Barring a destructive war (which isn’t gonna happen) I really can’t see any drastic change in any expat’s lifestyle here, and I really can’t see any change in a teacher’s lifestyle, or missionary’s lifestyle or OFCW’s lifestyle etc…
Am I crazy to think this way?
define “crazy” first.
I guess it would be like the changes in Hong Kong after China took over. I was there before the handover, and again 10 years later. What struck me: the noticeable number of people from rural China, who acted like the people I knew in Sichuan, not like the other Hong Kongers. I was stared at more, people were ruder, there was more spitting. As well, the air pollution was much worse. Political changes didn’t affect me, though.
mentally deranged; demented; insane
[quote=“bababa”]I guess it would be like the changes in Hong Kong after China took over. I was there before the handover, and again 10 years later. What struck me: the noticeable number of people from rural China, who acted like the people I knew in Sichuan, not like the other Hong Kongers. I was stared at more, people were ruder, there was more spitting. As well,
the air pollution was much worse.
Political changes didn’t affect me, though.[/quote]
was this due to the people from Sichuan?
HAHAHAH Hongkongers are by far the rudest people I’ve met in SE Asia. They are not only rude, they are mean. I’d rather live in a place where I get stared and a smile can break the ice (which I do) than living in HK where NOBODY even makes eye contact. You are invisible there, and like I’ve said before, those buildings are so mirrored up and people are constantly checking themselves out, it is a bit daunting.
Besides, what you are saying is standard, prejudice against the ‘oh so not slick city dwellers’. We prefer the Englishman in HK than the sichuanren.
HAHAHAH Hongkongers are by far the rudest people I’ve met in SE Asia. They are not only rude, they are mean. I’d rather live in a place where I get stared and a smile can break the ice (which I do) than living in HK where NOBODY even makes eye contact. You are invisible there, and like I’ve said before, those buildings are so mirrored up and people are constantly checking themselves out, it is a bit daunting.
Besides, what you are saying is standard, prejudice against the ‘oh so not slick city dwellers’. We prefer the Englishman in HK than the sichuanren.[/quote]
It’s interesting to read your perspective, Divea. When we lived in China, one of the things I loved when we would go visit Hong Kong was how much more polite Hong Kongers were. I remember being pregnant in China and getting jostled and pushed like crazy on the bus and on the street, or knocked out of the way in a taxi queue…and then I would go to Hong Kong and people would actually give up their seat for me on the bus or MTR, or hold the door for me, or offer to point out the nearest elevator. And in China I was always stared at/had comments yelled at me/had people laugh at me/etc., whereas in Hong Kong people just left me alone (unless it was to extend some common courtesy), which was lovely. I love China and the rudeness didn’t usually bother me, but it was nice to go somewhere more polite every now and then.
Back to the topic at hand, I also think it probably would be much the changes after the Hong Kong takeover.
I was pregnant in China twice, same experience as you (minus the being pushed around), visited HK both times, nothing changed, just that people wouldn’t help us with directions, and the very cold culture. You also have to keep in mind, I am an Indian and we generally get treated worse in HK than most whites would.
Sadly, that’s true…I am sure you experienced prejudice that I didn’t.
The increased air pollution is from the increased number of factories right over the border in southern China, as I’m sure you’re aware.
After I lived in rural Sichuan for a few months (way back in 1994) I had to go to Hong Kong to figure out some visa problems. The difference was startling, and for me a relief. I was the only foreigner where I lived in Sichuan, and I was the only foreigner most people there had ever seen. I met people who had never even seen a foreigner on TV, because they didn’t have TVs and no electricity, or both were something they’d gotten only in the last couple of years. Anyway, I was stared at constantly, even followed around. Everyone, it seems, knew all about me; I’d meet people for the first time, and they’d know what I had done last Thursday, or whatever. All this attention was not necessarily positive - lots of people were jealous. I felt many people were treating me like a curiousity, not like a fellow human being. The foreign affairs police were always around. There were constant problems with my visa and immigration matters - I was so scared sometimes. There were problems at the border, but they finally let me out. I could have kissed the ground.
Then I got to Hong Kong, and I was completely ignored. No one stared at me or followed me. It was like coming home. I was so much happier. Plus there was electricity, running water, flush toilets, showers, air conditioning …
I know not everyone likes Hong Kong. I wonder if I had visited Hong Kong for the first time straight from a Western country, would I have liked it? Who knows. But from that first experience of blessed relief, I love Hong Kong. I loved it when I first got there, and I still love it now.
I like Hong Kong. It’s just so damned EXPENSIVE, though.
All the Englishmen like HK :roflmao:
[quote=“divea”]
All the Englishmen like HK :roflmao:[/quote]
:bluemad:
Over 100 visa runs to HK over the years. Loved every visit.
Oh, we are SO off-topic! 
I call BS
I call BS[/quote]
do the math. once every two months to HK for over 20 years. It adds up dont it ?
Or do you mean BS that I loved every visit??
(p.s.) actually ok, i actually went to HK more then ten times a year, not always cuz of visa. So it didnt take that long to amass over a hundred visits.
I call BS[/quote]
Or do you mean BS that I loved every visit??
[/quote]
this
If China took Taiwan, then one of the most obvious (and probably the only) changes that will affect us is that we now write “Taiwan S.A.R, PRC” on immigration forms when we go to other countries. Oh, that and TV might get better because there will be less political bickering hogging precious airtime.
When HK and MO were reunified, the PRC government guaranteed that it would not interfere with local politics for 50 years. I remember somebody telling me that Deng Xiaoping guaranteed that if Taiwan and China were reunified, its status as an S.A.R. would be even more elevated than HK…something to the tune of no paying taxes to the mainland, additional travel restrictions of mainland-area residents to Taiwan (compared to HK and MO), being able to have its own civil and criminal laws, and no interfering with local politics for 100 years. Pretty much the same status quo as now, without the Prez and his posse.
We’d probably be richer.