5 Things I Hate About China
There is a great group writing project going on over at Lost Laowai, called China: Love it Hate it - head over there and check it out if you haven’t already. The main idea behind the project is to write a post about something you love and hate about China.
A while back, I had a post giving five reasons why I love China - you can go check that out if you haven’t seen it, but here are five things I hate about China, both for balance, and to harmonize with the group writing project at Lost Laowai:
1. The Way Poor People Are Treated
It’s one thing to have massive income inequality within a society - one could argue that all developing countries must go through this stage - it’s quite another to treat those without much terribly.
The less well off are not treated well in China. Whether it be farmers who have had their land stolen by local developers, poor bicycle or motorbike riders who are left helplessly bleeding on the ground until they don’t stand a chance of living, cars that almost never give pedestrians the right of way, children who are not given a chance for education beyond the elementary level, living in crowded & cramped dormitories while earning much more than peanut wages, or workers who end up getting shafted by not being paid, those without much money in China have some pretty rough lives.
This isn’t a problem confined to China - but it is nonetheless a serious issue and something that I hate about China - how about you?
2. The Pollution
Pollution in China is a well known problem - the human costs are huge. While I don’t have any diseases directly attributable to pollution, it has made life less enjoyable in China, and after three years in China my lungs feel like those of an old smoker. Those who must spend their entire lives subjected to serious pollution (a large portion of China’s people) have it much, much worse.
3. Large Swaths of its Education System
There are just too many problems with China’s education system. It kills creativity, encourages cheating, and teaches students to accept hugely inefficient ways of learning - which has reverberations for many people’s entire lives.
4. Always Being Seen as a Foreigner, or at best ‘Guest’
It gets old getting stared at all of the time, hello shouting, and just almost always feeling like you are an outsider in China no longer how long you have been here.
5. Complaints That Can’t Be Listed for Political Reasons
There’s certainly more to add, but having this site swallowed up by the Great Firewall of China is not a goal I have while living in China.
What do you love / hate about China?
Instead of listing things below (which is okay), why not head over to the China: Love it Hate it group writing project listed above and get started on a post of your own?
Hey, cheers for taking part - and yeah, I doubt there’s anyone that could disagree with those “hates”… now I’m off to check out what you loved about China
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