A Changing China
The last time I was in China was 1998, visiting Chinese friends I had made the year before when I had been teaching English in China. I am back 21 years later to find it so changed. I wish I could go back to Chengdu so I could make a direct comparison, but so far there are several things that strike me after even just a few days in Guangzhou:
Perhaps most noticeable to me was the shift in bicycle culture. I loved bicycle culture when I lived in China. Bicycles outnumbered cars. Everyone owned a bicycle. I would regularly see families of three on on one bicycle. Sometimes while riding, you would see someone you knew so you would just pull over to the side to have a little chat with each other. My boyfriend and I used to ride our bikes holding hands. He would often give me lift like other Chinese people, with me perched daintily on his back rack. The bicycle lanes were bigger than the car lanes! Large bicycle parking lots existed in all the most popular places. People too cheap to pay for the parking, just left their bicycles lined up on the sidewalk. Men with pumps to fill tires and make small repairs lined the streeets in convenient intervals.
First of all, I am happy to report that the quality of bathrooms is much better than before!! They used to be stinky even when clean and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.
Another thing I noticed is the number of coffee shops in China. In 1996, there were definitely no coffee shops in Chengdu or other places in Southwestern China. At that time, KFC and maybe Pizza Hut were the only chains I remember in Chengdu. Now in Guangzhou I see Starbucks (where the price of a coffee is even more expensive than in the U.S.), Chinese coffeehouses, Burger King, and McDonalds everywhere.
China is now a futuristic world where people no longer use money. Everyone was using QR Codes to pay for everything from meals in shopping malls to electronics accessories from stalls and museum entry fees! Each business had a little sign near the register or at your table with a QR code. With your phone you scan the business´ QR code, then enter the amount and show the person the amount you have paid for confirmation. I was surprised to see that at many places, no one use money except for me!
Perhaps most noticeable to me was the shift in bicycle culture. I loved bicycle culture when I lived in China. Bicycles outnumbered cars. Everyone owned a bicycle. I would regularly see families of three on on one bicycle. Sometimes while riding, you would see someone you knew so you would just pull over to the side to have a little chat with each other. My boyfriend and I used to ride our bikes holding hands. He would often give me lift like other Chinese people, with me perched daintily on his back rack. The bicycle lanes were bigger than the car lanes! Large bicycle parking lots existed in all the most popular places. People too cheap to pay for the parking, just left their bicycles lined up on the sidewalk. Men with pumps to fill tires and make small repairs lined the streeets in convenient intervals.
It is completely different now. The streets are filled with cars, often at a standstill. Now hardly any Chinese people own bicycles. There are quite a few rideshare bicycles that people unlock with a QR code and then pay for later (electronically of course).
Now bicycles face the same problem as in the U.S. of being run off the road, so many bicyclists ride on the pedestrian sidewalks, which is pretty annoying if you’re a pedestrian! The bicycle lane, if there is one, is narrow now, relegated to an afterthought instead of dominating the street as it once did. It makes me sad to see that ¨development¨ is everyone owning a car. I can’t begrudge a country “developing” or its people getting the luxuries that those of us in the U.S. enjoy, but It´s especially ironic because environmentally conscious cities like San Francisco are building more bicycle lanes. Maybe China will reach that point to some day. But it makes me sad to see China changed so much in this respect.
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