My Experiences In China

First impression:

I moved to shanghai with my husband on three-year assignment. I would like to share my experiences on our living condition in the neighboring country. I landed in February during peak winter and it was pretty cold. We had to check out everyday temperature and pollution level using weather app to decide on the number of layers of dress or mask to wear before we go out. Luckily, I had some good friends who helped me to buy thermals and pack myself from the cold wind. Shanghai was a calm, cozy and loving place. The view from our hotel room was amazing with tall towers, busy streets with people working round the clock and meticulous planning to keep the city clean. I used to watch Chinese news channels to familiarize inside out of Shanghai city to learn the names of roads. Learning mandarin language was quite easy but had to use it with the correct tone and understand with speed which they speak. I managed numbers in the vegetable market and greetings with helpers within a week of my stay.

Since we had a good English-speaking driver, we had opportunity to explore in and around the city by car, walk, metro and taxi. Our driver Jiang, christened by us as his Chinese name was difficult to pronounce, helped us to sail through four years at shanghai easily from Vegetables to grocery, laundry to lunch. He was extremely punctual and would just say ‘ok’ to everything we type in English through we chat message which had translate option. He was honest to say, I'm sorry. I don't understand if my instructions were too long. He accompanied us to the super market to read labels written in Chinese because what we think is not that item though the product name looked familiar. Buying biscuits was a real challenge because we had to take chance on the ingredients printed in Chinese and we hunted for sugar and salt as Chinese don’t use them in their food preparations. It was really funny for the first few months while exploring the city, people and the language.

There were many interesting places we could visit in Shanghai like the science and technology museum, natural history museum, the bund which had exclusive British architectural buildings, aquarium which had exclusive marine life, ferry ride on the Huangpu river, shopping in yu-yuan garden and water towns around shanghai. Shanghai had huge organized shopping malls and the city had its charm of products that were exclusively handcrafted. I feel that it’s a wrong belief that Chinese products are cheap, it depends on the quality. Their products are unique and useful particularly kitchen accessories. The cost of living in shanghai is high compared to other cities as we had to store Indian grocery and manage with limited items. We didn’t feel like wasting even a piece of roti or rice because getting vegetarian food was a major concern. Chinese are major meat eaters along with soupy, healthy, sticky rice using the chop sticks. I attended a few workshops on traditional Chinese medicine and understood the significance of finely chopped vegetables, drinking warm water, Chinese herbal tea and its link to healthy living.

My interests were museums and temples. Every province had several exclusive museums like silk museum, postal museum, art museums which were conveniently constructed for visitors with in depth information about the history. The Buddhists temples which we visited reflected their tradition and culture. They were huge, unique well maintained and the statues had a lot of similarities with Indian beliefs. India has a rich heritage and we have enjoyed the display of various skills in different parts of our country. Similarly, Chinese monuments and museums to be very interesting and informative throughout the country. I traveled to nearby towns Suzhou, Wu xi and Kunshan quite often during my stay. Every province had its own attractions for art lovers. The art museums were fascinating, and the paintings were realistic and breathtaking. We had the opportunity to drive through the longest bridge on the sea Donghai with windmills on either side that harnessed wind energy efficiently. We had visited the Great wall of China near Beijing, Confucius temple at Nanjing and towns nearby which had beautiful bonsai gardens, exclusive artifacts, silk museums. There are a lot of tourist attractions which are user friendly in terms of transportation and cleanliness. The infrastructure and facilities in every part of the country is amazing which makes tourists comfortable.

My stay at shanghai was a fruitful because I learnt until level 2 mandarin, chinese ink painting, mosaic art, Chinese lucky knots and Chinese style ceramic painting. China is the place for learning art and craft. There is a touch of artistic approach in every place we travel around China. I was inspired to learn Chinese ink painting after looking at the long brushes and the designed brush stand displayed on the streets. I tried my hands-on experience in Chinese batik and Mosaic art too after a visit to the craft bazaar at Fuzhou lu and the flower market visit at pujian lu every week fulfilled my day with fresh flowers all over the world .

Last impression:

After my stay for 4 years at shanghai, I observed that women were more active in business than men. We could buy in wholesale from the self-help groups supported by the government and online shopping was at its best service. I was amazed by the road discipline, quality of roads and the maintenance of gardens, bridges and flyovers. I have explored the city and suburbs, the facilities and living conditions are same everywhere except for a few areas. I was impressed by patriotic approach of my Chinese teachers, my helper and my driver who were all well informed about their tradition, country and world issues that helps the Chinese to open themselves to the world.

On the whole it's a lifetime experience for a typical Chennaite to live and enjoy my stay in shanghai in spite of language barriers and food restrictions.