It is mega-cities (close to 100 cities with more than a million inhabitants; some as large as 32 million people based on administrative area – imagine, that is more than a third of Germany all in 1 city!) with breathtaking (in multiple ways ;-P ) skyscrapers (check out the various pictures on facebook), high-tech public transportation, a very modern lifestyle (cars, clubs, clothes and cuisine) and rapidly changing and evolving faces. Mostly along with major global events like the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing or the Expo 2010 in Shanghai the cities are re-decorated, which means: construction everywhere, always.
But China is also: traffic that does consider red lights a nice warning (multiple policemen and traffic managers at every major crossing) and does not care much about walking people. Scooters and bikes which transport people and goods loaded with forbidden heights, amounts and volume while shaking adventurously (pic 1 and 2 and 3). No helmets, no security. It is amazingly cheap and surprisingly “lecker” local food (you must try Sichuan food – helps breathing ;-P) and a vivid social community life, which takes place outside while exercising, dancing, eating or enjoying one of the many parks. The not-so-nice part includes city quarters with sanitary facilities on every street corner (because the apartments there do not seem to have any inside) and an interesting, we might describe it as “pragmatic”, approach to standing in line and “human noises”. Annoying is the fact that hardly any cab driver is able to speak English (if he can read your presented map without a magnifying glass, consider yourself lucky!). Also speaking Mandarin (aka: take along Eufi) is an absolute asset when dealing with manufacturers, tour guides, tailors, landlords … you name it, they have it “look, look, cheap and very good quality”. On top of all this: there is noise (always!), smog (above the cities) and the smell (indescribable!) which require a lot of getting used to.
With regards to the modern part of China: We enjoyed Teppanyaki. We loved to take the clean, quick and easy to use subway (the ticket machines even speaks English, ha!). We learned playing the dices (with the drinking part not requiring too much training) while listening to fabulous music at the Muse Club (Note-to-self: find club like this in Frankfurt – if not available: open it!). We relaxed at Dragonfly (same here). And we explored the latest work of local designers at the M50 artist district in Shanghai (Tip: Firmly hold on to your credit card, this is shopping heaven!).
The traditional part of China surprised us with excellent new glasses and wonderful tailor-made suits, coats and shirts. Tip: Don't miss walking along little side streets, silently participating in the street food, little neighborhood markets and playing games-scenes. But do miss trying to find out what kind of ingredients the local pharmacy stores in glasses in every window or how street food actually tastes (your stomach will not like it!) and ignore the charming salesmen offering Rolex and Louis Vuitton for “very good prize” (“No” does not help a thing, no matter which language you use, but the louder the better). After a few days you automatically check every direction when crossing a street (5 cm are considered a safe distance for a bypassing car) and you know that a Google Maps screen-shot of your destination on your GPS-display helps a lot with the cab-driver issue … as long as he at least knows where that part of the city is. Parks are “recharging happy places” with loud Vienna Waltz inviting to ballroom (or any other form of) dancing and the public toilets in high-end shopping malls are usually usable. The historic sites we have seen – the temples, the great wall, the flag raising ceremony in China's capital and the forbidden city – were simply impressive.
Summary: It is a great country. It is also an exhausting country. It is for sure a controversial country. Censorship feels very weird, also does watching a military parade with military staff in pink miniskirts and white high-heeled boots. It is interesting as well as surprising what locals have to say about all of this, which is why you need to speak Chinese to really dive into the culture and to meet the human side of China, the people in the stores, on the streets and in the parks. A working alternative in English is Couchsurfing and/or Geocaching which both are a vivid communities, at least in Shanghai and Beijing. Make sure you go and try for yourself!
