{"id":8786,"date":"2013-04-16T23:50:53","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T03:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=8786"},"modified":"2013-04-16T23:50:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-17T03:50:54","slug":"culture-shock-in-china-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/culture-shock-in-china-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture Shock in China (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before coming to China on the day of my 23rd birthday, I had lived my entire life in the US. I had traveled to a few other countries in my youth – Italy, Greece, and Canada with my cello group, Mexico with a friend, and both the Netherlands and Jamaica to attend music festivals – however, I had never lived abroad. The decision to move to China and work as an English teacher was kind of random, to be honest. I wasn’t having any luck finding jobs in the states, I didn’t want to get stuck moving back to my hometown, and I wanted to try something different. Plus, Beijing had the 2008 Summer Olympics<\/strong> (\u590f\u5b63\u5965\u8fd0\u4f1a – xi\u00e0 j\u00ec \u00e0o y\u00f9n hu\u00ec)\u00a0coming up, and I had a friend living there already; it seemed like an easy choice. Of course, making such a big move brought along with it quite a bit of culture shock<\/strong> (\u6587\u5316\u51b2\u51fb – w\u00e9n hu\u00e0 ch\u014dng j\u00ed). Although by now I’ve grown accustomed to life here, there are still a myriad of things that I just don’t (and probably never will) understand. As an English teacher here, some of my most entertaining and enlightening conversations with students are about culture shock. They are always so interested to hear about my experiences as a foreigner living in China and what things I am\/am not used to about life here. On the flip side, I also enjoy hearing stories from my students about their thoughts on my country and the Western world in general. It is the bridging of our cultural gaps that has been the most rewarding part of my time working here, both as a teacher and as a writer\/videographer for this site. To give you all a better idea of what my experience has been like living here, I’m going to share some of my China culture shock experiences. In this first addition, we’ll look at something about China that always gives people culture shock…<\/p>\n

The Food<\/h2>\n
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Lazy Susans are very common in Chinese restaurants.<\/p><\/div>\n

Prior to coming to China, I thought of Chinese food as General Tso’s chicken, egg rolls, crab\u00a0rangoons, and fortune cookies. After arriving here, I quickly found out that not a single one of those things is served in China. In my first few weeks here, the group I was working with went out to dozens of group dinners. We were introduced to the Chinese way of dining out, and there was quite a bit of culture shock involved. For one, the community style of dining was new to me. Sure, I did that at family dinners growing up, but never really out in restaurants. In America, I was used to maybe sharing an appetizer with someone and then everyone ordering their own main course. In China, many dishes are ordered and placed on a lazy Susan. The table is spun around and you grab what you like. And we’re not just talking a starter, a main, and dessert here; a Chinese dinner is a marathon of food. Usually it starts out with some cold dishes<\/strong> (\u51c9\u83dc – li\u00e1ng c\u00e0i), and then moves into a wide variety of main courses. Of course, there are always some staple foods around – rice, dumplings, or noodles. Soup comes last in a Chinese dinner instead of first, and dessert usually consists of a massive fruit plate.<\/p>\n

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Chopstick battle for the last dumpling.<\/p><\/div>\n

Using chopsticks<\/strong> (\u7b77\u5b50 – ku\u00e0i zi)\u00a0was also new to me and took quite some time to get used to. It was always\u00a0embarrassing\u00a0at first when I couldn’t grab something tasty from the moving table and had to wait until the next time around. After years of practice, I can now confidently snatch a peanut as it’s flying by me on a lazy Susan – practice really does make perfect! In the first few months, I was laughed at so many times by Chinese people while they watched me struggle with my chopsticks. That probably explains why one of my favorite things to do while dining out in the many Western restaurants in town is watching young, trendy Chinese people struggle with their forks and knives. One time at a music festival, I even saw a Chinese guy eating his pizza and French fries with chopsticks.<\/p>\n

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Dinner is always an occasion in China.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dining out is also a very social experience in China, and by that I mean it’s hella noisy. Back at home, I was taught to politely and quietly eat in a restaurant, and say things like, “Excuse me, waiter. Could I have a glass of water?<\/em>” I quickly realized that in China, however, you can just yell out, “Waiter! Bring a glass of water!<\/strong>” \u00a0(\u670d\u52a1\u5458\uff01\u6765\u4e00\u676f\u6c34\uff01- f\u00fa w\u00f9 yu\u00e1n! l\u00e1i y\u012b b\u0113i shu\u01d0!). Chinese restaurants are usually crowded, noisy, and smoky. There are “no smoking” signs posted everywhere in Beijing, but no one seems to pay them any mind. I was always taught that it was rude to noisily eat my food, but here in China slurping your noodles is a sign that you enjoy them. A dinner out in China is usually quite raucous, and more often than not it involves heavy drinking. The booze related culture shock will be discussed at a later date, as that is definitely its own beast.<\/p>\n

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Fried fish heads may give you a little culture shock.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Yes, that is a pig's head for sale, to cook. Gross.<\/p><\/div>\n

I had eaten chow mein<\/strong>\u00a0(\u7092\u9762 – ch\u01ceo mi\u00e0n)\u00a0before, as well as egg fried rice<\/strong> (\u86cb\u7092\u996d – d\u00e0n ch\u01ceo f\u00e0n)\u00a0and Kung Pao chicken<\/strong> (\u5bab\u4fdd\u9e21\u4e01 – g\u014dng b\u01ceo j\u012b d\u012bng), but there were plenty of Chinese dishes that gave me a jolt of culture shock in my first few months here (and continue to do so). For example, Chinese people enjoy eating just about any part of an animal. Whereas Americans basically only eat chicken breasts, wings, and thighs, Chinese will also dig into the liver, heart, and especially the feet. There’s an old Chinese belief that eating an animal organ will benefit your corresponding organ – eating a heart is good for your heart, eating a brain will make you smart, and eating an animal’s penis will, well you get the idea. Think I’m joking? There’s an entire restaurant dedicated to serving up animal penis in Beijing<\/a>, and it’s\u00a0extremely\u00a0popular and expensive. I remember at one lunch during my first month in China, I tried a dish called “thousand year old eggs<\/a><\/strong>” (\u76ae\u86cb – p\u00ed d\u00e0n – lit. “leather skin egg”). The eggs were black and very\u00a0gelatinous, and they looked disgusting, to be honest.\u00a0\u00a0I didn’t want to be rude and turn down one of the dishes, and I wanted to immerse myself in the local culture, so I went ahead and tried one. It took everything to keep that egg down and not send it flying back onto the table. On another afternoon out, I decided to sample a stick of fried silk worm larvae – not a good decision. That time, I wasn’t able to keep it down. Thankfully I had a cold Tsingtao beer to help me forget the hot mess I had just attempted to eat.<\/p>\n