During my first year in Shanghai I was teaching a lot of one-on-one “conversational English”. It was more lucrative than teaching full time at an English center or school, and I had to work fewer hours. I would meet with my Chinese students at their homes, offices, or Starbucks. I essentially just had to talk to these people and correct them when they made mistakes. The best part was that I could talk to them about whatever I wanted, so I learned the Chinese perspective on many things in which I was interested. The following are some of the things I learned from my students:
Students:
Yami, 24, female, business manager
Ms. Ru, 25, female, housewife
Andy, 27, male, business manager
Mark, 40, male, businessman
Jason, 31, male, business owner
Kevin, 42, male, businessman
Tong, 25, educated in U.S., businessman
Andres, 36, male, businessman, spent alot of time in Mexico
On education
Kevin – I want to send my kid to high school in the U.S.
Andy – I bought a house in Sydney so my daughter can go to school in Australia. When she is old enough, she can decide whether she wants to be educated in Australia or China.
On Mao Zedong
Andy- Mao was 70% right, 30% wrong. He did alot for china, but made some mistakes.
Tong – Mao created the China that we have today. China would still be horribly poor without Mao.
Jason – on Jian Guo Da Ye/The Founding of a Nation (about Mao) – That movie is made of lies. The government made that movie. It is all lies.
On the Japanese
Andy – If China decided to go to war with Japan, I would personally fund one war ship.
Jason – If you were Japanese, I would be civil to you, but I secretly wouldn’t like you, and I could not be friends with you. The Japanese have never admitted they were wrong in Nanjing. They never apologized.
On politics
Ms. Ru – I don’t care about politics. I only care about the health of my family.
Yami – I don’t care about politics. I only care about myself. I like shopping. I don’t pay attention to it.
Andy – There was an earthquake in Sichuan that killed 70,000 people. Many children died because it was during school hours and the construction of the schools was shoddy. Many parents were outraged and saddened by this. The government paid these families $8,000 each in exchange for their silence/not causing an uproar/uprising. Fertility specialists were sent to Sichuan and provided government funded advice so that couples could have new children and forget about the old dead ones.
On democracy
Jason – I think democracy is in China’s future. Maybe 10 years. I want democracy. It’s good to be able to vote.
Kevin – Not enough of China’s population is educated. There are many poor people in China. We can’t have democracy until people are more educated. Maybe in 10 years.
Andy – People are not educated or wealthy enough for democracy.
Tong – There are too many uneducated people in China to have democracy. Leaders could buy votes from these people because they would rather have money or food than be able to vote.
On being the world’s superpower
Andy – Are you crazy? The U.S. is afraid of China?! The majority of China is so poor and uneducated! We will not surpass the U.S. any time soon.
On religion
Mark – I’m a Christian. I go to church and sing psalms with my family and Christian group. I don’t celebrate Christmas because I dont believe in it. I dont think it was possible for a baby to be born outside in December. Confucius is the closest thing China has to Jesus Christ. He shaped alot of our morals and ideals.
On work ethic
Andres – Single child policy has created several generations of spoiled whiners. They dont get along with one another. They dont care to cooperate. They are tattle tales. They only look out for themselves. They are terrible to manage.
On Taiwan
Andy – Taiwan is part of China.
Almost all taxis in Shanghai are Volkswagen Santanas. When I first got to Shanghai, I had never heard of this car. Perhaps the Germans figured it wouldn’t be successful in America because there is already a mediocre Latino guitarist by the same name living there. Cars named after guitarists nor guitarists named after cars wouldn’t bode well in the American market.
Taxis here have a color system of quality. The car above is in the second best tier. I have only heard rumors about the color system, but from my daily experience in cabs, it seems accurate. The best taxis are the best because it is harder to get driver jobs for their companies. They are more selective.
At the top is teal. They are the most reliable, clean, and the driver usually knows where he is going. In the second tier is green (pictured above) and yellow. You usually don’t have to worry when you get in these cabs. The third tier is bright blue, white, and bright red. The bottom tier is dark red and dark blue; dark red being the worst. These cabs are usually the dirtiest and the oldest. Dark red and dark blue cabs are owned by the drivers themselves, so there are no real standards of quality they have to live up to. If you get overcharged via faulty meters or driving in circles, it is usually in a dark blue or dark red cab.
When taking a cab in Shanghai, it is a good idea to look at the driver’s identification number on the dashboard. These numbers are given out in order. Currently, Shanghai is giving out numbers starting with 31 or 32. Therefore, the older the driver, the lower the first two digits are. If you have a driver starting with 04, he has probably been driving for 20 years. He knows where every street in Shanghai is. If you have a driver starting with 30 or later, it’s possible you have to tell him how to get to your desired destination.
On the identification number card, there are also stars. Stars denote a better driver. 5 stars is the most a driver can have, I believe, but I’ve never seen more than 3. Drivers have to pay to take a test to get stars, so most drivers do not have any. The ones that do, are the best drivers in the city. They can usually speak very minimal English. And after you tell them where you want to go, they will tell you which way they will take to get you there and then ask if that is alright.
The other day, I had a few friends over. My Chinese friend, Tong told my ABC (American Born Chinese) friend, Michael that he had the head shape of a white person. Michael’s head is round, and Tong thought it was unusual for a Chinese person to have a round head. Most Chinese people’s heads are flat in the back.
Michael said that other Chinese people had told him that before. I was of the impression that Chinese mothers lay their children on their backs often when they are babies, causing their soft, developing heads to flatten in the back. Western mothers might rotate their children more. Tong is of the impression that its just genes. Chinese people have flat heads. Period.
Jessica, another ABC, told us that when her mom grew up in China it was desirable to have the back of your head be flat. When her mom’s friends were babies, their mothers would put boards on the sides of their heads while they slept, keeping their heads in place, and forcing them to sleep on their backs, thus flattening the backs of their heads.
One day I got into a cab, and I noticed that the driver had a 3-inch long pinky fingernail. From that point on, I couldn’t stop staring at it. Wasn’t he afraid of breaking it? Maybe he does alot of cocaine? Why wasn’t the other pinky fingernail that long? It didn’t seem very easy for him to drive with something that long and sharp that close to a steering wheel and the exposed skin of his other hand.
A rumor I heard is that Chinese people like to grow out one or several of their fingernails in order to demonstrate that they do not do menial labor. Driving a taxi is not considered menial labor. There you have it: fingernail length as a demonstration of social class.
It has come to my attention that Japanese people do not like being touched. At all. No touching. I don’t know why they don’t like being touched. I only know that I now really want to touch them, and it has become a goal of mine to touch as many of them as possible.
I have succeeded in hugging one Japanese girl and scaring one Japanese guy that was coming out of the elevator. No success in actually touching him, but I came close. My pursuit continues…
Xitang - a small water town outside Shanghai
Mission Impossible 3 was filmed here, and they are very proud
Xitang-style zongzi
Ayi is the word for aunt. It is also used as a term of respect for older women. It is also used for the women who clean houses in China.
Ayis are older women who are paid to do housework. They can cook, do your laundry, get your mail, pay your bills, and clean your entire house for you. Some ayis go to houses once or twice a week. The pay rate for these women is around 10-20 kuai per hour. That’s about $1.50-$3.00 per hour. Some ayis live in their employers’ houses in a spare room. They are more like nannies. I once tutored for a Taiwanese family who had 4 live-in ayis. I’ve also tutored for a family whose ayi was fired for stealing jewelry.
For expats and wealthy Chinese people, having an ayi means never, ever having to clean. If you speak Chinese, ayis love to give you advice and chat with you. They like to say: “You need to wear more clothing.” “Aren’t you cold?” “You’re going to catch a cold.” “You are sick because you have been eating too much hot.” “You should be wearing slippers.” “You need to stop smoking.” “You have a cough because you eat too much meat and too much spicy food.” “You’re Chinese is so good!” “You should eat rice with your salad.” “You got fatter but I think you look better this way.” “Don’t drink Coke. It’s bad for your health.” “You are too skinny. You need to eat more.”