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Im in China right now and god damn is it amazing (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 month ago by Quaxamilliom@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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China is honestly light years ahead of the US. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US and am here on vacation for a month traveling through China and it is insane how far ahead of us they are. From the high speed rail system that I have been using to go from city to city, the absolute cleanliness everywhere, no crime, no worry about getting pick pocketed/mugged, nice friendly people, no homelessness, no tent cities, affordable/cheap prices for food and basic necessities. Every little town I pass I the high speed line had massive construction going on from high density apartments to infrastructure. Honestly the only complaints I have is that the entire country is hot as balls right now and the food situation is a bit rough as a person who's both vegan and a somewhat picky eater, they only seem to have mainly Chinese food everywhere and as good as it is I need some variety in my diet and it is hard finding all vegan places as well.

I honestly I have now come to realize that the reason we are so strongly propagandized against China in the US is that it would break the average Americans brain if you saw how well they are living here compared to the absolute under-devoloped shit we put up with in the US.

Ask me any questions you have and I can also post pics if interested!

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[-] allthetimesivedied@hexbear.net 121 points 1 month ago

they only seem to have mainly Chinese food everywhere

Sorry but lol.

[-] nohaybanda@hexbear.net 83 points 1 month ago

In china they just call it food

wowee

[-] Quaxamilliom@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago

Another thing I want to add is that it's amazing being in a country where there are hammer and sickles everywhere and communism isn't some taboo thing to be kept in the closet.

[-] space_comrade@hexbear.net 37 points 1 month ago

I wonder how the average local reacts to a westerner telling them they're a communist. Have you had such discussions?

[-] Quaxamilliom@hexbear.net 25 points 1 month ago

haha not yet, but I have been curious too.

[-] meth_dragon@hexbear.net 24 points 1 month ago

there is a dunning kruger area of politically illiterate petit bourgeoisie and wannabes (liberals) who dislike leftism for a variety of reasons, many of them actually personal failings (shitty teacher/school admin, can't break into the big bourgeoisie, incel because ugly/poor/misogynist, friends doing better than they are <- this is a big one) but in their minds easily attributed to leftist politics

in all fairness the government does do a lot of dumb shit a lot of the time for really shitty reasons but in these people's minds they're just built different and would have been fine or would be doing even better if china had completely capitulated and ended up like CIS or idk, india

they're honestly not common at all (thank god) but i interact with them on a daily basis due to job/social circle and it takes everything i have to just stay hinged in conversations so i am taking this opportunity to vent, sorry

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[-] VILenin@hexbear.net 51 points 1 month ago

Hell yeah China gang

I’m there in 2 days. Get to go a couple times a month. Lie-flat accommodations and mediocre airline food. For free! Since I fly the airplane. But the crew only gets about 30 hours max before we turn around and come back :/

How are the train-shining s? Ticket-wise too. I heard the popular routes sell out pretty fast. Also damn they built up the network fast. I remember going for the 2008 Olympics and the network was nothing at all like it is now.

There’s been a lot of change even in just the past 10 years. I first went in 1999. The development is amazing. I guess there’s some minor frustrations too. You used to be able to stroll into Tiananmen Square whenever you felt like it, at any time of day. A few years ago someone rammed a vehicle into the crowd so now you have to go through a security and ID check to enter a protected area. You also need a reservation beforehand. sadness

How difficult is it without speaking Mandarin? I do so I feel like I’m not really in tune with that experience.

[-] Quaxamilliom@hexbear.net 41 points 1 month ago

woah, you're an airline pilot? That's amazing, I love flying!

The trains are amazing, they are always on time and well organized, the tickets I got through trip.com easily and you just show your passport at the gate to be let in. The only route so far that was really packed was the HK to Guilin route, but all the other ones were easy to get and they have so many of them all through the day, I truly am amazed by the rail network here!

It hasn't been too difficult not speaking the language, the people here use an app that they talk into and it translates for them and I use the same thing in the alipay app. Everyone is really nice and friendly and willing to wait patiently while we figure out communications lol.

[-] VILenin@hexbear.net 37 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

woah, you're an airline pilot?

Yeah. It’s fun! Especially with a union that actually does things

That's amazing, I love flying!

sicko-yes

—

Also, trains, on time? Unheard of in burgerland. Contrast with the hours-long Amtrak slog from New York to DC getting passed by bikes half the time.

And I can’t imagine an American taking their time with a foreigner who doesn’t speak the language.

A comment as to the food: there used to be a chain in Beijing and Shanghai called Element Fresh that served vegan options, but they shut down in 2022 due to COVID. But if you’re going to be in Beijing I would still try the Sanlitun area, it’s a cosmopolitan-type place and there’s a decent chance you could find something there.

[-] BynarsAreOk@hexbear.net 50 points 1 month ago

The only thing is don't take a T1 city as a representation of the whole country.

I think the videos from people going to Xinjiang or Tibet are more interesting honestly.

[-] MaoTheLawn@hexbear.net 45 points 1 month ago

No, but compare T1 to New York or something. Still light and day. Then try T5 vs Detroit for urban or Appalachia for rural.

[-] geikei@hexbear.net 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

tbf based on other comments they seem to have also visited Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities which in their own right are seeing faster development and are as impressive as a lot of well functioning European cities. So the overall impression is somewhat representative of the lives of more people than the populations of the US or the EU

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[-] Barx@hexbear.net 46 points 1 month ago

sù (素) food is a good backup plan for finding vegan food. It's food following Buddhist purity rules which will mean it's all at least vegetarian. Say no eggs and you've made it vegan because they're not going to use dairy.

Look for swastikas to find such a restaurant.

[-] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 64 points 1 month ago

Look for swastikas

That's no indicator, some of my previous neighbors had those

[-] LesbianLiberty@hexbear.net 32 points 1 month ago

{我只吃素菜 | Wǒ zhǐ chī sù cài} "I Only Eat Vegetarian Food" and { 你们有素菜吗 | Nǐ men yǒu sù cài ma?} "Do you have vegetarian food?" have been my go to phrases when my brain's too busted to speak the Mandarin I do know. If all else fails you can always hit them with the { 我不能吃肉 | Wǒ bù néng chī ròu} which is "I don't eat meat"

[-] booty@hexbear.net 24 points 1 month ago

This sounds like you'll inevitably end up getting some butter and other misc animal products in you at some point, but hey, that's life in a carnist world sometimes

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[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 45 points 1 month ago

China is amazing

If China is so great, why haven't they blocked hexbear.

[-] waluigiblunts@hexbear.net 40 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

why haven't they blocked hexbear

they have.

https://www.comparitech.com/privacy-security-tools/blockedinchina/

[-] WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net 46 points 1 month ago

XI FUCKING FIRED US

[-] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 44 points 1 month ago

Hexbear are revisionist libs confirmed

[-] KurtVonnegut@hexbear.net 40 points 1 month ago

NOOOOO

[-] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 33 points 1 month ago

I'm really upset about this

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[-] meth_dragon@hexbear.net 34 points 1 month ago

leftypol isn't blocked in china

checkmate revisionists

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[-] SapGreen@hexbear.net 31 points 1 month ago

Pretty sure it has to do with the fact that this website shares a name with a cryptocurrency. We’re looking into it.

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[-] Flyberius@hexbear.net 45 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I agree, but fuck me Guiyang has been hard work today. I saw a guy literally beat the shit out of his 2 year old kid for playing too raucously, and in the park a guy was shooting monkeys with a slingshot and everyone was gathered around laughing.

I think Guiyang might just be filled with arseholes.

Critical support, because they still have some issues to iron out in some places, such as animal cruelty, and it being socially acceptable to literally slap a two year old in the face repeatedly over some minor infraction. Honestly I wanted to kill that man. Actually I wanted to kill the guy shooting the monkeys too.

I literally can't stop thinking about that kid. It really got to me, he was so small and the dad or grandad or uncle or whatever slapped him three or four times in the face and then proceeded to start slapping his belly. Afterwards the kids wasn't even audibly crying, he just had a look of complete shock on his face, mouth open, probably too winded to actually cry out. I know it would have been the stupidest thing in the world to intervene but I feel like such a coward for just standing there and watching.

[-] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

When I was working in retail I confronted a dude who was smacking his six or seven year old in the back of the head repeatedly (as the kid had been screwing up the aisle), and I told him to either stop or get out the store. It happens in the U.S. too.

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[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 44 points 1 month ago

Can you speak Mandarin? How hard do you find communicating?

Is it crowded?

[-] Quaxamilliom@hexbear.net 47 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I don't speak a bit of Mandarin, it has been somewhat difficult as not many people speak English at all either, but when needed I use alipay's built in translator and am able to communicate well enough. Everyone here also seems to have an app they can talk into that translates what they want to say.

Also some places are very crowded (tourist areas like Guilin) and others not so much, but the crowds are all mainly Chinese tourists, I've only seen maybe five or so white people here (i'm not white myself though, middle eastern).

[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago

That sounds pretty cool

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[-] waluigiblunts@hexbear.net 44 points 1 month ago

no worry about getting pick pocketed

I got my wallet stolen in Shanghai. There definitely are pickpockets in China.

[-] EmoThugInMyPhase@hexbear.net 52 points 1 month ago

goes to shanghai

gets surprised when you’re shanghai’d

[-] waluigiblunts@hexbear.net 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

ikr 😤

[-] Greenleaf@hexbear.net 36 points 1 month ago

I strongly suspect that in 2024, the median Chinese worker has a higher material quality of life than the median American worker. I say that I “strongly suspect” because for some reason I have never seen someone make this frankly straightforward comparison, I wonder why…

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[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 34 points 1 month ago

I can also post pics if interested!

I'd like to see pics.

[-] GaveUp@hexbear.net 32 points 1 month ago

I honestly I have now come to realize that the reason we are so strongly propagandized against China in the US is that it would break the average Americans brain if you saw how well they are living here compared to the absolute under-devoloped shit we put up with in the US

They were doing it when China didn't have flushable toilets in their plumbing systems what are you saying

[-] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 51 points 1 month ago

Well sure, but even up until like 2012, China wasn't as demonized as it is in the media as it is now. They've ramped up propaganda in a very significant way in the last 10 years.

[-] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 36 points 1 month ago

[-] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 31 points 1 month ago

Right, but notice how much worse it's got. There's been a big push to do anti-China propaganda recently that has increased this perception significantly.

[-] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

yeah there was another article about a propaganda push in around 2017

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[-] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 31 points 1 month ago

How are you unable to find vegan? There's many vegetable centric dishes in China

[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago

With the Mandarin I picked up, I was able to do vegan in the most rural fecking places. Not to say that my experience will be everybody's, but it wasn't bad for me.

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[-] cricbuzz@hexbear.net 31 points 1 month ago

Hey I've got a question, how many Xi-Bucks are they paying you to write this post?!

lol jk, comrade. happy that you're having a great time exploring there. It's on my bucket list to go there before the US commits to full-fledged stochastic terrorism in every major city there

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[-] wombat@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago

BUT AT WHAT COST

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[-] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 28 points 1 month ago

US = A third world country wearing a Gucci belt.

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[-] shath@hexbear.net 26 points 1 month ago

xicko