Life and Travel in China

Such funny situations can be observed in China. You can go, for example, to Nanjing Lu Street in Shanghai or the MixCity shopping center in Shenzhen... that's where many rich Chinese people go to the brand stores of Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Pierre Cardin, Cartier, Giorgio Armani, Dior, Chanel. At the same time, crowds of Americans, Russians, Poles, Italians and French are looking for cheap fakes, they are tempted by street touts, they walk around the alleys, enter the basements of tenement houses, into apartments covered with plywood to find their dream Rolex, LV handbags, fake iPhones, copies of Vertu Ferrari phones, Breitling and Patek Philippe watches almost like the original ones. There was such a reversal of stereotypes there. Seemingly poor Chinese working for bowls of rice (probably gold bowls) walk around company air-conditioned showrooms. During this time, all white people (assumed to be a better race than Asians - this is not my opinion, but it is accepted in the world) run around stinking tenement houses looking for cheap fakes. The whites have gone to the dogs! Ha ha.

It seems to me that the Polish media - especially the Internet and the press - write differently about China. While the foreign press has a fairly objective opinion about the Middle Kingdom (especially the United States and Germany), Poles are starting to admire China. A few years ago, there was a general wave of criticism of China, and all columns could be shortened to one conclusion: "so what if the cities are rich when there is poverty in the countryside, where 70% of the population lives?" In fact, according to the latest statistics, about 50% of China's total population lives in the countryside. Currently, the media are more and more fascinated with China - not only with the economy, but also with sports and film news, curiosities, etc. It seems to me that an increasing number of Poles have seen China with their own eyes (exhibitions, fairs, economic missions or trips, studies) and now they admire it. I guess that in about 20 years we will change our view of the Middle Kingdom again and it will become more objective, more mature. The voice on Chinese affairs will be neither too critical nor too flattering.

Such enclaves of white people have formed in Chinese cities. These areas are either expanding or several similar areas are being created in different parts of the metropolis. What is it about? On various forums and among friends who come to China, there is an opinion that a given region is popular among foreigners. What are the conditions for the creation of such an enclave? Firstly, there must be several different Western-style bars (American bars, Irish pubs), there must be a good shopping center and a hypermarket offering, among others, yellow cheese and imported products. It is equally important that this enclave has good, large apartments in new housing estates, sometimes with a view of the sea. Often in such areas there are also various massage parlors, many restaurants with English menus, some gyms/SPAs, and international schools for children of foreigners living in China. On the one hand, all this makes their stay in the Middle Kingdom easier, but on the other hand, it seems to separate them from "Chinese everyday life".

The real estate market in China continues to amaze me. Crisis is a rather foreign concept in this industry. Sure, during the worst period, many Hong Kong businessmen stopped investing in apartments in Shenzhen, but they did not get cheaper at all. They just stood empty and waited for better times. There are no winters in this region of China, there are no negative temperatures, so there is no need to heat the apartments, nothing bad will happen to them. The only defects and cracks are simply the negligence of construction companies. Prices are still shocking! In Poland, for PLN 350-450 thousand you can buy a house of 115-190 m2 in the suburbs with a plot (garden). In China, at this price you can buy any apartment (also in the suburbs) with an area of ​​​​approximately 60-70 m2. If someone wanted to live in the center of Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Shanghai, they could buy an apartment (usually built in a very simple way, white walls, the cheapest doors, cheap aluminum windows with broken hinges) for about 20-30 thousand RMB per 1 m2 (PLN 10-15 thousand). The problem is that this market cannot be saturated. There is no "family on its own" program here, the poor family just copes with poverty. The rich, however, buy one, two or three apartments. One for lovers, two for children, the third as an investment, for later resale or rental. It also happens in Poland, but certainly not on such a scale as in the Middle Kingdom. People like this keep driving this market and prices keep going up.

DID YOU KNOW THAT... in modern 21st century China, some family traditions still survive. Of course, it all depends on the province and customs, but there are some similarities. Some traditions have survived even in large cities. The point is that when there is a son and a daughter in the family, the apartment/house should in the future belong to the son and his wife. The daughter should leave and move to her future husband. That is why in China there is an expression "to take a wife" - literally, because the future husband must provide her with a "nest". When the girl's parents give their daughter away, they treat it as if they were 'throwing away the water'. The daughter will not come back and is not responsible for her aging parents. This is why a son or sons should take care of their parents. Such solutions resulted not only from customs, but also from the lack of a pension system (it is now being introduced).