My Thoughts on China
TL;DR China is fantastic - continuing to learn the language and about the culture and history excites me. I am likely to stay here, so long as it is possible!
Chinese Surveillance
The first point that everyone asks about China is the surveillance and privacy with all those cameras! I can quickly and easily say that there is no more control over the population, using CCTV, than there is in England. It's actually been quite helpful when I forgot where I parked my E-bike one time. You dont need to ask if they had a camera you just ask to check the cameras!Food
The next biggest thing I want to talk about is the food. The western food here is pretty awful. There are a few great options but they get tiring very quickly. Luckily (most) Chinese food is excting and tasty. This is true for dishes that dont have bones in them. I'm not too much of a fussy eater but when there is a succulent piece of meat that you're ready to chew down on, but that PTSD from nearly smashing your teeth to bits kicks in, food becomes less appetising. That being said, Yangzhou, My current City isn't that foreigner friendly. When I get to Shanghai I'm sure there will be millions more options.VPN
My biggest problem with China is having to use a VPN and it being so slow. China's infratructure for online opportunities is great, but I am not fluent in Chinese and my friends and family aren't from China so contacting them is always through a VPN. The only benefit I can see is that I'm not doomscrolling as much because the pages just dont load quickly enough.Mandarin
What is life like in China if you don't speak any or much Chinese?Living in China with no Chinese ability and no motivation to learn would suck, but if you let yourself become a bit fascinated with it and want to talk to anyone, then it's manageable if not a little difficult. In China only 3.5% (49,000,000) of the population speak conversational English. 1.8% (25,000,000) speak fluent English. Most of these people live in Shanghai, and other major cities which translates to not meeting many English speakers daily. For example, I would classify my Chinese colleagues as part of the 3.5%, and they teach English! The spoken fluency proficiency is not good here, every metric for English in schools is measured via reading and writing tests, probably in some part because of the English ability, or the lack thereof (what a phrase).
Cost
The Chinese Yuan (CNY) or Renminbi (RMB) is roughly 10x (9.125x) the British pound (GBP). To help me quickly work out the exchange rate, I imagine I'm in a super expensive England. For example, if I want a beer and it's ¥50 in China. I think, would I pay £50 for a beer in mega expensive England, yeah probably. Makes sense to me anyway...Most things you need are cheap here: Rent, Groceries, Water, Transportation, Clothes, Kitchen appliances. Alcohol, Electronics, and luxury goods are all pretty similar if not more expensive than in England.
What didn't make the blog
I went to a few places that I either didn't take enough photos of, or didn't write quickly enough about before the next trip. I will make a post summarising my 2025/26 travels and include the photos I did take here!
Whats next?
As I work on improving my Chinese, I am planning on travelling to a lot more rural places in China to get a real feel for the country.