CHINA

Country Overview:

“Love the food, hate the government”

I arrived in China in May 2013 and left August 2020. I taught English for awhile, did my master’s of politics & foreign policy at Tsinghua University, worked for a year at China Today, and then two years at Xinhua News Agency. I spent most of my time in Beijing, but also traveled to Shanghai, Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Panjin, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Sanya, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.


Degen Hill Degen Hill

Ting Bu Dong...

I know it’s coming, I can see it before it even happens. Some Chinese girl on a bike comes flying through the intersection, I yell, but since I’m on a fixed gear and she doesn’t know how to use her brakes, we crash. I help her up and she starts yelling at me in Chinese. Within 2 minutes, there are at least 20 Chinese people around us, taking in the bilingual yelling match. She is yelling about her broken high heel and bike basket which got dented. I ask her if she wants money and she says no, but she wants me to give her a new shoe and basket. Sorry, I’m fresh out of those. I explain that I have to go to work, but of course no one understands. I also tell her that it takes 2 people to crash and although I am the foreigner, I am not solely responsible for the accident. I had planned to just ride off but there are now 30 people circled around us and I have no where to go. Some old man says I should give her 500 Yuan. WHAT? I tell him to promptly ‘Fuck off’. I end up giving her 26 Yuan, and slowly squeeze my way through the throng of people hoping no one chases after me. I can’t stand (the majority of) Chinese motorists and people on bikes. I would call them cyclists, but cyclists at least have an understanding of how to use a bike. On a lighter note, my fixed gear took no damage. Total crashes so far: 1

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