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doogsville
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 924
Location: China
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 Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| chinadad wrote: |
remember when people here talk about development please don't think in any kind of western style - think more on massive concrete, repetitive and soulless rather than attractive, cultured and fascinating
In short a lot of China is being taken over by massively drab grey complexes full of near identical shops,restaurants and businesses and wont display any kind of real link with Chinese tradition. In fact you'll probably find as much Chinese tradition in a western china-town than a Chinese city such as Hefei!!!!!
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I'm guessing you've never been to the UK then. Every development since the late fifties has been pretty much as you've described as above.
They have a buzzword in the UK now to describe almost every town and city centre. It's 'clonetown', because every town and city centre now has the exact same chain shops, cafes and restaurants. Independent businesses are all but dead. Urban planning is carried out with the sole aim of promoting car use and shopping. The only towns in the UK that could be considered remotely 'attractive, cultured and fascinating' are the ones that are more than three hundred years old, and who rely on tourism. Even they are full of bland chain stores and expensive concrete car parks.
I'm puzzled why anyone would confuse urban planning in China with 'western' style planning anyway. The China towns in cities outside of China have been preserved more to attract tourists than to preserve any sense of Chinese culture too in my opinion. |
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chinadad
Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 291
Location: chengdu
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| Every development since the late fifties has been pretty much as you've described as above |
yes imagine the whole of the UK - no pretty villages, hardly any historic buildings left among the concrete jungle, and all so badly built that the decay of peeling paint and pollution staining makes everything look like the worse slum after just a handful of years
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| Well I frequent a couple of Chinese style cafes, the kind that can be found in any Chinese city including Hefei, that serve tea and some pretty good cheesecake |
Golly that sounds like a pretty exciting place. Yesterday I drove up North, just on country roads, through the countless new industrial estates, from Chengdu up into Deyang - sure wish you could still post pictures up on this forum!!!!!
And OP - talking the middle ground is a very wise option - don't be wildly optimistic about anything here but at the same time realise you can have fun that amounts to a little more than the adventure of finding a tea-house that sells cheesecake. |
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it'snotmyfault
Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 527
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:13 am Post subject: |
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| chinadad wrote: |
Golly that sounds like a pretty exciting place. |
It's this kind of childish sarcasm that puts me off talking to a lot of foreigners here in China
| chinadad wrote: |
sure wish you could still post pictures up on this forum!!!!!
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We only have to look outside our windows to see what China looks like!!!
Oh golly I sound just like you!!!!!! |
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chinadad
Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 291
Location: chengdu
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:18 am Post subject: |
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OP remember- regardless of whether you choose Shane's or Hefei - a good China plan is also one that takes into account what you're going to do after China. regardless of the pollution, ugly landscape, poor pay and working conditions you can still have fun - but over the years things start to level out and that initial exciting 'I'm in China' buzz can evolve into something that feels more like - I want to leave but what the hell am I going to do back home.
You'll find a lot of FT's, even posters here, trying to mask this problem of feeling China trapped - hours on the internet and avoiding other foreign contact is sometimes a symptom. |
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Javelin of Radiance
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| chinadad wrote: |
| You'll find a lot of people trying to mask this problem of feeling China trapped - hours on the internet and avoiding other foreign contact is sometimes a symptom. |
These are just symptoms of being alive in the 21st century. Everywhere I've been the past few years, that includes outside of China, people have had their faces buried in either a mobile phone or a computer monitor for hours on end oblivious to the world around them. |
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chinadad
Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 291
Location: chengdu
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| These are just symptoms of being alive in the 21st century. Everywhere I've been the past few years, that includes outside of China, people have had their faces buried in either a mobile phone or a computer monitor for hours on end oblivious to the world around them. |
But at least most of these people, as locals, will have an easy to reach safety net - of either family, friends or culture to fall back on when times get hard. However as a foreigner, thousands of miles from home - in a rather unforgiving environment - we sometimes just have the cold reality of an empty apartment, sticking out from everyone else and being totally alone.
I'm afraid being an FT in China you can't simply live through the normal symptoms of the 21st century - which makes any China job exciting and interesting but also, if it goes stale and leads to nothing - rather dangerous for both mind and soul. Feelings -because of extreme distance from home, network and culture in your native country - that can lead to anxiety and depression. Because of this, I don't think China is good place to go if you're running away trying to avoid the world - since here it could catch up with you with size 10 boots!!!!!!
Again somewhere else where the OP can look at China from the middle-ground |
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Burke
Joined: 22 Nov 2012
Posts: 42
Location: Beijing
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