way. I think this belongs firmly in the "I don't like cities" category. Maybe you should move to the country. There are plenty of places in China where there are very few people. If you are a country boy maybe you should live in the country not one of the largest metropolises on the planet.
Censorship
I’m going cold turkey on youtube and facebook (despite the fact that I hate the latter) and even though I can see them through a slow proxy, it would still be nice if the CCP wasn’t so insecure with itself that it felt like it had to block all the best foreign websites. I understand why it did it. (To give domestic websites a chance at success and not because the foreign sites wouldn’t block stuff the CCP doesn’t like because they do that for other countries.) But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
4) Censorship. You don't even understand why they censor, it isn't to give Chinese websites a better piece of the market, it is so people won't be exposed to differing points of view for historical events, political views and thoughts on democracy/freedom. If you don't like it just go get Astral, it works great and costs like $10 per month. Really it is inconvenient but it is certainly manageable if you really want your Youtube/FB/Netflix.
Ignorance
I’ve had college graduates in class who were unable to find China on a map which is embarrassing and makes me a little angry. I’ve had students who think that the US intentionally bombed the Chinese embassy during the war in Kosovo. I have students who routinely praise Mao Zedong as being the greatest leader in China’s history. Ignorance, and blind nationalism, which can also be found in the states although it’s much less zealous than what I’ve found here, are cancers of society and whenever I encounter it I feel both angry and sick. Angry that the public education system failed these people and sick that one day these people might be in a position of power.
5) Ignorance is a 2-way street. Rather than being angry at some people's ignorance why not try to figure out why they believe the way they believe. Being angry and ignorant about someone else's ignorance is just... ignorant. Do you know why there is no tipping in China? Do you truly understand why people praise Mao? Why do people put up with such an undemocratic way of rule? Try studying WHY and you will have more empathy for them. I'd recommend watching the BBC production called China: Triumph and Turmoil if you have no patience for books and such. If you really want to get into the why then I'd recommend "The Unknown Mao" (a scathing condemnation of Mao but really revealing too), and there are lots of others I could recommend.
Do you know why Chinese students have all but photographic memories when it comes to numbers or wrote memorization, yet can't solve simple creative problems? Do you understand why their education system is the way it is? Nope... you have not thought to educate yourself on this point, so you condemn it instead. Lift yourself out of ignorance and you'll much better appreciate your own students!
Construction Standards
The fine, lead-based paint in my domicile comes off with the gentle rub of a finger. Also the walls are plain concrete with one layer of paint slapped on. Also, there’s no insulation to keep the heat outside in the summer and the warmth inside during the winter. Guess they overlooked that part. Also, 50% of the surfaces in my house are tile which ensures that I’ll be waging a never ending war against mold during the warm season in tropical south China.
6) Construction Standards. You get what you freakin' pay for man! There are places that are not as bad as you describe and China has some amazing superstructures. You are living in a hole not because of CHINA but because of your own decisions. Why don't they have insulation in a concrete building that houses several thousand people in a place near 90% humidity that is hot in the summer? Ask around, there is a reason for it. You can live in insulated, A/C filled places with carpet and western-standard construction if you want. This isn't a "China problem" but your own personal choice. Maybe you should look around for a nicer apartment... they do exist for those with the means to rent them.
Traffic
One of my greatest fears is being involved in a hit and run where the driver breaks every bone in my body and drives away while the passersby leave me to die just like that little girl in Foshan. Drivers here are the worst I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I’ve been to New York City, Los Angeles, even Puerto Rico, and no drivers are as rude, reckless, or downright stupid as Chinese drivers in mainland China. My mother would have a heart attack if she saw the kinds of traffic I’ve had to cross.
7) Traffic. Yes Traffic is a huge problem, check out the Jan. WSJ article on Beijing's gridlock or drive anywhere in Shanghai or Guangzhou and you know this. Luckily there are plenty of alternatives including city bikes you can check out for free once you have the card, or the amazing metro and high speed train systems. As for the actual driving... it seems crazy to you, but maybe you haven't tried to understand it yet? I have my drivers license and drive daily in China, I passed the test myself and didn't just pay some bribe to get it either, I actually know and understand the rules of the road and the signs. How many accidents do you see on Chinese roads as a percentage of people? I'd suggest that there aren't that many.
There are rules and they drive the way they do for reasons, not just to aggravate you. I won't go into all the details but watch the traffic patterns, they get way more cars per hour down the road than we do in the West out of necessity. They have less space per car and if they can physically fit another lane in there on the shoulder or between large trucks then they will. It is called efficiency. It seems like chaos to you but look again. Did you know it is a LAW that you must merge every other car when 2 lanes (or even impromptu lanes) merge down to one? Take a look at that merging traffic next time you are calling Chinese drivers idiots... there is a method to the madness. Drive a kilometer on the other man's roads before you go casting stones.
Other Foreigners
And at last, I continue my crusade against Guangzhou’s other foreigners. Maybe it’s not that bad but I’m still continually disappointed and disgusted with the other Westerners I come across. It’s recently come to my attention that there’s a group of Americans who go around jumping over beggars on the street. Just jumping over their heads as they kneel on the ground, pleading for money. On top of that, whenever I take the initiative to greet a fellow expat, I usually get ignored or they pretend not to notice me.
8) Other foreigners. I'm here because I choose to be. I have a master's degree and run a company, I speak several languages and am actively seeking to learn Mandarin. You know what I hate about other foreigners? The stereotypes and constant criticism of a culture and people they CHOOSE to live among. Show some compassion and give a little of the Christian fellowship we are supposed to espouse in the West. Stop being so quick to judge and step back and try to understand another people before you go flying off the handle.
But most of all, focus on the positive. Dwelling on all the things that are so different from your homeland can cause nostalgia for your motherland, but don't let it taint your experience here. Your time in China will be over all to quickly and the attitude you take back home with you will stay with you forever and influence others. If you hate it so much then go back home. Or maybe stay a while and get to know the people and appreciate the differences. Smile back at all those curious faces who just want to know what the heck you're doing acting all strange to them.