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Q: Their life must be empty?
My Chinese colleague could not get his hands off his phone everyday, he spent so many time on his phone. He told MD its Hus way for relaxing.
My housemate from the past said shopping makes her feel relaxing so she went to do window shopping often seem like.
I feel their way of relaxing and getting entertainment are just empty.
What do you think?
They told me different people have different way to relax and get entertainment.
In China: YouTube videos, producing my blog on wordpress, shopping, walking, and sleeping
In America as an adult: golf, bowling, billiards, darts. going to concert (lived in Nashville, TN), hiking, and visiting friends
In my youth: bicycle around town, playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends, playing pool, swimming, playing video games and pinball.
To each their own I say.. if it makes you happy it's all good.
So Vicki, what about you, what do YOU do to relax?
Viki87:
I do many things to relax, like listening music, walking around in the park, lay on the park, talking with friends and you guys, dance a bit, watch TV.
I use wechat but try to not get myself occupied by wechat too much. 
It just started to rain a bit, I went to sit under a tree on Nanjing road and read my new novel a while. I have been shopping today as many clothes are broken. Hehehe... I need to buy some to wear. I just lazy to look for clothes, so tiring. I try to go to big store so the sales won't come to bother me
Ok, everyone tell what they used* to do to relax.
when I was a kid we had 'Cock Fights'. Now, if you have never seen that, I probably advise that you don't. Pretty fkn mean shit. But for some reason, at least to me, not as mean as the damn Spaniards doing 'Bull Fight'. Now, that's fkn gruesome.
*before the modern day of 'net and smartphones / tablets.
Stiggs:
What I USED to do?
That depends on the age group and is actually a much more interesting question.
I never had a cock fight but when I was a kid nothing was safe from my air rifle. Birds, rats, rabbits whatever. And I literally spent hundreds of hours on my BMX.
In China: YouTube videos, producing my blog on wordpress, shopping, walking, and sleeping
In America as an adult: golf, bowling, billiards, darts. going to concert (lived in Nashville, TN), hiking, and visiting friends
In my youth: bicycle around town, playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends, playing pool, swimming, playing video games and pinball.
In China: trying not getting killed by a bus or car... interesting hobby since I have to waste all my time on that if I go out
Everywhere else in the world: do a lot outdoor sports
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/11/finland-ranked-worlds-most-literate-nation
What you are saying is true. The above article ranks the literacy rate of the top 10 countries in the world, investments on education.....etc.
In PRC, look around, how many are reading a book on trains, flights, subways, be it a physical or online or audio book? In fact, in your whole life, how many people have you seen doing that?
Many reasons obviously, money cult, food and sex obsession, communists cult of trashing intellectuals (e.g. cultural revolution), obsession with grades (not books).
Do you know how many books a Japanese read, on average, a year? About 40 if I remember correctly. Guess how many, for a mainlander, ie on a per capita basis? 0.7.
Kids glued to TVs and video games, so are young adults, middle to old age executives glued to nightclubs 'business' entertainment (hookers for customers), ernais, xiao sans, old peope or dai mas glued to mahjong.
You spotted one important reason why PRC doesn't have, in the long run, a happy future. No soul-less country has a sustainable future, either implosion or explosion, probably both.
dom87:
To be fair, I haven't read a book in a long time either. I am just not very fascinated by those stories. But I do read a lot of articles, news etc. on the web if that counts.
I am not sure if books will last in the future as there are alot other new things you can do with your time which is surely more interesting and more "flashy".
Video games per say are not exactly bad either (depending which game and how long at least). I for one learned most of my english through playing online and actually brought the fun to learning a language. (Yes probably not the best writing style adapted, but at least I can communicate well now, which my teachers in school failed at).
I was never a fan of praising books... "books make you smart", but not if you are just not interested in it.
earthizen:
There is a learning curve to everything. If you ask a Nobel laureate how many books in his/her field s/he is reading currently, I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is zero, or ony a few. Hack, he/she is the one writing books! Articles are what I would call updates. There are somewhat like those program patches with software, usually minor bugs fixing.
That as we know cannot replace the software itself, just like articles cannot replace books when one is still learning the main body of knowledge.
Imagine if people learn by reading bits and pieces of knowledge, and you ask them to write a topic that covers multiple areas, I bet all they do is flying all over the place but cannot coherently tie the pieces together. Actually that is what I am noticing with a few young ones these days and I suspect this has to do with the internet piece meal type of learning. Incoherent gibberish.
The other day I asked a young one, 'where would you be at 3:00pm, tomorrow?' Answer, 'I am busy tomorrow'. I for one would not hire that person even for running an errand. lol
dom87:
what i just meant is that books may be a valuable hobby, but nowadays there are other valuable thinks too.
I learned scripting several computer languages, but not by a book.
"Reading the internet" can be replacing books for example.
I am more into tech stuff, so usually books bores me out
earthizen:
To me, books are usually written by someone who put in the effort to compile a body of knowledge. Reputable publishers also help filter out low grade writers which I have seen a few. These ones have their chances but they need to put in the effort.
You can learn a simple computer language these days because the software that runs those programs is designed to be user-friendly. It all depends how far you want to go. I get plenty of inspirations and fun from youtube myself, from various kind of physical exercises to cooking tips given by Michelin chefs. Still experimenting though. lol
my life is empty .... lazy .. retirement doldrums but 5+ years of doing nothing is getting to me. gotta do something!
mother in law often asks me to go do the chinese dancing thing, both in early morning and early evening ... not my thing is my excuse, while I lounge around with a beer and the couch and tv and internet.
I have been bowling here but that place has since shut down I have been to a driving range (GOLF), but it is pretty bad. got a membership at a swimming thing which is really good for me and many "old folks" and the local kids at the pool love me little english .
the hot springs are a place I like, just 10 blocks from home, but they refuse to cut a deal (expensive) for occasional use.
I have a stationary bike, which is good for physical fitness, but not much good for social interaction
fishing is pretty much out of the question, even though the south china sea is 5 blocks from home. I can play pool/billiards with the best of them.
swimming, walking, jogging, bike riding... there are guys that play fun time soccer/football nearby (but have not investigated that - too much language issues and laziness on my part)
I see many empty lives for expats in China many of which are the same as me... LAZY
Could be the best solution is to just leave ...want to come Vicki? joking
BHGAL:
P.S. I do not even know how to work a phone.
much prefer group or team activities as opposed to just singular shit so I have a hard time exercising without the camaraderie of a group of people to "bullshit" with and we have an ice rink here I thought GREAT I am Canadian play hockey in the good old days . . but fliping figure skating skates and them picks up front really spoiled my dream.dom87:
on the one side it it because many things are not available just around the corner... everything just takes at least an hour to get there, so after work there is just no time.
the other side may be that these things are very expensive... just go swimming will cost you like 200 RMB per time in Shanghai, this is just stupid, so better leave it.
I am now lucky that my compound has a gym with indoor and outdoor pool and I go after work for an hour. Thats quite nice.
I agree, many are lazy and also got fat over here
Many Chinese are really kind of boring themselves. Very little opinion on things and can't hold interesting conversations. Some can, but they usually don't stay in China.
The others pretty much just sit there with their face in their mobile... taking selfies, chatting about nonsense, pictures of food... watching videos...
Do peopel from other countries do that too? Of course. But do Chinese do it more... yup. A lot more. Chinese are the type of people that go out for a drink and then each of them sits there quiety staring at their phones... while Westerners usually use this time to chat and share stories.
I read well written book, not a fan of some books writtten by trash writer.
A man who writes well is certainly attractive in my eyes,
earthizen:
A local article which you can send out to those who are living an empty life. A word of caution, some cannot look into the mirror without wearing a facade. http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/n6dHokn_GhxG4vC0hHSD9g
