From China, with Love (tfl;dr)

[McGrrr]

'Demon' certainly is abit extreme of a translation but I have a feeling I know what the word is I'm not sure which character your translating from (given tones and all) and the fact I'm not familiar with Mandarin chinese whether its a different word. I think a better term would be simply "guy/thing".

I think the ping ying for the term is "gui zhi", and is used often in reference to the Japanese who invaded China in the 19th century.

hey mcgraw, whered you stay in china?

Shenzhen, GuangZhou and Chengdu; all relatively affluent places. Further, I mixed mostly with the middle class.

Another thing I noticed was that ownership of living space is pretty much an arbitrary requirement for marriage. Although many people are legally married (as far as the books go), they don't consider themselves to be truly married until they own their living space. When asking a young couple living together in a rented apartment why they hadn't married (despite their expressed intents to do so), their answer was that they didn't have enough money.

The man was required to own a bike and a watch a few decades ago, or his marriage proposal would be refused. I expect the terms have changed with China's economic progress!

I did not experience any jetlag =] I slept a little on the plane, and was too tired to remain awake when I arrived in GuangZhou at around 9pm local time. I managed 5 hours on the return flight and went to bed at 10pm last night so everything will be normal tonight.

 

[akuchi]

One night, I was quietly advised not to "marry a white demon".

Got off lightly there then

 

[Kikuichimonji]

I did not experience any jetlag =] I slept a little on the plane, and was too tired to remain awake when I arrived in GuangZhou at around 9pm local time. I managed 5 hours on the return flight and went to bed at 10pm last night so everything will be normal tonight.

Jet lag is usually worst traveling east to west, although I've actually found it easier to recover from the 15-hour time difference than from the 3-hour time difference when traveling across the US.

 

[aura_lucario]

Even though it was long, it was very intresting. It's amazing how some cultures can be so different.

 

[Sir Spanky]

I really would love visit Asia. Whether it be Japan, Thailand, China, Korea etc, or all of them I really can't wait to see what the culture is like. Coming from a person who has been to pretty much every country in Europe, been to America and Australasia, I am a travel-buff that is missing a real large chunk!

 

[imperfectluck]

Speaking from the perspective of a Chinese-American born to first generation immigrants, and having visited China many, many, times, I can say that this passage misrepresents China in an unnecessarily negative light. Just my opinion.

 

[touched]

I completely agree with otome, being in the same position as him. However, I do feel that this presentation of China and its people is more accurate than some others that I've read. It also strikes me as odd how the tone of the narration seems to imply that the author isn't Chinese at all, although how it may be different for others.

 

[QuickDraw]

I really would love visit Asia. Whether it be Japan, Thailand, China, Korea etc, or all of them I really can't wait to see what the culture is like. Coming from a person who has been to pretty much every country in Europe, been to America and Australasia, I am a travel-buff that is missing a real large chunk!

japan is crazy! its like new york and las vegas had a child and then it turned into a robot. well, at least the city is. when i went there we visited Fujiyama and i have never been to a more serene and spiritual place in my life. most of the people in japan were really nice too, plus they always found my limited abilities in their language absolutely hilarious. i would definitely recommend japan because it is white-man friendly and is just plain cool.

 

[commonyoshi]

I went to China over the summer as well.

"White Demon", or "Gwugh Low" in Cantonese, can also described as Ghost Punk. Gwugh can be either demon/monster/ghost, and Low is a distainful term for 'that guy'. It's not really a racist term although it very well could be.

And when I was in China it seemed to me white people were extremely popular/desirable. Chinese women were always groping white males on television. :p

 

[Pillowrath]

Haha, awesome read!

I live in China and found that the China you describe seems to be much more developed than the place I live in, lol.

 

[NoTakenJustYet]

Wow I hope you had a great time in China. I am probably going next year.

 

[Kikuichimonji]

Speaking from the perspective of a Chinese-American born to first generation immigrants, and having visited China many, many, times, I can say that this passage misrepresents China in an unnecessarily negative light. Just my opinion.

I share that perspective and opinion, although McGraw's view of China may result from a level of integration (partially resulting from interaction with family living in China) that you or I could not experience.

 

[McGrrr]

Speaking from the perspective of a Chinese-American born to first generation immigrants, and having visited China many, many, times, I can say that this passage misrepresents China in an unnecessarily negative light. Just my opinion.

This is entirely understandable if your perspective is that of a tourist's (or if you were treated as one). The China that tourists are allowed to see is not quite the China beneath the surface. I accept that this is your opinion, but I only transcribed what I witnessed, using background knowledge from discussions with family.

 

[Hipmonlee]

I would be interested to hear a more accurate representation of china based on IPLs experience..

Have a nice day.

 

[imperfectluck]

I was most certainly not a tourist, I have lived in China for about 6 years of my life, although I have only lived in two different places. My maternal grandparents live in Beijing and are well-to-do, while my paternal grandparents live in YanCheng and are by definition "poor." I know how both sides of the spectrum live. With a 100% Chinese appearance, perhaps my experience would differ from the obvious foreigner's, granted.

 

[makiri]

Amazing reads McGraw and Kiku, I really enjoyed them, both for the serious and comedic parts. The elderly man who tried to steal your watch was amazing how he didn't even care and just went for the watch as you were watching him.

 

[venom_prince91]

Having a girlfriend who is Chinese, I can back up the fact that they do not believe in inter-racial relationships. Her father is most definitely against it (myself being Australian).

It is very much so a dog-eat-dog world for them. Education is everything.

The host family I stayed with was lucky, the father was the chief engineer of the Beijing Olympics, but still, they owned a very modest, 3 bedroom flat - compared to everyone elses living standards this would be a palace.

But the son had been swimming since a young age, it was his passion. Once he had reached his teens, however, and he was not as big as others of his age, his mother stopped him from swimming and got him to concentrate on study. I found it rather sad.

However, in my trips to China, I have found people to be generally quite friendly (at least, the well-off, schooled, or people with jobs). I could understand why the blue collar workers would be quite disgruntled.

It is, regardless, a very interesting place.

 

[Thunderclasm]

Awesome topic. Offers some great insight into a country that for the most part in the west seems just to be looming up out of the shadow in the background.

 

[General Tso]

Nice read, I'm Chinese myself and I do like to hear other people's experiences in China (Particularly the Chinese people!)

I guess White Demon may just be the best translation to represent the situation. I speak Cantonese and the most direct translation I would give is White Ghost, but of course we're not spirits are we?

When it comes to relationships, my sister is okay with anything Asian although I don't even want to discuss relationships with my grandma, fearing the whiplash she'll give to me unless I married strictly Chinese.

In my stays in China, I don't think anyone I've seen has every demonstrated the Conduct During Dinner policy.

Also, it is true about being able to haggle prices, it's sad but the Chinese just are really desperate for a sale.

I'm not entirely sure how jetlag works, but if it's anything, my timezone is GMT -5 meaning about 13 hours difference from here to China. I sleep mostly on the plane and I can't sleep when it's night at China for a few days.

All me experiences though came for a sort of "high class" view in Guangzhou (My sister and her husband are pretty much rich.)

Hopefully I'll be going next year, maybe even the Olympics!

 

[gorm]

I work in a restaurant. It fells terrible to say it but on a whole, chinese people VERY rarely tip. it'll be an average of shit like 75 cents on a 19.25$ bill. I'm really glad to read this kind of stuff coming from you McGraw

 

[Kikuichimonji]

I work in a restaurant. It fells terrible to say it but on a whole, chinese people VERY rarely tip. it'll be an average of shit like 75 cents on a 19.25$ bill. I'm really glad to read this kind of stuff coming from you McGraw

Establishments in China often refuse tips, so this isn't really considered "bad manners" where they come from.

Not that it's excusable not to adjust to the social norms of the country you're visiting/residing in.

 

[just some chick]

That was an awesome read, thanks McGraw and Kiku. Sometimes I wish I could learn like half a dozen other foreign languages so that I could visit other places in Asia like China or Korea. In Japan people very similarly don't smile at you, but if you're a foreigner they will stare, even after you've noticed and are staring back.

(Feelin' a little inspired to wirte something on Japan now too)

 

[gorm]

Establishments in China often refuse tips, so this isn't really considered "bad manners" where they come from.

Not that it's excusable not to adjust to the social norms of the country you're visiting/residing in.

that's interesting, I didn't know that =\

as far as adjusting, as far as I can tell, the chinese culture is probably the most unwilling to integrate after immigration that i can think of

 

[Kikuichimonji]

as far as adjusting, as far as I can tell, the chinese culture is probably the most unwilling to integrate after immigration that i can think of

From what I've seen, the percentage of Chinese immigrants willing to learn English is significantly higher than the percentage of Mexican immigrants willing to learn English, which I'd say is pretty crucial to integration.

 

[gorm]

I live in Canada, there are no mexican people here.