The coming conflict over Taiwan

We really should be hoping that it goes ahead without a hitch. The Olympics are an incredible drain on resources, and every nation to do them for the last few decades has come out with massive financial losses. China doing the Olympics puts a strain on an economy that's already struggling, with very few actual benefits. Having Japan before them, means that they'll pull out all the stops to outdo them.. so, expect serious repercussions to the Chinese economy after the events are finished.

Ya, I'm sure the government will make sure a good spectacle happens no matter what. There is so much shite going on in the world now it might go fairly unnoticed compared to normal. Who knows 😀

I do wonder if the Olympics will even exist as they do now in a decade or two. Lots of countries losing interest in hosting them due to the economics involved.

I can't agree. Beijing is huge.. and draws in people from all over China. What do you mean by dog rough?

I spent a year working in Beijing, before I moved to Xi'an. Personally, I quite liked most of the people I met there (similar to my experience with the rest of China), the only real issue being the pollution, and the traffic. Take those two problems away from Beijing, and I probably would have stayed. As for the accent, I quite liked the rolling R's put to Mandarin. There are plenty of dialects way worse throughout the country. I'd also add another 5 days on top of your original 5 to stay in BJ. Grab an actual local, and hit the food streets. You could have a blast for a week just wandering the back streets, eating street food, drinking on corners, and talking to all kinds of people.

Sichuan is a great spot, stick with Chengdu, and avoid Chongqing (since Chengdu does it all better.. although if you're LGBT then CQ is better). Personally, I love Shaanxi, which is why I stayed there for a decade. Would also recommend the area around Zhuhai in the south. Shenzhen is also worth some time, just to see the duality of Chinese modernisation (Shanghai/GZ are just too big to really appreciate in the same way)

China is definitely worth a visit.. although I would suggest leaving western standards behind at the border. You'll have a much better time if you're not comparing/judging everything you see.. which is particularly true for the food you'd encounter. Still.. I suspect you'd have a blast there (judging by your posts you seem an openminded kind of person). TBH most of the dodgy people I met in China were Westerners, rather than Chinese people... Western tourists and expats can ruin your experience in China if you're not careful with who you spend time with.

There are serious negatives with regards to China as a nation, especially with it's government.. but the Chinese people can be, just, wonderful. Incredibly frustrating at times, but it's an experience worth having. I've never regretted living there.

It had nothing to do with them being “Chinese”, everything to do with their social/education level. Hong Kong people, Taiwan people and others were asking “where do these people come from? They are insane!” It was like a ship full of Dublin antisocial whackers on board, and the Chinese Cruise Director shared a little diplomatic info with some of us who complained. “They have worked manually for years, they have no education but now have the money to cruise”.

Actually, it's everything to do with being Chinese. First off, Chinese people (younger gen seem marginally better) are horrible tourists, and have zero respect for anything. Something seems to happen to them once they join one of their tour groups, or enter a hotel area, and they just turn into monsters.

Secondly, most of the wealthy in China (apart from the old families, and the political elites) came from poor families who owned land in desirable areas of cities. The land was bought up by the government/businesses (in the 70s/80s), and suddenly these families became enormously wealthy.. with little idea of how to become sophisticated. The parents/grandparents would be peasants with that mindset (don't think working class.. think lower), their children raised on having loads of money.. and little in the way of common sense or respect for others. <Shudders> I did a stint mingling with the truly wealthy in Xian and Shenzhen, and I'm not in a rush to return there. Fun for a few weeks, but God no, horrible people.

In a country of that sheer magnitude anybody’s experience could parallel my own, but it would be true to say that modern market forces have probably done little to preserve ye old Confucius-tic philosophies.

Confucius type behavior doesn't equal courtesy to non-Chinese people. We are less than human in the minds of many Chinese people. It's just how they were raised, and in many ways, Confucius's philosophies contributed to such a worldview.

How do I put this...? Chinese people will talk forever about how polite "Chinese people" are. And in the next second, loudly cough up phlegm, and spit on the ground beside your feet. That's mostly the area of older people and males. Young women typically won't spit like that unless they're from the countryside.

Chinese society is very layered. I've known people with class A manners, and those who had horrible manners. There's a wide spectrum of behavior and attitudes, often with conflicting positions, where you might find a racist with perfect manners, but a helpful sweet old guy with terrible manners. A huge population, varied educational standards or access, and massive inequalities ensure that people in China are not easy to categorise. Unless you do it the way Chinese people do. Country people, City people. Those from the North, and those from the South. And the stereotypes abound... and people are expected to conform to those stereotypes.

Still.. I like young people in China. There's potential there for them to be different, and better than the generations that went before. Although, I've also seen that potential squashed quite a few times, with the person turning into a clone of the "good traditional Chinese person" routine.