Oh I believe you. I had to step in for my other friends who barely spoke any Chinese especially when drunk saying they’re ok, they’re with me with the locals. Chinese locals seem seem to be pretty open to fighting, the last real big fight was in Beijing when these 3 guys jumped my friend. Chinese people are serious when they say they want to fight. Usually in taiwan I have a couple guys that want to act tough but back out. I have to say I give them some props for trying to fight me and my friend when I was twice their size and my friend wasn’t exactly small either.
I had my own issues with the locals. Most of them were just curious about taiwan. I think they were fed that it’s part of china but don’t have any idea about it. I even had a couple people ask my why I had to do conscription… that was pretty awkward. I couldn’t exactly say so I can train to kill your people if you come take the island…as much as I wanted to sometimes. And the fact that they would always sneak in taiwan is part of China in some way during the conversation. So I just said I’m American to avoid all of that.
I did go after Chinese girls in the beginning, but later I got annoyed with the whole china vs taiwan problems. So the only girl I was with was from Russia. Besides people randomly taking pictures of her and staring at her she wasn really harassed too much. I guess my only experience with people being weird about race when dating was in the US. And surprisingly actually few girls who Was in my friend circle in taiwan that said some nasty things about me when I started dating my current gf who isn’t Taiwanese.
To them, I am their long lost Chinese compatriot haha. They love saying that word. Compatriot. Taiwanese compatriot.
i only lived there 6 months. i think under a year is the sweet spot. its better to get out before you get bitter about it. the pollution, politics, censored internet and spitting/pushing/pissing antisocial behaviour is going to get to you at some point unless you are very good at lying to yourself.
i actually found the girls friendlier than Taiwanese tho who are all pretty suspicious about playar foreigners. so theres that. although the race for every girl to get married and have kids before they are in their late 20s is a real thing there and its kinda lame.
The pushing is unreal. Like I’m talking about old grandmas pushing you the fuck out her way. I guess you had to learn that surviving famines back in the days of mao
China has changed a lot in the Xi era. China doesn’t want or need foreigners any more and Xi is charging up the Xenophobia and nationalism to 11. Opening and reform is over. There are fewer opportunities for foreigners and few routes to finding anything stable in China.
A lot of foreigners went to China in simpler, friendlier times. They fell in love with China and invested time learning Chinese and building a career there. But the game has now changed
i think having no foreigners in china was always the goal. foreigners in china are welcome as guests only. when i was there i was doing creative work that the chinese were just bad at. they had some staff literally copying my work (with some alterations). interesting experience. but yea xi has ramped up a lot of the negative nasty elements of life there. its hard to stay positive these days. its a shame as i had a damn good time when i was there.
Wuhan. You can go to the international clinic. But for everyone else, you want to leave the hospital alive. You better bribe the doctor to actually take care of you. I broke my ankle at the very end and I just flew back to taiwan as everyone suggested.
Not only do you have to bribe them. They over treat and just try to charge you ridiculously for stuff you don’t need. Ordering surgeries you don’t need. So if you’re lucky enough to even get a doctor to see you, there’s already a shortage. You better bribe them if you expect to live.
I’m sure, all I know is, going to the hospital in China is probably what hell is like. hundreds of chinese people pushing and shoving to register to see a doctor. The facilities are close to 3rd world. The doctors seem to be really annoyed that you’re there. And after all of that, you have to ram your way to the front of the line to get your medicine. Because there’s no queue system. You just pile up with a bunch of sick people trying to not die and get medicine. You got kids to old grandmas all pushing you with no shame. I’m sure someone who’s lived in china can attest to how bad of a time it is to go to the hospital there.
My only experience in a Chinese hospital (I lived in Shanghai for two years) was as an escort for an international coworker who was having a panic attack, but didn’t want to admit it. It was late at night, so none of the international clinics were open. We had to elbow our way to the counters to pay and then wait. The hallways were lined with people sleeping on dirty cots on the ground, with no space in between them. Some guy was on a stretcher, bleeding, and his compatriots were just moving him around the floor when he was in the way. In the time we were there, I never saw a doctor look at him. When my coworker had blood drawn, the phlebotomist gave the via TO ME and made me deliver to someone else at another window. Every time we wanted a different service, we had to go back to the window and pay for it first. When she was finally put in a room with the doctor, other people coming in and listening. The doctor did nothing about it, so we had to yell at them that we wanted privacy and they had to leave.
