Why CHINA was the WORST and the BEST travel of my life

中国之行，是我人生中最糟糕却又最美好的旅程

I in hope to help others not to make the mistakes that I did on my first travel to China. As a Russian passport holder I can have 144 hours or 6 days visa free in some cities of China, so while traveling in Asia I arranged my connecting flights in China to use this visa free opportunity. I will visit two cities: Shanghai and Beiing.

我希望能帮助其他人，避免我首次前往中国旅行时犯下的错误。拿着俄罗斯护照，我在中国的一些城市可以享受144小时即6天的免签待遇。在亚洲旅行期间，我特意安排了经停中国的航班，以便利用这个免签机会。我游览两座城市：上海和北京。

以下是外国网友的评论：

myintmaunmaun
When US holds the initiative, they can do as they please. But when chinese apps enter their country, national security is a concern. It's all about discourse power.

美国一旦掌握主动权，那可就想咋来就咋来。可中国的应用程序一进入美国，嘿，国家安全就成事儿了。说到底，这不就是话语权的事儿嘛！

gt96g
I'm an American and I've been to China twice. It was over a decade ago, but both times I had locals or at least someone who spoke the language with me. That was a huge help and made things a lot smoother. There are definitely things you need to adapt to, but overall I had an enjoyable experience both times.

我是美国人，去过中国两回。那都十多年前的事儿了，不过每次身边都有当地人，再不济也有会说中文的人陪着。这可帮了大忙了，让我在中国的日子顺溜多了。确实有些地方得适应适应，但总的来说，这两次去中国我都玩得挺开心。

jack2746
Took my son to china in 2008. He was 16. We knew a little Chinese. Had a wonderful time. It was refreshing. There was a free and easy feel about the streets. No signs everywhere telling you what you cannot do. People dancing in parks in the evening. Actually felt there are less restrictions in daily life there than in Australia.

2008年我带儿子去了中国，他当时16岁。我们懂点中文，在那儿玩得可痛快了，感觉耳目一新。走在街上，那叫一个自在，不像有些地方，到处都是牌子，告诉你这不能干那不能干的。晚上还能看到人们在公园里跳舞。说实话，我觉得在那儿日常生活的限制比在澳大利亚还少。

zzlz - cu7wh
China has changed rapidly. I worked outside for three years and didn't go back to my hometown. When I returned to my hometown again, I got lost in the street.

中国变化那叫一个快啊！我在外地工作了三年没回老家，再回去的时候，好家伙，我在大街上都迷路了。

polyglot.basketer947
Many years ago I had health problem with my spine and we had a Chinese doctor here in my town who used a traditional Chinese methods to cure. He went on for years with a succesful treatment, and I still feel well. After achieving the age of a pensionist, he went back to China to his family. I still remember him with a great respect and recognition for his medical knowledge, and I am very thankful for his help.

好些年前，我脊椎出了毛病，我们镇上有个中国医生，用中医的法子给我治病。这么多年，他治得那叫一个好，我现在身体还倍儿棒呢。后来他到了领养老金的年纪，就回中国和家人团聚去了。我到现在都特尊敬他，佩服他的医术，真心感谢他的帮忙。

shikharshukla7958
I once read somewhere that ancient Chinese doctors were actually paid to prevent the disease rather than cure it. And if, the personal medic failed to prevent the disease and only cured it, they weren't paid... don't know if that's true though

我有次在哪看到说，古代中国的医生，他们主要是因为预防疾病拿钱，而不是光治病。要是医生没预防住，光把病治好了，还拿不到钱……也不知道这是不是真的。

mo4humanity
When I traveled to China my friends helped me with all the things that were mentioned in the video. China is uniquely good the way they use their own web of fiber optics. I had a fun time in China.

我去中国旅游的时候，朋友们帮我解决了视频里提到的那些事儿。中国在光纤网络这块儿用得那叫一个绝，我在中国玩得超开心。

arcturus4067
I am a Malaysian. There will be "difficulties" if you travel to China and insist on using "Western" apps ONLY. There, they have their own techno ecosystem, totally independent from the West. I am sure you know geopolitics enough to understand why this is so.
I have been to China recently. It's not seamless but it's no where near the "worst" experience. I went to a "third tier" city. If you insist on using Western apps only, then use your own data package. I used my Malaysian one and had no issues at all accessing YouTube, google, whatsapp and the like. Payment, I used Malaysian touch and go apps which was easy peasy. I didn't need Alipay or any Chinese apps for payment. I didn't use any "Western" credit cards, not accepted by most(? all) shops. No issues at all. As I said, it will only be an issue if you insist on using Western apps only.
I am not going to comment on some of your stereotypical "questions" which reek more of ignorance. You know the West well, maybe too well, but lack understanding of the non - Western world.

我是马来西亚人。要是你去中国，还非得只用“西方”的应用程序，那肯定会有点“麻烦”。中国有自己的科技生态系统，跟西方完全独立开的。我觉得你要是懂点地缘政治，就知道为啥会这样。

我最近刚去过中国，虽说不是一点问题没有，但也远远算不上“最糟糕”的经历。我去的是个“三线”城市。要是你非只用西方的应用程序，那就用自己的流量套餐呗。我用的马来西亚的流量套餐，上YouTube、谷歌、WhatsApp这些一点问题都没有。付款的话，我用马来西亚的便捷支付应用，简单得很。我用不着支付宝或者其他中国的支付应用。我也没用“西方”的信用卡，因为大多数（或许是所有）商店都不接受。反正就像我说的，只要你不非揪着西方应用程序不放，那就啥事儿没有。

你那些刻板的“问题”，好多都透着无知，我就不评价了。你对西方很了解，可能太了解了，但对非西方世界却缺乏理解。

zupermaus9276
One child policy was only really enforced in urban areas, and meant the second child had to pay for their education /healthcare, while a third incurred a fine. Minorities were exempt to help prop their numbers. Most Chinese actually still had two or more children in this era, which is why most Chinese you meet still have siblings, with the population growing by 10 million a year as late as the 2010s. The policy actually powered the 'China Rise', artificially creating what is called a demographic dividend that marks a country's economic rise from Develo to Developed.
Basically a huge age bulge enters working age with few children, whose parents are young enough to not be retirees - thus you create a massive, mobile workforce without dependants, and spending power enough to push their own domestic market. This happened in the US for the Baby Boomers 1945 - 55, in Europe it was Les Trentes Glorieuses 1945 - 75, in Japan the Miracle Generation 1968 - 88, for China it was the China Rise 1980 - 2010. This age bulge can also be squandered by politicking and overt capitalism, such as the Lost Generation of 1970s/80s Latin America, and how the Middle East will play out - theirs started in 2010, a year later the Arab Spring started among the youth across the region, protesting the lack of jobs and opportunity, the foreign - backed oppression and inequality etc. India and Bangladesh started in the 2010s also, whose birthrates are below or barely above replacement level. Africa's will start in the 2030s.

计划生育政策其实主要在城市地区严格执行，意思就是生二胎得自己掏教育和医疗费用，要是生三胎就得罚款。少数民 族可以例外，这样能保证他们的人口数量。实际上，在那个时代，大多数中国人还是有两个或更多孩子的，所以你碰到的大多数中国人都有兄弟姐妹，直到2010年代，中国人口每年还能增长1000万呢。这个政策实际上推动了“中国崛起”，人为创造出一种所谓的人口红利，这可是一个国家从发展中走向发达的经济标志。

基本上就是大量处于劳动年龄的人口，孩子少，而且他们的父母还年轻，还没到退休年龄——这样就形成了庞大且流动性强、没有家庭负担的劳动力，他们的消费能力还能推动国内市场。美国1945 - 1955年的婴儿潮一代就是这样，欧洲1945 - 1975年的“辉煌三十年”也是，日本1968 - 1988年的“奇迹一代”同样如此，中国则是1980 - 2010年的崛起。

不过这种人口优势也可能被操弄和过度资 本主义浪费掉，就像20世纪70 - 80年代拉丁美洲的“失落一代”，还有中东地区，他们从2010年开始出现这种情况，一年后整个地区的年轻人就发起了“阿拉伯之春”，抗议就业机会缺乏、外国的压迫和不平等等等。印度和孟加拉国从2010年代开始也出现这种情况，他们的生育率低于或勉强维持在更替水平。非洲要到2030年代才会出现这种情况。

lijackson - x6r
the rular villagers have a birth control policy that if the 1st born is a boy, then no second child, if the 1st born is a girl, the villagers can have the second child, if the 2nd child is still a girl, the villagers can not have the 3rd kid. some villagers tired to have 3rd kid and they have to hide into some other villagers. the minorities can have more kids as they want. Han people only can have 1 child.

农村有计划生育政策，头胎是男孩，就不能生二胎；头胎是女孩，还能生二胎；要是二胎还是女孩，就不能生三胎了。有些村民想生三胎，就只能躲到其他村民家里。少数族群想生多少都行。汉族只能生一个孩子。

queenie8810
The one child policy is strictly enforced on government employees and employees in state own corporations, or they loss their job, one child policy is enforced in rural areas but 95% families in rural area have more children more than one, myself have three siblings, I never see a family only have one child in my generation who from rural area

计划生育政策在政府雇员和国有企业员工中执行得很严格，违反了就会丢工作。农村也执行这个政策，但95%的农村家庭都不止一个孩子。我自己就有三个兄弟姐妹，我这代农村人里，我还没见过只有一个孩子的家庭。

martinLim - oj2tn
My relatives in mainland china have 4 girls born in the late 1980s, the use the same tactics taught by my country Singapore, cuz Singapore is one of the overseas Chinese who built china
Today china built overseas Chinese

我中国大陆的亲戚在20世纪80年代末生了4个女孩。中国用的方法和我们新加坡教的一样，因为新加坡是建设中国的海外华人力量之一。如今中国也在助力海外华人。

tamingthetiger
Beiing and Shanghai are relatively expensive compared to elsewhere, although it is still possible to live very cheaply in both cities

和其他地方比起来，北京和上海物价相对高些，不过在这两个城市，想过得很省钱也不是不行。

kongming2005
I'm from Malaysia and I have no problem traveling to China to access the internet and whatever. Just activate the roaming package which is cheaper and tata everything is find. As a Russian you seems to forgot that Russia and China are genuine government which both can trust each other where is goes well with apps or whatever.

我是马来西亚人，去中国上网啥的都没遇到问题。开通个漫游套餐，价格也不贵，然后一切就都搞定了。你作为一个俄罗斯人，似乎忘了俄罗斯和中国之间彼此信任，不管是应用程序还是其他方面都没问题。

hailin716
Many many Chinese young people (40 years or younger) can speak English, it’s weird that you don’t get answer when u ask questions in English in China.

好多好多中国年轻人（40岁及以下）都会说英语，你在中国用英语问问题却没人回答，这就有点奇怪了。

hernanuliana9111
A citizen of the new era, a digital native. I'm close to 50 and my generation is very paranoic of situations unfortunately you had to live in China. Only being over - prepared when we travel to a different country give us peace of mind even if is an English - speaking (or Spanish and English speaking in my case). We keep all the information if have contacts in that country, embassies and so on. But you are the best traveler in all YouTube (no kidding) and your sense of adventure is wonderful but sometimes that get you in trouble like other journeys you have taken. At least this was a frustrating experience but not dangerous, China seems a very nice and safe place for wanderers

我是新时代的公民，是个数字原住民。我快50岁了，我们这代人对一些情况总是很担心，很不幸你在中国就遇到了这些情况。我们去别的国家旅行，只有准备得非常充分，心里才踏实，哪怕是去说英语的国家（我这种情况是去说西班牙语和英语的国家）。我们会保留所有信息，比如在那个国家的联系人、大使馆之类的。不过你在YouTube上绝对是最棒的旅行者（不开玩笑），你的冒险精神很棒，但有时候就像你其他的旅行一样，会给你带来麻烦。至少这次只是一次令人沮丧的经历，但不危险，对旅行者来说，中国看起来是个很不错也很安全的地方。

divaextraordinary
My only paranoia is the toilets. I'm traumatized by the thought of anything other than a western toilet. For women (at least this woman) this is A HUGE deal! Why is noone talking about this?

我唯一担心的就是厕所。一想到不是西式马桶，我就有心理阴影。对女性（至少对我来说），这可是个大问题！怎么就没人聊聊这个呢？

FAFORednickincell
They have western toilets in China
They just have a ton more of the public squat toilets where you will find those every few blocks. Where you will have to look for western version at these toilets

中国有西式马桶。

只不过公共蹲厕更多，每隔几个街区就能看到。在这些厕所里，你得找找看有没有西式马桶。

hermesliteratus882
This Russian woman has absolutely no understanding of Chinese culture, customs, or social norms and made no preparations whatsoever before traveling to China. Her ignorance and arrogance were truly shocking to me.

这个俄罗斯女人对中国文化、习俗和社会规范完全不了解，来中国之前也丝毫没做准备。她的无知和傲慢真让我震惊。

semperveritas3
@divaextraordinary It wasn't a big deal for me. After some time I had very trained thighs.
In addition, there are always "Western Toilets". By the way, I thought it was great that there were free toilets everywhere. I'm not used to that from my home country.
PS: I loved traveling in China and miss it very much.

@divaextraordinary 这对我来说不是啥大事儿。过段时间，我的大腿都锻炼出来了。

而且，也总会有“西式马桶”的。顺便说一句，到处都有免费厕所，我觉得这点超棒。在我自己国家，我都不习惯这样。

另外：我超爱去中国旅行，现在还特别怀念。

vanfja
This sounds like my adventure in Japan. No one there speaks English. I got stuck in the Tokyo metro for hours until I finally communicated with a police woman by hand signals and she guided me out. Eli or anyone else, if you go there, prepare yourself. And Japan has their own maps apps a other stuff doesn’t work.

这听起来和我在日本的经历差不多。那儿没人会说英语。我在东京地铁里被困了好几个小时，最后还是通过手势和一个女警察交流，她才把我带出去。伊莱或者其他任何人，要是你们去日本，可得做好准备。而且日本有自己的地图应用，其他的不太好用。

EverGreen7990
China is a self - sufficient country. They have no google, youtube, wiki but look at them they are one of the most technologically advance country

中国是个自给自足的国家。他们没有谷歌、油管、维基百科，但你瞧瞧，人家可是技术最先进的国家之一。

vaughansamuelson6552
Very interesting. I had a short stop - over in Shanghai and had bought a guided tour by two very friendly guys. It was early morning, and I had to take my luggage with me when we visited the old city. It was great and I had an informative discussion with my guides, but I had not slept on the plane overnight, so I asked to be taken back to the airport at midday. Then I found I couldn't book in my luggage until 6 pm and also there was nowhere to sit. I could not buy anything, so it was a long day. I hope to go back, but I will be better prepared.

挺有意思的。我在上海短暂停留，找了两个超友好的人给我当导游。当时是一大早，我们去老城游览的时候我还得带着行李。体验很棒，我和导游聊了很多有意义的事儿，不过我在飞机上一整晚没睡，所以中午就要求回机场。然后我发现下午6点才能托运行李，而且连个坐的地方都没有。我啥也买不了，这一天可真难熬。我希望还能再去，不过下次我得准备得更充分些。

markperry222
I have lived in China for years now
Regarding annoying tourists. All tourists are annoying to most local peoples, and many tourists, from every nation, will do things that go against local culture. The other thing I noticed is that some people do not always behave well if they are away from home. We tend to notice the few people who behave badly, not the majority that behave more normally.

我在中国生活好些年了。

说到讨厌的游客，其实对大多数当地人来说，所有游客都有点招人烦，而且好多来自不同国家的游客，都会做出一些违背当地文化的事儿。我还注意到，有些人一离开自己家乡，就不注意自己的行为举止。我们往往更容易注意到那些行为不端的少数人，而忽略了大多数行为正常的游客。

dylanshaynes1147
This lady is Russian, but her speech is like that of people from the Five Eyes countries. It is evident that using the American Internet has had a significant impact on her thinking. This is the reason why the chinese wisely chose to build its own Internet. It is also one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The tour guide answered her question very superficially. Perhaps he didn't want to engage in too much debate, after all, he's here to make money.
In the West, eating dog or cat meat is considered a moral issue. The tour guide also answered in a way that caters to Western thinking. However, in reality, this is a matter of cultural perspective and should not be judged from a Western standpoint as to whether it is morally superior or not.
The correct answer is: In many parts of Asia, unlike in the West, eating dog or cat meat is not a moral issue but a difference in custom. It's similar to how in India, due to religious beliefs, people do not eat beef. In most parts of China, there is no custom of eating dog meat, and there are no vendors selling dog or cat meat. However, in some cities, the culture of eating dog meat is still preserved, and dog meat is actually quite delicious. If given the opportunity, most Chinese people would not refuse to eat dog meat.

这位女士是俄罗斯人，但她说话的方式就跟“五眼联盟”国家的人似的。很明显，使用美国互联网对她的思维产生了重大影响。这就是中国明智地选择构建自己的互联网的原因。这也是苏联解体的原因之一。

导游对她问题的回答很肤浅。也许他不想过多争论，毕竟他是来赚钱的。

在西方，吃狗肉或猫肉被视为道德问题。导游的回答也是迎合西方人的思维方式。然而，实际上，这是一个文化观念的问题，不应该从西方的立场来评判谁在道德上更优越。

正确的回答应该是：在亚洲的许多地方，与西方不同，吃狗肉或猫肉不是道德问题，而是习俗差异。这就好比在印度，由于宗教信仰，人们不吃牛肉。在中国大部分地区，没有吃狗肉的习俗，也没有卖狗肉或猫肉的商贩。不过，在一些城市，吃狗肉的文化仍然保留着，而且狗肉实际上相当美味。如果有机会，大多数中国人不会拒绝吃狗肉。

johnzarn3367
I love listening to them speak Russian because I have been learning it for a while and I should probably know more than I do but i hear words I know and could kind of understand the conversation. I never gave up completely on learning Russian always returning after a break from it. You know how you get down on yourself and wish you had not stopped. I am thriving now and want to learn more each day.

我喜欢听他们说俄语，因为我学俄语有一阵子了，我本应该懂得更多，但听到一些认识的单词，我也能大致理解他们的对话。我从来没有完全放弃学俄语，每次中断一段时间后都会重新开始。你懂那种感觉吧，有时候会自责，后悔自己当初不该停下。现在我学习热情高涨，每天都想多学一点。

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