Life and Travel in China

I must admit that life for foreigners in China is much easier now. I remember when in 2004-2010 I had to go somewhere on business - I showed up at the bus or train station earlier to buy a traditional ticket. Of course, the ladies at the counters didn't speak a word of English. The worst were the announcements from the loudspeakers, only in Chinese, and I didn't understand much of it at the time. Additionally, I had to write down the name of the town in Chinese and make sure three times that I had the right ticket and was boarding the right bus/train. Of course, it was easier with airplanes, because there were pinyin subtitles. Although the situation with voice messages in English was different. Currently, all these tickets can be purchased in smartphone applications. There was a time when you had to look for a taxi, and in the evenings in cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Shanghai, it was not easy. Nowadays, there are uber-like apps. We have easy access to various maps and online addresses. There are also subway maps, information on displays, various English-language vending machines and announcements in English, Chinese and Cantonese (in Shenzhen). I was always nervous when going to a smaller town, because how was I supposed to know that I had already reached it? Sometimes the journey was supposed to take two hours but ended up taking three hours due to traffic jams or an accident. Fortunately, most drivers shouted the name of the city or stop. Problems arose when there were several stops in one city. People used traditional cell phones back then, there was no email contact, no WeChat, Whatsapp, maps, etc. You may laugh now, but I sometimes used a compass! It even came in handy in Bangkok, I determined the correct azimuth and told my wife we were going in the right direction. I just wasn't sure about the distance, so we ended up taking a taxi. The taxi driver apologized to us because it turned out that he had taken us 200 meters. Nowadays, people rely on technology, back then we had to rely on our senses, sense of direction or compass. The only map I had was the one printed or saved from the computer screen. It also had its charm, because sometimes you discovered something new, interesting places, different shops. It happened that you had to ask someone for directions and started a short conversation. Those were different times, not so distant, but a lot had changed.

It may have changed now, but a few years ago I often heard that in the Middle Kingdom you worked for a bowl of rice. Objectively speaking, salaries are similar to those in Poland, and in China, often even higher for similar positions. Moreover, in China there are no such tax burdens or social security contributions. Additionally, in many industries, employees receive accommodation and food. Today, however, I wanted to "brag" about my Chinese pension. My wife's high school teacher in Hunan province, who retired at the age of about 50, receives a monthly pension of RMB 8,000 (PLN 4,800). I will also mention that the job of a Chinese teacher is well paid, and in addition, in medium and large cities, teachers earn hundreds of thousands of yuan from tutoring. A person who deals with finishing apartments in Zhejiang Province told me that teachers are currently his best customers. They spend millions on new apartments and millions on marble finishes and roco-coco style furniture. It really wouldn't bother me if in Poland the work of teachers was truly appreciated and respected. It would be great if we had committed, ambitious teachers who would teach with passion and earn well from this work. We can only dream about it.

I know more and more people in China who have either already emigrated or are planning to emigrate in the near future. For many people, Covid restrictions were a deciding factor. The problem is that this is no longer the China of Mao's era. The average Chinese knows what life is like abroad. You will probably think that it is about democracy and freedom of speech, but it is more about other factors. First of all, a calmer lifestyle. My friend is planning to move to Canada for good. He sees that his children are tired from too many school activities. Believe me, children in Poland do not have even 30% of the classes available in the Middle Kingdom. Of course, this translates into real knowledge, but also into indoctrination, discipline and rather unhealthy patriotism and nationalism. Young Chinese are at school practically from morning until late in the evening, of course they have a lunch break, but they basically have no free time. During the week, family contacts are limited to a minimum. The Chinese have become richer and want to make more use of this money and life. Some people are thinking about emigrating to Greece. My wife's friend has been living in Canada for many years, where she runs an office that helps with migration formalities. My good friend from Shenzhen, whom I have known for 19 years, has been living in Australia for several years. She found a husband there and started a family there. Some emigrate closer to e.g. Malaysia, Singapore, while others emigrate far to Europe or America. China's middle class often sees no future in its own country. It is becoming more and more difficult to start a family, their own apartment is beyond their financial reach, they have no motivation, they have no time to raise children. Many Chinese people work really hard, work is their whole life and there is no time left for anything else. Some people know that it is different in Europe, that people do not necessarily work from morning to evening, that they have time for their children, holidays and weekends. They don't have to constantly jostle, stand in queues and fight for every square meter for themselves.

Currently, China will introduce an official time limit and financial limit for online games. There will probably be limits on the number of virtual items, hero skills or the amounts that can be invested in add-ons for a given game. More and more people are addicted to multimedia, practically every citizen has a smartphone and is online all the time. When you get on the subway in any Chinese city, all you see are people with their heads bowed, focused on their phones or tablets. The vast majority watch some movies or series, others chat with friends on WeChat, and still others play games. Some people can perform several activities at once, as if they were created for the virtual world. As for games, this applies to both young and older Chinese. Many years ago I noticed that the Chinese are very prone to gambling. Previously, it was mainly innocent card games, but there were also some small financial bets. In my gallery you will also see middle-aged men who play Chinese chess for money. Currently, there are fewer of these games, and they have been replaced by online entertainment. There are plenty of RPG games where you develop your character, his skills, and weapons - these games often refer to Chinese history, e.g. the Three Kingdoms era. Many characters from fairy tales and books have been transferred to online games. Let me remind you here that gambling is formally banned in China, but online games have gotten out of control. But won't these restrictions now cause protests and revolutions in China ;-)? People used to fight for freedom, food and dignity, and now they will be angry not having access to their favorite game.

/"If you are not a criminal, what bothers you about surveillance?" - this is how a Chinese man once answered me when I asked him if he was not irritated by cameras on the streets, in offices, shops, and stations? Indeed, the Chinese do not perceive the constant invasion of their privacy as a threat. On the contrary, they praise safety and peace. We look at it all differently, what matters to us is freedom and privacy. In the Middle Kingdom, such constant surveillance may actually disturb criminals, thieves and possibly husbands who meet their lovers in various places and circumstances. While recently staying at a hotel in Guangzhou, I even wondered for a moment whether there was a camera above me in the bathroom. A bit paranoid, but there are actually a lot of these cameras. Some people probably remember the game Metal Gear Solid, here in China Snake would not have it easy. Looking at the ceiling of the railway station, I have the impression that one camera is being watched by four other cameras, so if someone wanted to get here anonymously, or rather move a few meters, they would have to deactivate five cameras at the same time. Probably impossible. There are a lot of videos on the Internet about pointing people, issuing tickets automatically, etc. Sure, it is like that in some places, but my Chinese friends and I were passing through a red light at the Guangzhou Dong railway station and no one got a ticket and no points were deducted from us. You can get used to these problems, but you can't get rid of them. However, constantly thinking about them, the feeling of constant observation and lack of privacy can lead some people to madness.