What Expats Don't Understand about Shenzhen?

I read this interesting report on Southern Metropolis Daily(2009-11-7). It covered 10 foreigners who already stayed in Shenzhen for some time. They encountered quite a few incomprehensible circumstances here and finally they couldn't help but bringing up many questions which even confused me. I picked out some questions and translated them into English.

Some of those questions somewhat show that they are lacking of common sense for living in China. Yet I have to admit that I feel confused in my city too. By Shenzhen, I reckon they actually mean China, because all these issues don't happen merely in Shenzhen but the whole country. People from outside of Shenzhen share the same characteristics, not to mention that most residents here are not native.

Sorry if this translation is rough, I did it within an hour.^^

Brad, American, 40, designer, here for 9 years

1. He doesn't understand why people drive without licences but with perfect assurance.

2. He doesn't understand why young people still throw plastic lunch boxes out of their car windows while there are so many environment-friendly texts in books.

3. He doesn't understand why he was asked about age, job and relationship status by total strangers even when he was on a bus.

4. He doesn't understand why people bought apartments and waited them to be revalued instead of moving in there.

5. He doesn't understand why students study hard in high school but totally unwind in college. Things are just opposite in America.

6. He doesn't understand why people are so clamorous in public. Europeans think Americans are loud, but comparing to people in Shenzhen, we're fairly quiet.

7. He doesn't understand why people often whine about the air condition in Shenzhen. It's much better than it in Hong Kong.

8. He doesn't understand why people are fond of getting some weird English names. Those names sound more like pizza shops or bistros.

Christian Buggelsheim, Austrian, 36, Hotel Manager, here for 3 years

1. He doesn't understand why business partners always drink Baijiu, nay, they tank it.

2. He doesn't understand why people fancy eating animals' organs. Everytime they ordered those spooky chicken paws, I got goose bumps.

3. He doesn't understand why Chinese can't understand his Mandarin. When he attended some social events with his girlfriend, he felt like an invisible person. They speaks too fast for me to catch up. Shenzhen is supposed to be international, but why I only found a few people here spoke fluent English.

4. He doesn't understand why there are few people in Shenzhen riding bikes. Isn't China a kingdom of bikes?

5. He doesn't understand why people in Shenzhen want to travel in Europe or America because Shenzhen seems perfect to him. This city becomes empty at holidays.

Frederic, French, 35, Executive Chef, here for 3 years

1. He doesn't understand why people can just drink or roll bones in a bar for hours.

2. He doesn't understand why there're so many bars in Shenzhen but only a few of them are worth going. Bars are full around 10 p.m.but get empty around 2 a.m..

3. He doesn't understand why people complain that "I paid that much but only got this little French food." Quantity plays a more important role here.

4. He doesn't understand why people go to a French restaurant but order American salad. They don't know "Bon Appetit" is French, do they?

5. He doesn't understand why chefs don't get enough respect in China. In Europe, chefs are appreciated as movie stars.

Daniel, American, 42, Electronic Industry, here for 2 years

1. He doesn't understand why people cough without covering their mounths and spit all the time.

2. He doesn't understand why women in Shenzhen are so realistic that they love you after knowing whether you own an apartment or a car.

3. He doesn't understand why some electric appliance are so expensive here. A toast machine costs you 9.9 dollars in America but costs 400 RMB here.

4. He doesn't understand why house price is so high here while rent so cheap.

5. He doesn't understand why can't he get clothes of his size, even when he choose the XXXL ones.

Mark, American, 59, Singer and English teacher, here for 10 years

1. He doesn't understand why foreigners in Shenzhen barely know Chinese culture or Chinese people.

2. He doesn't understand why some Chinese people say they don't love China.

3. He doesn't understand why "pig ears" can be food because he thinks they're nasty.

4. He doesn't understand why China changes so fast and is not easy to catch up with.

5. He doesn't understand why Chinese people put their family at the first place but he likes this value.

Karl, American, 40, professor, here for 3 months

1. He doesn't understand why the cable and the TV remotes ares so complicated.

2. He doesn't understand those English in textbooks is confusing and is like translated by machine.
 
3 He doesn't understand why children live with their parents and parents have to look after children's children.

Sun Seungkai, Korean, 32, Manager, here for 4 years

1. He doesn't understand why girls cover their beautiful legs with tights, even in Summer.

2. He doesn't understand why people don't like wearing hats, even if their hair is a mess, even they're bold. In Korea, almost everyone wear hats.

3. He doesn't understand why taxi drivers always argue with passengers.

Sakura Takumi, Japanese, 42, board chairman, here for 9 months

1. He doesn't understand why people randomly spit and litter.

2. He doesn't understand why people jump the red light and jump the queue

3. He doesn't understand why people are constantly late for anything and what's worse is, they tell you "I'll be there soon" but it still needs half an hour.

4. He doesn't understandwhy Shenzhe is near the sea but people are more fond of going to mountains.

5. He doesn't understand why people are socasual in public. "Everytime I went back to Japan, I felt stressed out because I was not allow to take phone calls on subway or bus, even with your earphone. But in Shenzhen, people talk on the phone even on formal occasions.

In addition, the following cartoon is from a Canadian. Let's see what he's trying to tell us.

1. There're many disabled people kotowing on the streets of downtown.

2. But they're just faking it.Their heads don't reach the ground. Their hair is long so it's hard to tell. And in fact, even they reach the ground, you can't hear anything either.

3. The main activity you can do is shopping, but what's odd is that there're only expensive name brands and high-class products. It's easy to get a 'Rolex' but it's very hard to get ordinary stuff.

4. It took me 3 days to find a knife in a supermarket.

Ringing a bell now?^^ hehe, It reminds me of another translation I post some time ago, "Chinese people? Incomprehensible!".  If you're also an expat in Shenzhen or in China, I'd like to know what do you find incomprehensible.

Belated "Happy Year of Tiger"

First and foremost, HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Just when I decided to spend this Spring Festival in Shenzhen, I heard that it was snowy in hometown. It seems like I'd never get the chance to slip and fall down on the ice. Good thing the temperature dropped down right before the lunar new year and made it at least cold enough for a Spring Festival. It is never not festive in Shenzhe, even with those on and off popping of firecrackers. Several days before this bleak Spring Festival, I walked around the annual Flower Marker in Luohu as I did every year.

Shenzhen has no lack of flowers，so basically people go to the Flower Market just to join in the fun. It's more economical to actually buy flowers from the marker on Lunar New Year's Eve because it's the last day of the temporary market and everything there is on sale. It's said that it'd bring no luck if you purchase flowers after the Lunar New Year's Eve.

I spotted this new species of flowers. Don't you think it look like those birds in "Avatar"?^^

Besides flowers, there were some irrelevant stuff sold there,say goldfish, turtles and rabbits. Well, I can't expect to see tigers though.

street snapshot

Even I'm a native in China, I do find things incomprehensible in my normal daily life. They're not the "mainstream" but I suppose they reflect something at some point. Well, instead of a judgemental person, I regard myself as a conscientious one about life.

Location: Beijing


This is the sign for a roast duck restaurant. As you may find, a part of it is missing. And now it's just a "roast bird" reataurant. Or it's a kind of publicity?

Location: my hometown


The local government is trying to popularize English to the salesmen. They chose the most effective way to do it - mark English with Chinese Characters as phonetic symbols. You may ask "Can it work?" No worry, because there's barely any foreigners there in this small town.

[ more about my hometown ]

Location: Shanghai


It was just some light rain, but this metro(from 353 to People Plaza) seemed flooded. I blamed the drainage system in Shanghai.

Location: Nanjing


I saw this catchphrase around Fuzimiao and got very confused. Let me translate it literally "Supporting the army is building a Great Wall. Loving the army is loving the national defence." - What the heck is that?

Location: Meilin, Shenzhen


This is a Police Bike! It's convenient to carry and to chase offenders at back street. At the critical moment, it can even be used as a weapon! (I'm laughing.)

Location: Bao'an, Shenzhen


This is a security guard booth, without any security but a giant police cap. It can surely be frightening to those criminals. Yes, right.

Location: Dongmen, Shenzhen


Remember my "Kappo" classmate? She's not alone. Check this out! "Backcab" and that hideous brand - just another Shanzhai product.

[ more on Shanzhai Kappa ]

SZU,Shame on You.

To start off,I have to admit that "SZU,Shame on You" is definitely more sensational than the real.But it does make a catchy title.^^

F.Y.I,SZU is short for Shenzhen University.I've been studying in SZU for more than two years.I fairly enjoy my life there because,well,"small as it is, the sparrow has all the vital organs".But meanwhile,I did find something funny yet a bit of disgraceful.I was meaning to blog about it but didn't take enough photos as a proof.But now,I'm doing it.The following may not be made by SZU but happen there in SZU.



1. Somehow I suppose it was written by some foreign student because the capital letters don't apply to the writing habit of us Chinese people (I guess).

 

2. These students are about to graduate.It's understandable to take a photo of them and the landmark for a souvenir,but I don't think it's not necessary to actually stand on it.If everyone of us was gonna do the same thing,that sundial would be a ruin.

 

3. There are more than 20 canteens in SZU.I bet things like the following pics have happened in all the canteen.It happens too many times,so that we barely take it as a big deal.Everytime when someone started to complain about it,others would say something like "think about the starving children in Africa".

 

4."Wow,check on those legs" - that's not my point,dude.We were having a PE class but some were there in slipper.You may not be professional,but at least you gotta have a professional spirit.

 

5.People in Shenzhen are not strangers to Shanzhai.At some point,I suppose the name "Shanzhai" is adapted from Shenzhen.But this gal from my class really made me speechless.As a 21st century uni student,she just ignored the"KappO" and lived with it.

 

6.Yes,this is the  map of SZU which is located right on the main gate.If you're careful enough,you may find it literally unbearable because there are two misspellings on it.What are the odds?

 

7.This kind of herbal tea is declared to be preventive against H1N1 virus - YEA RIGHT! 

 

8.What are you doing guys?It's in the middle of a class,Japanese class though.Well,I'm taking this photo.Who am I blaming！

 

9.I don't know whether non-Chinese would get this,but it made me laugh so hard."Fathers are already old.Wait no more to show filial obedience" - an advertisement for Phiton necklace,ahead of the Father's Day.

 

To Be Continued......

Now I've seen everything.

The modern China is known as a mega country of manufacturing and pirating is undeniably a major part of it.If Chinese people cry out their grievances that they didn't start the pirate thing,then they cannot be excused for creating the SHANZHAI culture.The Shanzhai culture came forth even earlier than the time it got its name.Not that I approve of Shanzhai,but as far as I'm concerned,Shanzhai is wiser than pirate anyways.It doesn't totally live in the shadow of the legal copy but (shameless) strickes out and gets its own labels and adherents.

(See!Obama just becomes the brand spokesman for "Blockberry".Not sure if he knows about this yet.)

Well,actually I'm not going to write a whole post about Shanzhai.Instead,I'm writing a review about my gate-crashing to the second-hand cellphone market in Huaqiangbei.I had this chance to keep my uncle company to stock his cellphone store in Jiangsu.He came all the way here because he knew the huge market of electronic products here in Shenzhen.But why second-hand?To be honest,I used to think that Chinese people conventionally prefer brand new stuff.We would rather pay more than getting a used thing,even if it's not even an old one.But things are different in Jiangsu.Internet is not made the best of use there.I mean,the mass netizens there are young people whom are literally just interested in QQ and online games.Plus,comercials on TV become unbearably irresponsible and keep babbling about those Shanzhai product.

One thing led to another,people start to pay more attention to those so-called latest and fancy stuff.People there have no problem to dress warmly and ear their fill but it's still too much to ask to try those things first-handly.Therefore,BANG!Secondhand products are becoming quite popular there.Okay,too much for the leading-in.Let's see what I got there at Huaqiangbei.

Huaqiangbei is definitely a place you love and hatel.It roughly provides enormous electronic products of any kind.Even if USB drive,you may find this many there.Amazing huh.

There I was,the secondhand-cellphone-market sreet at Huaqiangbei.So many people gather here,do the same business but still can make much profit.We can understand that how large the market is.

(I guess you already noticed those billboard with "CDMA" and "3G")

(This is one of the hundred stores at the street.)

(A tousy street stall right in front of the store.The board means "recycling of cellphone with a considerable price",not sure if my English makes sense though.)

(We got there quite early.Those counter-keepers just started to prepare everything.)

 

(I could barely name the brands of these Shanzhai cellphones,orr do they have any.Pretty colorful huh,it's one of the traits of Shanzhai cellphones.)

 

 

(You can tell they're not of good value from the mess.)  

(It became quite mussy and lousy when more and more buyers appeared.I was wondering how did they communicate in such a noise.) 

("No Smoking!"-Nobody gives it a damn.If there were a fire,we'd be all dead.)  

 

(Thousands of cellphone shells of any kind,used for making old into new ones.It could happen that the blackhearted sellers sell the olds at full price and call you a sucker afterwards.)  

(This kind of label is supposed to be on the legal cellphones.But now,I can get four pieces of them for 1RMB.My uncle said you could get whatever typr of label if you asked.You can hardly tell mock from original ones now.)  

I felt like a paparazzi.It was not easy for me to take those photos because the seller were very cautious.Good thing that they knew they weren't doing anything glorious.I inquired of some friendly-looking sellers about the source of so many cellphones,both shanzhai ones and original ones.They told me three ways.

1st,from people who sold their old cellphones. (10%)

2nd,the government forbad those factories producing shanzhai cellphones.So they had to dispose the goods at low price,in the name of putting away the wasters.(60%)

3rd,everyday,millions of people all over China get their cellphones stolen,afterwards millions of stolen cellphones are being imported to Shenzhen......(30%)