Touchdown in the Middle Kingdom
Bonjour tout le monde! After months of planning and anticipation, I’ve finally arrived and am settled in the People’s Republic of China!
Before coming to Tianjin, part of me expected to be crushed on every side by crowds of people and surrounded by unbreathable smog, however the city is generally cleaner, quieter, less crowded and more relaxed than I imagined. The first day was rather overwhelming, as I came out of the airport with a heavy cold, jetlag and in baking hot weather, but since then I’ve had time to adjust and mull over my experience.
For so long I’ve wanted to come to China, and I counted down the days until I came with eager expectation. I can remember my excitement on the plane flying across Siberia, thinking that with each mile I was going further east than I had ever been before in my life. Now that I’m in China, interacting with the country with all five of my senses, my perspective has changed. For me, China has always seemed like a far-off, mystical place. Now it’s the place where I’m doing laundry, where I’m going out for coffee, where I’m buying toilet roll. Seeing how ordinary life works has probably been the most enlightening experience so far.
La vie en Écosse et la vie en Chine ne sont pas pareilles. Donc j’ai dû m’adapter à beaucoup de différences, par exemple:
- Je dois manger chaque repas avec des baguettes (je ne me rappelle pas de la dernière fois que j’ai utilisé une fourchette!)
- Les rues sont très animées; il me semble que personne n’obéit les règles de la route. Je ne me suis toujours pas fait tué sur la route – c’est une bénédiction!
- Il faut acheter toute mon eau potable aux magasins.
- Les cours de chinois commencent à 8hr30 du matin.
- La nourriture est très différente. La Chine a une cuisine vraiment diverse, mais il est parfois difficile de trouver des goûts familiers, comme le fromage, le chocolat, le pain ou les céréales.
- La plupart des gens ne parlent pas l’anglais.
However, despite these differences, I am discovering the richness of what life in China has to offer. The thing I love most about China is the people, and having the chance to interact with them in their language.
As pale Westerners, we tend to attract attention from locals when we’re in public, and we’ve occasionally had strangers stop us in the street to take a photo with us or practise their English with us. I remember an encounter I had in the park with an old Chinese man practising his martial arts. He didn’t speak a word of English and he spoke Chinese with a strong accent, so I found it very difficult to understand what he was saying. However, using whatever Mandarin phrase I could remember, often asking him to repeat himself or talk more slowly, and with some sign language, I was able to get by without any English. I can’t remember most of what he said – he did talk about how Tianjin people were much nicer than Beijing people, and he kept telling me to study Chinese hard (“nǐ yào hǎo hāo xué zhōng wén!”). Before we parted ways, we told each other our Chinese names, writing out the characters with our fingers in the palms of our hands.
From encounters like these I’ve learned that language learning isn’t about textbooks and exams – it’s about connecting with real, living human beings. It’s never too early to start speaking to people in another language, even from an absolute beginner level. You can’t just say “I’ll wait until I’m fluent, then I’ll speak to people”. And if you make tons of mistakes while speaking and look like an idiot – that’s OK! The locals will almost always be willing to help you out. I’ve found making mistakes and being corrected has been the most important part of learning Chinese so far.
I’ve also enjoyed meeting other foreign students at the university, from places like Thailand, Vietnam, Central Asia and Africa – all with Mandarin as our common language. We’ve had a few games of UNO with Thai students living in our hotel, and some Uzbek friends recently invited us out for dinner at an Arabian restaurant, where we had some of the most delicious food all month. Using Mandarin to talk with other foreigners has added an interesting new dimension to my learning, and thanks to these friendships I can now also say hello in Thai (sà wàt dee kháp), Vietnamese (xin chào) and Uzbek (assalam aleykum).
My favourite event this month was going to a BBQ with some friends I met one Sunday morning. We drove out to a farm on the outskirts of the city – it wasn’t the cleanest or most developed part of China I’d seen so far, but it was very nice to get some peace and quiet away from the hustle of the city, and to get to know new people. The farm had several animals such as dogs, goats and deer, and I even got to ride one of the donkeys! Eating BBQ food with chopsticks was an interesting challenge, and I also got to experience over-the-top Chinese hospitality from the hosts. An elderly Cantonese lady in particular kept insisting I eat more, sometimes even just putting food on my plate, so that by the end I couldn’t eat another morsel. Overall, I had a wonderful time and I was really surprised by the kindness these people showed me – it helped me feel more stable and comfortable in this new living environment.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Remember this isn’t a one-way conversation – I would love to here some of the questions you have, and I’ll be happy to answer them in my next post. Next Tuesday we’ve planned an exciting adventure to the city of Shanghai, and I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes!
À tout à l’heure!
麦亚伦
Arran
PS. Some Food for Thought
I know you guys are learning French and all that, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to throw a bit of Chinese into the mix! You may have noticed that in my blog title I refer to China as the Middle Kingdom. That’s because the Chinese word for China – 中国zhōng guó – literally means “middle kingdom”. Why is it called that, do you think? What do you think this name might say about how the Chinese traditionally viewed themselves in the world? China is a country surrounded by many physical barriers, like the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert and the Pacific Ocean – do you think that has anything to do with this name? Do you think any other nations might have traditionally thought of themselves as the “middle kingdom”?