50 Things I Miss About China,
The Big Dragon
Having breakfast of green tea, barbecued peanuts,
boiled eggs in brown shells every one a different size and shape. And long sticks of fried bread, and thin soy milk with no
additives made in front of you as the girl squishes the soy beans through a milking machine.
Seeing young people stand up to give their seats
to older people, when they themselves have a long day of physical work behind or ahead of them.
Watching a burst of enthusiasm on the face of Chinese
as they find out you are an ESL teacher.
Sneaking in hot chestnuts from the street vendor
to eat with your Western coffees at McDonald's, and noticing the staff never being petty-minded enough to grouch about this,
and even come over to your table to re-fill your coffee for you - with a sincere smile on their faces.
Seeing penniless peasants treated like kings and
queens by their middle-aged children who have made it big in Chinese business circles - and enjoy giving the best treatment
to the moms and dads who helped them to go to university.
Enjoying finding famous designer clothes for under
ten dollars in Macau, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong - and chuckling at the Western critics who know so little about tailoring they
think these clothes are fakes. The secret is that some Asian factories make over-runs!
Seeing beautiful Chinese art scroll made by hand
for great prices - and being able to sit in stores - where the owner and staff give you old-fashioned service - lovingly showing
you every scroll - serving you a tiny cup of flawless tea - and even explaining the famous myths behind the pictures.
Appreciating how friendly and pleasant the Chinese
police are - if you are from a country on friendly or business relationships with China - and eager to meet you halfway whatever
your problems are.
Watching the touching modesty of Chinese as individuals
and their strong pride in their recent massive accomplishments. Thank you, they say softly and shyly - when you congratulate
them.
The incredible public transportation service in
china - to get from one place to another - there are so many combinations of ferry, boat, train, bus, and car - it boggles
the mind. Sometimes you cannot find out the precise information that is the fastest as there is so much information!
Eespecially in South China.
The patient and helpful manners of many Chinese
working in travel, hotel, and restaurant businesses. A girl at the Shenzhen Lo Wu shopping arcade came out of her own
restaurant and walked us ten minutes to another place, when Jima and I were lost. A man at a Guangzhou bus
station walked me to my bus, and waited for fifteen minutes to be sure I got the right bus. Two Shenzhen business people
on another day walked me to the train station to be sure I got the right express for Nanning. Multiply these helpful
citizens by a thousand every year!
The slow trains with windows that open so you can
poke your head out and take pictures.
The hard sleeper train rides because though
they are boring after a day, and wonderfully fun at first.
The Chinese beers, the best and even the secondary
ones, because they are made locally and light-tasting, free of heavy additives.
Bringing food from the market right into a good
restaurant and having it made up for you, if you forget the name of a special type of mushroom.
Walking into the kitchens of restaurants and just
pointing to the foods you prefer.
The earnestness and purity of Chinese young women
who say they will be your friend, and help you whenever you need it, and then proceed to honour their words.
The good citizenry of Chinese men, who support
so many women relatives when they are able to, bringing food and shelter and housing to aunts, and grandmothers, and sisters,
unsung, as that is just their Chinese Way.
The lack of homeless on the street all over this
beautiful land, where not supporting the older people is a terrible stigma, punishable by law.
The simple fun we have, terachers and students,
rich and middle-class, just going out to eat dinner, and then buy a few fabulsously priced movies, music CDs, and computer
softwares.
The concern with health maintenance, and dependence
on tried-and-true Chinese herbal health forumulas, walking through either old-fashioned markets or contemporary malls,
the invigorating and exotic smells of these medical treatments that seem so pale in Chinatowns of the West.
Corn with pine nuts, because every niblet is carved
fresh from the cob, not from a tin or a frozen bag.
Green beans with almonds.
The jumbo book department stores, though they lack
topical non-fiction, they are full of serious and sincere reading material - an incredible array of it - and for a teacher,
a delightful mixture of children's books - with beautiful colour plates.
The private rooms for our dinner parties in almost
every middling or large Chinese culinary palace.
The karaoke, yes, I do miss it! And there
was never that much booze, just a few beers over two or three hours.
Buying flowers and house ornaments at the Spring
Holiday.
Going to the homes of my students and my friends
- the rarest of treasures.
The sweet enthusiasm of the Chinese for everything
to do with photography - they are wonderful for posing for pictures.
The surprising open-minded quality in China - yes,
a surprise - this is a boom economy and many Chinese, even in the government, thirst after new ideas, new theories, new products,
new services!
The healthiness of the Chinese Way - they drink
little alcohol, eat little sugar, and I had many friends who drank no tea, no coffee, as well as eating no sugar, and consuming
no booze.
The sounds of the frying pans sizzling three times
a day in the urban village where I lived, as well as the crashingly loud sound of mah-jong tiles slapping themselves at three
or four in the morning. Being up this late at night was a little wild for the clean-living Chinese, but these were independently
wealthy farmers who had made a fortune when they sold their farmland to the government for a fair price.
The faces of Chinese children, crowding around
me, with warmth and enthusiasm.
The carts in the street that you hail with your
arm, and pile the furniture that you buy in the market into and then you yourself pile in too!
The compliments I got for eating with
chopsticks perfectly. I can even grains of rice very rapidly!
Oh! Skipper and Clark, and Jack Wang, and Mercy,
and Hai, and Cecilia, and Gordon the boyish tycoon, and the beautiful opera singer Candy. And Shelly and William, and
there is much more to write, except that I will have to continue later.
