Reliving Aspects of Chinese Daily Life
Chinese culture has always played a part in my life. I cannot imagine my life without the many trips that I took with my family throughout my childhood. Since returning from residing in Sichuan province for a year and a half, there are many aspects of Chinese daily life that I miss encountering on a daily basis. This blog post is dedicated to the parts of daily life that I found especially memorable during my time in Chengdu. Note: this is not meant to generalize all parts of China, as other parts of China may differ.
Tea & Hot Water
One of the most integral parts of Chinese culture that I can't seem to stop even though I'm not residing in China anymore is drinking hot water or tea. From the tea places located in the parks to students and teachers bringing tea to class in a water bottle, tea can be found basically everywhere. Tea ranges from traditional tea to fancy tea drinks sold at cafes and drink shops. No matter which season it is, tea is consumed piping hot. Hot tea in summer might seem strange since people usually drink cold drinks, however, the Chinese believe that hot drinks are more beneficial to one's organs. Tea brings people together and adds to the relaxing atmosphere.
Hot water is also consumed since the water in China isn't safe to drink without boiling it. Hot water is always provided for free in the dorms, classroom buildings, and restaurants surrounding SCU. Hot water was my go-to beverage that I would carry around all day. Whenever someone was sick or feeling under the weather, the common saying was "make sure you're drinking hot water!" Hot water is one of the major things that I can never give up now that I started the habit.
Restaurant Etiquette
Eating out for every meal meant that I had the opportunity to explore and try many different dishes at the restaurants around Chengdu. Since I was attending Sichuan University at the time, I also had access to eating at the cafeterias on campus. I mostly ate at the school cafeterias, in the streets (another plus in China is there aren't food safety regulations (has its downsides) so many types of food stalls were just set up all over), and at restaurants. One aspect in particular captured my attention. When dining in the cafeterias and restaurants (not at the fancy restaurants) people would discard bones and other inedible parts onto the table right next to their plates. In this way, they efficiently cleared more space for their food without worrying that the waste would contaminate the food they were going to eat.
A perk of eating in China means that people, for the most part, are allowed to bring in other food or drinks while dining at a restaurant or cafe. Again, this depends on the type of place it is. Cafes and restaurants that are more expensive don't allow their customers to bring in other food and drink. Sometimes, my friends and I would decide to eat food from different restaurants. When this happened we would order our food, and then convene at a certain restaurant to all eat together. This also happened after classes finished and my friends and I wanted to hang out at a nearby cafe. I'd walk over to order lunch and then proceed to eat it at the cafe. It was definitely convenient and a part of China that I really appreciated.
When going to eat at a relaxed restaurant, if one is expecting to wipe their hands with paper towels or napkins, they're going to be waiting for a while. Most casual restaurants use toilet paper rolls or tissues as napkins. The toilet paper or tissues can easily be used to wipe down the tables or one's hands and then thrown in the trash can conveniently located beside each table. Learning more about Chinese etiquette was a refreshing experience that I enjoyed to the fullest.
Hot Pot & Chuan Chuan
Both hot pot and chuan chuan are essentially the same, except that hot pot ingredients are freely floating in the pot and chuan chuan ingredients are on skewers. Hot pot and chuan chuan are seen as a communal activity between friends and family. It can last for hours as members of the party can freely leave the table and grab more ingredients to add to the pot. The ingredients are stored in refrigerators, and customers can put their desired ingredients on a tray and take them to their table. Once the ingredients are cooked, people can carefully lift their desired food from the pot and dip it in their custom-made sauce. The atmosphere in these types of establishments is decidedly relaxed. Everyone joins in on eating heartily, drinking beer, and having a fantastic time. Even in summer, when most people would be avoiding a hot place, these restaurants are flooded with people. The Chinese believe that the spiciness of the hot pot or chuan chuan is essential to aid the body in sweating since the weather in Sichuan is so humid. Hot pot and chuan chuan are both things that I crave endlessly now that I'm back in the States.
Beautiful Girl & Handsome Guy
Addressing staff at restaurants, cafes, and shops can vary depending on their position, age, or occupation. At restaurants and cafes when you require the services of the person in charge, you address them as 老板 (boss). The most common way of addressing staff in restaurants, cafes, and shops is 美女 (beautiful girl) or 帅哥 (handsome guy). In shops that are more expensive, the staff mostly hovers around you so that they can assist you at any moment. I addressed people this way when I needed to buy food, clothes, or items. The staff also calls customers in this manner. In higher end restaurants and cafes, it is more appropriate to call staff as 服务员 (waiter). At first, remembering all the proper ways to address people was tricky, but it became such a habit that when I returned to the States I caught myself multiple times almost yelling in Chinese to get the attention of staff.
Music
Strolling down the streets of campus or Chengdu it isn't uncommon to encounter people playing music out loud. Street vendors will have music blasting to attract more customers, musicians sing or play instruments, and some people just carry around a stereo to listen to music. Later in the evenings, music is blaring as many groups, usually women, hold dance exercise activities. I even found some of my favorite Chinese tunes from hearing them drifting through the air in the streets. The music varies from English songs to Chinese modern music to traditional Chinese music. The music definitely lifts up the spirits as it is easy to observe how much enjoyment people are getting from listening to the music.
Another form of music came from older men singing traditional Chinese songs while going about their work or strolling on the streets. One of the male administration workers in my classroom building could often be heard singing some tune while walking about the building. It was such a pleasure to hear him happily singing while going about my day. Music is powerful and has the ability to connect you with memories from your past. When I hear a certain song, it takes me back to that specific time and I can recall what occurred during that moment in my life.
Transportation
Methods of transportation vary from metro, bicycles, vehicles, walking, motorized or man-powered rickshaw, etc. Be aware when crossing the street as China does not adhere to pedestrians' right-of-way. There were many occasions where I almost got hit by a driver that was eager to reach their destination. Sidewalks are not strictly for pedestrians as bikers, motorcyclists, and even cars also were able to use the them. When out and about, I had to be alert to other forms of transportation that might be trying to get somewhere. Jaywalking is very common, and I quickly picked up the bad habit of strolling across a busy street or highway to get to the other side.
Although the metro was extremely efficient, I will mainly miss the shared bikes that were scattered around the city. I highly enjoyed having the Mobike and Ofo bikes at my disposal. As the weather increased in humidity, I became less enthusiastic about going out and about. To reach my destinations more quickly, I downloaded the apps to access the bikes, and was able to rapidly reach my destinations without dying from the heat. Not only did I use the bikes on campus to reach my classroom building, but I also biked downtown and to other bustling areas. I will greatly miss the adventures I had while biking around at night with my friends. Utilizing the bikes to their potential greatly saved time, energy, and money.
Construction
China is a country that is constantly developing. As a result, no matter where I went, something was being constructed. Change happens rapidly. It was amazing to see how much changed while I was there. When I was in Chengdu, they where working on building a new metro line right outside the gates of Sichuan University. Since there was construction for the metro, they ripped out the road right near my classroom building. This made it super inconvenient to get to the student restaurant at the East dorm. The construction workers also started working on some renovations in my dorm building and on some of the buildings near my dorm. This resulted on being woken up at the crack of dawn to extremely loud noises. To say the least, I was not very pleased that my sleep was being interrupted. The funny thing is that they would start extremely early in the morning, but then quit around 10 am. Or they wouldn't work while we were in classes, but then would resume late at night to complete some task. It was quite an experience to go through, but in hindsight, it added to my time in China and I have some good memories and laughs from it.
Restrooms
Lastly, one never can know what to expect at a restroom. Some are really nice and western-style, or it might just be a hole in the ground. Personally, I am not affected by this since I have grown up traveling to China since I was a child. However, many of my friends who are new to China or have an aversion to public restrooms, do not enjoy this aspect of life. The one tip that I would like to impart is that one should remember to bring tissues with them everywhere. You never know if the bathrooms will have toilet paper; it's more common for them to not offer it. So remember, always bring along some tissues.
As I said before, these are all based on my experiences, so someone else will have different aspects that they noticed about daily life in China. I seriously enjoyed my time in China, and am already planning to go back sometime in the near future. These are the main aspects of China that impacted my life and grew on me during my time there.
Also, I leave for Korea on Monday, so look forward to some exciting blog posts about my adventures there!