During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, I have continuously been hearing and seeing negative comments about China on social media. On top of this, someone I met whilst travelling earlier this year, expressed that China is not somewhere that he would want to visit, one of the reasons being that he has lived in Hong Kong during the protests relating to China.
China in the past and recent years have been criticised in the media for numerous reasons and I am not condoning these things, however China is not the only place in the world with such things happening. Whilst living in Shanghai, there were moments when I would myself question why I was there and learning the language, but these moments also pushed me to keep going as with every bad China feeling or day that I had, I then spent more time trying to discover the amazing things that made me love China.
Without going into the politics and humanitarian issues in China or the coronavirus, I want to try to share some positivity about the country, from my own experiences, at a time when they are facing much scrutiny from people all over the world.
1) China is a very, very, very big place and is home to over 1.4 billion people
With the sheer size of China comes a huge population. Many people within this country play no part at all in wider government decisions and as cringe as it may sound, like everywhere else in the world there are good and bad people.
During my time in China, I encountered some of the most helpful and caring people I have met, and I think that they all deserve some recognition.
Lots of love and thanks go out to Maggie, the lovely Chinese girl who I lived with whilst in Shanghai. Even after a very long and demanding day at work, Maggie would spend hours updating me on everything she had been getting up to, as well as giving me many travel recommendations within China.
After I returned to England, Maggie played a vital role in the return of my belongings. She helped pack all of my belongings, print shipping labels, and was my eyes and ears in China as there were more and more problems. All of this, after having just come out of lockdown herself and whilst busy at work. The gifts that I sent Maggie are not even close to the appreciation that I have for her.
Next up are Florence and Zoe. For my last couple of months in China, I visited this family and helped Zoe with her English (in reality this consisted of me playing games with her, reading many Peppa Pig books and singing and dancing to Christmas songs). The whole time I was there, Florence, Zoe’s mum, was always so kind to me, constantly checking I was ok and if I needed anything. Also, since being back in England I have kept in touch and Florence often messages checking in on me and my family.
Additionally, during this difficult time, I have had lots of messages on WeChat from various people I met in China, from the lovely lady, Mulan, who I met one day on my universities running track and worked out with from that day forward, to club promoters and owners of small hotels that I had visited, expressing their best wishes for me during this time and offering to send masks to me if needed.
These are just a small few of the people who made my time in China special, but the kindness they have all shown me is something that I will never forget.
2) China is made up of many beautiful towns and cities all with something different to offer
Although I haven’t had the chance to visit all of these places yet, China has such a wide variety of places to visit, from stunning scenic mountains like Huangshan, historically and culturally rich places such as Beijing, minus temperatures at Harbin’s ice festival, to even the desert in Gansu.
In the six months I had in China I was lucky to travel to places outside Shanghai, and there are certainly still places that need ticking off my list. I definitely want to write about all of these places in more depth at some point, but here is a little bit about my top three places for now.
In October 2019, my friends and I took to Huangshan- the Yellow Mountain, that is located in the Southern Anhui Province. This was our first real trip out of Shanghai and was it definitely a great first choice. I will let the pictures do the talking for this one.
Next, with a couple of days off university, I followed one of Maggie’s recommendations and flew to Qingdao for a long weekend. Qingdao is a coastal city in East China and although December perhaps wasn’t the best time of year, walks along the beach were still thoroughly enjoyed. Qingdao was also full of the prettiest hidden away coffee shops, most of which to my great delight also turned out to have lots of resident cats. This trip was so relaxing and definitely a nice break from hectic life in Shanghai.
Last but certainly not least, is Xi’an. Home to the Terracotta Warriors, some of the best food I ate in China, and Huashan mountain which is considered to have the world’s most dangerous hiking trail. During this trip I was amazed by the Terracotta Warriors, the detail that went into creating them, the history behind them and the efforts that have been and are still being put into maintaining them. The colourful Muslim street food markets were lined full of weird and wonderful looking foods, but amongst them are some of the best things I ate and things that I hope to one day eat again. Huashan is where I took to the plank walk and conquered many fears (perhaps with the odd scream and cry, sorry again Meg).
Next on the list for when I eventually can make a trip back to China are Yunnan, Zhangjiajie, Guilin and Gansu to name a few.
3) Made in China
In a time when you are inevitably spending more time in your own company and trying to find ways to pass hours, it may be hard to refrain from downloading TikTok to see what all the hype is. I can confirm that for a couple of weeks, I fell into the TikTok hole and spent many hours a day watching video after video with great enjoyment until I realised that the addiction (I was too proud to admit I had) was taking a lot of my focus away from revising for my mid-term exams and the app had to be deleted. This said, TikTok has come from no other place than China.
It is a very well-known fact that China makes a lot of the items that we buy and use on a day to day basis, including the laptop that I am currently writing this on, as well as the phone that I treasure and carry everywhere with me having also been assembled in China.
After a quick search, I have also discovered that paper, tea, silk and potentially even alcohol may have all been first invented in China. So why not visit the place that is giving us access to things that we use every day.
4) A surprisingly budget friendly place (after the hefty flight price) and some great food
With flight prices aside, if done right, I believe that China can be a very traveller friendly destination. Getting around day to day in Shanghai is very cheap with metro tickets costing from around 20p to £1 depending on how far you travel. Taxis, although quite difficult to get, are a fraction of the price of taxis in England.
Travelling between places within China, if well researched, also shouldn’t be too expensive. The high-speed trains are a more expensive option but are a great way to save some time and are apparently a very exciting concept that both my mum and sister were thrilled to experience.
However, if you fancy saving a nights hotel/hostel money, a cheaper alternative is the slow overnight sleeper trains. There are options for soft/hard sleeper beds, or if you are feeling brave like Meg and I then a 15 hour journey in the comfort of a hard seat right in the heart of the hustle and bustle of a busy train carriage is an even cheaper option, and certainly a way to get an all immersive China experience. To make this journey better, you can even get fast food such as McDonald’s and KFC delivered to the comfort of your train seat.
Now, an important part of a holiday for me is the food! Don’t get me wrong, I definitely had times in China when I got bored of eating the same few foods, but when you have a good meal in China it is so much better than your usual Chinese takeaway. I definitely found that the best Chinese food I ate was at small restaurants that from the outside didn’t look the most tempting.
Here are some of my favourite meals in China and that were all well within a student budget.
For the luxury holiday feel, I found more upmarket restaurants often cost around the equivalent of a meal out in England, so rooftop meals are absolutely on the cards as well.
5) A place like no where else
Last but not least, China is a very unique place that is unlike anywhere else I have ever been to and for that reason I couldn’t recommend experiencing it more!
So, there are my slightly biased opinions on why you should visit China. I am already thinking about making a trip back to China as soon as possible and I will be sure to write more about all of my China experiences once my exams are over, so be ready for even more China talk very soon!
I hope everyone is staying strong and safe, 再见 (zài jiàn- goodbye) for now xoxo