I was in China for a week recently

[Grudge]

I went to two different cities, Chengdu and Xi'an which actually reminds me more of Pak.istan but with tall apartment blocks everywhere.

Impressions:

- MABB site works there

- Chengdu is their tech hub and its downtown dwarfs Dallas', or maybe even the most populous metro cities of the US.

- Xi'an is more an old style city that reminds me more of Pak.istan but with tall apartment blocks everywhere. But with that old-style also comes authenticity in food. The food in Xi'an is fan-tastic. Juicy, spicy, woohoo. This place I went to - Zhao's BB.Q, hell yea it was a blast.

- Google / whatsapp and other mainstream western media channels, nope. It's just the big networks that banned, but smaller independent news websites aren't.

- They are rapid adopters of new technology. Electric vehicles everywhere, robots doing delivery, payments through phones accepted everywhere, even by small shops in the market. Tip: If you ever go there, get WeChat and make sure you're set up to make payments through the app. After that you can forget about using a card or cash.

- They still have old-fashioned values. At stations they have sound bites playing non-stop about caring for the elderly.

- Interestingly, the top-of-mind world event topic wasn't the trade war with the US. It was the recent India-Pak.istan conflict. Apparently, people there think that they can manage the trade war frictions by channeling exports elsewhere. It's the India-Pak.istan conflict they talk more about. The support for balochistan is pretty strong and they were cheering balochistan on and had a sense. In Pak.istan we got taught that China is our number one fellating lover. I heard the Chinese are taught the same thing about Pak.istan, that it's their number one fellating lover. This was surprising to me.

- I got the sense that the property bubble issues that the Western press made such a big deal out of is a real-genuine issue, and not an exaggeration.

- Best way to have a good time there is to know someone there who can show you around. The language barrier can be tough.

[Mesarthim]

Hope you used a burner phone while you were there.

[zim]

can tourists get in trouble for using vpns to get around their firewall?

[Grudge]

I used a VPN. Infact a Chinese colleague gave it to me. I had no problems. Apparently it's really common to do that there and nothing comes of it.

[Grudge]

Hope you used a burner phone while you were there.

If they are spying that would not be unique to them. This happens to you in the US as well. So get used to it.

[User]

glad you had that opportunity imran. it's been 15 years since i lived and traveled there and it has changed a lot, i'm very keen to get back, but not sure when given the current situation with my family. i still listen to the sinica podcast from 2010

and back then i used a vpn and could access everything i needed, but the internet controls have gotten a lot stronger, and their real insidiousness is not blocking websites

i had some good times in xi'an, one of my good mates is from there but i haven't seen him for a couple of years now

regarding apartment blocks, chinese cities are ugly as fuck, i doubt that's changed in 15 years all the nice parts are hidden by layers of shit

[shadowalk]

Food is good too. I was in Chongqing a few years back on a business trip and our host brought us to a hot pot place with a lot of drunk Chinese folks. The noodles are awesome, the beef is tender and juicy, and the broth is spicy tingling goodness perfect for the climate in that area.

[zim]

i don't know that i will ever make it to china in my life but it looks like a fun adventure

[shadowalk]

If you make it to the more developed cities, it's actually all very clean and modern although a lot of it is obviously copy-pasted from the West. For example, there are parts that look like a European street with the cobblestones and the style of the buildings. But they do it well, really well. Like Inram said, everything is cashless. +1 on the WeChat thing. Their modern cities are almost 'sci-fi' looking, especially when you see the monorails and the EVs moving about in one view - all that's missing are the flying cars, lol.

Oh and the food. All the spicy noodles, fried rice, hot pots, roast pork, dumplings, dimsum, whatever you can think of with a profound increase in quality from what you're used to. One thing I would say that would probably be new to foreign folks would be the abundance of flatbreads and wraps. They have a lot of food that resembles burritos, stuffed pancakes, soft tacos, shawarmas, birria and the like but with a Chinese spicy savory taste.

Lots of foreign people in the big cities as well. Mostly British and German folks, from what I've observed.

Zim I think you will enjoy Shenzen. Lots of all the techy stuff Inram mentioned (I love the WePalm - at a convenience store, you can pay via a scanner that scans the palm of your hand which then links to your WeChat payment account. No need to bring out your phone to scan for a QR code) and then some.

[zim]

the insanely long flight is what deters me from traveling over there. i flew 5 hours last year which was the longest flight i'd ever been on and i felt like i was going to have a panic attack

[User]

chinese food is the best in the world, which really pisses my wife off

[shadowalk]

Making the trip to China made me realise that my whole idea of what Chinese food tastes like was all wrong and that legit mainland Chinese food is just simply on another level.

Philippine folks traditionally have a sweet tooth and the Chinese food here, although quite diverse and abundant, is tailored for local palates and may be a bit more sweeter than what authentic Chinese food is. The China trip was quite the gastronomical eye-opener.

[Ninny]

Erny is a man of the world, slightly jealous here