Finally... > Life Advice

Heading to China soon. What do I need to know?

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AzyWng:
Exactly what the thread title says. As a way to get a bit of experience actually working a day in my life, I've agreed to head to China on June 10th to work in a tech firm in Shenzhen. Now, my Chinese is rather poor and I'm not really sure what to expect when I get to Shenzhen, so I'm wondering: What should I expect and prepare for in China?

nenjin:
Bathroom culture is something you will have to get used to.

For one, and forgive me any Chinese people who take offense at this....but I've heard it's not uncommon for some people in Chinese cities to take a squat right on the street in public and do their business. So watch where you're stepping.

Secondly, indoor bathroom plumbing is uncommon at best. Toilets are a hole in the ground, literally. And they don't usually throw their used toilet paper down the hole, they throw it in a box next to the hole.

Which as a westerner is pretty eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww but, you know, we use ungodly amounts of water so we don't have to look at it or smell it. Many parts of the world do not operate that way.

So yeah. Start practicing keeping your balance while squatting and doing your business. And FWIW, it's actually a biologically superior way to use the bathroom. Some people I know who went to China came back and bought a squattie potty because they said it's simply a better way to operate.

Other than that....

There are A LOT of Asian taboos revolving around death. Like, even giving someone the wrong kind of flowers or flowers at all might be considered taboo because flowers are for people's graves. You don't want to evoke death or the association with death, and it can be surprising the things that Asians and the Chinese in particular associate with death and/or graves.

~Neri:
Do not offer medical assistance to anyone. China’s current legal system would flag you ‘responsible’ and require you to pay all hospital bills.

Trekkin:

--- Quote from: AzyWng on June 01, 2018, 04:03:31 pm ---What should I expect and prepare for in China?

--- End quote ---
Internment camps, the Great Firewall, and the secret police. Learn now what you will be [redacted] for thinking, and learn not to think it.

martinuzz:
Do not talk politics with anyone.
Also get used to having barely any, if any internet access at all.
Except Chinese internet.
I wouldn't be surprised if you would not be able to access this forum, except maybe in some illegal internet back alley.

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