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Q: Is China getting better or worse overall?
For those of you that spent a few years here, what are your thoughts on this?
I know it could really depend on which part of China you live in but I mean in terms of things like:
- manners
- economy
- pollution
- education
- opportunity
- travel location
- reception towards foreigners
- cost of living
---
What's the same? What's better and what is worse?
I can only really answer for Guangzhou/parts of Guangdong:
Manners - slowly getting better
Economy - doing okay but apartment prices outside the big cities dropping or stagnant.
Pollution - definitely improved compared to 5-10 years ago & slowly improving more.
Education- for the younger city dwellers it's getting better. Slightly more worldly-wise. Can't say the same really for older people or those out in the sticks.
Opportunity - I'm doing okay in engineering/sourcing but can't really comment.
Travel location - great! Continually improving metro system, more high speed train links, improving highways & 3 great airports to escape china from on holiday. (GZ, HK & Macau, never tried Shenzhen)
Reception towards foreigners - never had issues in GZ but definitely less "heeeelllllllooooo" & staring in the city now. Government WP/RP rules more difficult than before though.
Cost of living - increasing every year! Especially rents downtown.
SwedKiwi1:
Pretty much agree about all of them. But plenty of harassment towards foreigners still going on just outside Guangzhou (and probably in the suburbs too).
Hotwater:
I lived out in the sticks in Luogang for my first two years, a factory area, & can't say I ever came across any harassment though there was the hellos & staring at times. I was warned off some areas by Chinese colleagues but they also wouldn't go there! Maybe I've been lucky?
bill8899:
I was repeatly harassed at the Holiday Inn in Shanghai. Before I could not understand them. Now I understand some things, and they are decidedly unfriendly. Unless, ie, calling me a foreign pig is a complement because Chinese love pigs? Right. I swear the morning Continental breakfast time is 'mocking time.' Makes for an interesting perspective on the locals. Yea, I teach your tuhao kids.
I laugh when people write 'less harassment in <big city>'. Hardly.
I can only really answer for Guangzhou/parts of Guangdong:
Manners - slowly getting better
Economy - doing okay but apartment prices outside the big cities dropping or stagnant.
Pollution - definitely improved compared to 5-10 years ago & slowly improving more.
Education- for the younger city dwellers it's getting better. Slightly more worldly-wise. Can't say the same really for older people or those out in the sticks.
Opportunity - I'm doing okay in engineering/sourcing but can't really comment.
Travel location - great! Continually improving metro system, more high speed train links, improving highways & 3 great airports to escape china from on holiday. (GZ, HK & Macau, never tried Shenzhen)
Reception towards foreigners - never had issues in GZ but definitely less "heeeelllllllooooo" & staring in the city now. Government WP/RP rules more difficult than before though.
Cost of living - increasing every year! Especially rents downtown.
SwedKiwi1:
Pretty much agree about all of them. But plenty of harassment towards foreigners still going on just outside Guangzhou (and probably in the suburbs too).
Hotwater:
I lived out in the sticks in Luogang for my first two years, a factory area, & can't say I ever came across any harassment though there was the hellos & staring at times. I was warned off some areas by Chinese colleagues but they also wouldn't go there! Maybe I've been lucky?
bill8899:
I was repeatly harassed at the Holiday Inn in Shanghai. Before I could not understand them. Now I understand some things, and they are decidedly unfriendly. Unless, ie, calling me a foreign pig is a complement because Chinese love pigs? Right. I swear the morning Continental breakfast time is 'mocking time.' Makes for an interesting perspective on the locals. Yea, I teach your tuhao kids.
I laugh when people write 'less harassment in <big city>'. Hardly.
Commodity Prices - are going up, as you'd have expected.
Wages - probably not moving, although I'm really uneducated about that.
Jobs - may be being added to the overall economy, but the real question is if they are of the amount and quality necessary to appease the millennials. (Hint: many of them are now being called "Ant workers")
Transit Infrastructure - you betcha', it's always getting better. That's a win for the domestic economy as well as all the trade deals that are always being done.
Education - I'd say its pretty stagnant. The system is still in need of finding how to foster innovation.
Pollution - they're taking care of it, but slowly. Help yourself out by staying in doors when needed.
Manners - exposure is allowing people to become acquainted with more socially acceptable norms, but in an opposite sense, it is causing others to become convinced of their (and their country's) superiority.
Overall, improved for a few individuals, stagnant for many, but improved for the country as a whole.
- manners: What manners?
- economy: Economy is stablising, good
- pollution: Improving.. slowly
- education: lol
- opportunity: Plenty of it
- travel location: A lot of places to visit
- reception towards foreigners: Neutral but it's looking more and more negative
- cost of living: Cheap as chips!
