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Q: What city or cities do you hate the most in China, and why?
We had a post about your favorite city, so let's have one about your most hated city or cities. I'll go first.
1. Changsha, Hunan Province. Other than meeting my wife, getting married and finding out we were having a baby, this was one of the worst experiences of my entire life. I was literally praying to die almost every single day. LITERALLY. Every single negative stereotype about China is alive and well in Hunan province. You'll never find such a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Most of my crazy stories originate in Hunan province, especially in the city Changsha. I am just in disbelief that something could suck this bad.
2. Wuhan, Hubei Province.
It seemed like everyone was... world-weary, and part of the walking dead. It seemed like almost everyone I ran into was an undead zombie without emotions. The city didn't feel alive; it felt dead and disgusting. It felt like almost everyone was spiritually dead or something. This place really bothered me a lot... I don't remember seeing anyone happy in Wuhan, except some gay dude who tried to get me in a hotel room with him.
You?
9 years 48 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
Agree with you about Changsha and Wuhan. Couldn't find any city more dead than these two. Yueyang in Hunan also counts as deader than dead. Was there for a wedding, two days seemed like two weeks! And the things we are disgusted with in Guangzhou and other top tier cities are amplified 10 times over. God has forsaken that city it seems.
Hulk:
Yeah, dude... it felt like Changsha was the seat of the beast or something... and Wuhan was it's false prophet.
Changsha + Wuhan = all stereotypes in China amplified * 20000... you are so right. That's exactly what it is.
Kaiwen:
If you find Changsha and Wuhan dead, you should drift out to some of the third tier and provincial cities. I think that would change your mind. Life just stops in these places after the locals have finished their evening meal at about 6:30 pm. Then nothing but a few tacky KTV bars to choose from.
louischuahm:
Crillsner@ What? It's worse than Yueyang? I haven't been to any that's worse than that. Pray tell.
2 years hard time in Changsha - i hated it so much when i went home for Spring Festival, i informed the uni at home i also worked for that i was not returning.
A certain senior faculty member of my Department was so far up his own *** it was both funny and depressing.
the locals - with a few exceptions - were surly and sleazy in turns.
The stereotypes of the nouveau riche in China were alive and well there: all animal prints and fur.
The air tasted bad most of the time.
After that experience, i can deal with anything.
I spent a lot of my free time traveling, so it wasn't all bad
Hulk:
Traveling saved our lives.
The air was so bad, you're right. I remember coughing/sneezing and having disgusting grey gunk (pollution powder) coming out everywhere. It was just disgusting.
Agreed. Hubei and hunan are just the largest pieces of shit in all of China. The people are the dumbest and rudest pigs in all of China and these two groups of people are currently destroying Guangdong. I hate them. Passionatly. Some nice people everywhere but where usually its 50/50 in these 2 places its 98% horrible 2% good.
Every horrible stereotype aboit china is alive and well everywhere in this area.
Hulk:
Northern Anhui was the best place I've ever visited in my entire life. Everyone was super-friendly, and they treated us really good. We could find our western products in the supermarkets, along with imported prenatal vitamins.
We actually thought about making our life there, and my wife tried to talk to me about it. Although I really wanted to stay there, I wanted our baby born and raised in America, not in China, and I wanted my wife to experience America. It wasn't about me anymore.
mike695ca:
Never been but ive met exactly 2 girls from anhui and both were amazingly hot
I don't really hate anywhere in particular, I just think most PRC cities are dull, their urban planning is a contradictory mix of unfriendly chaos yet with every square meter under surveillance. Most of them have zero animation, zero cultural appeal unless you like to buy stuff all day. In short, none of them feels like a city should feel like.
The only thing I sincerely enjoy is urban exploration, tons of shit to discover behind the scenes in some cities (esp. Guangzhou, since it's not even a real city but more a mix of villages that got forcefully clogged together, now relegated to the status of city ghettos like Kowloon in the 90's).
coineineagh:
It isn't such a contradiction if you compare cities with schoolyard playgrounds. The PRC controls, patronizes and treats its people like children, so you can expect them to behave as such. They have no real interests, poor basic manners, are petty and selfish, cling to mommy's skirt like cowards, and are told what to do from above. Some cities will be in the grip of bullies, others will have tiresome fads, and some places may accidentally be more hospitable, because locals have retained a modicum of decency despite the brainwashing. The authorities need to keep an eye on their adult children, but even the control and repression doesn't mean there is order all the time. Kids will be kids, after all. I'm just glad I learned how to behave like an adult.
Never been to Changsha... but I saw pictures... and even those were enough to have a strong feeling of resentment lol
For me the two cities I HATE the most are:
Taiyuan, Shanxi - Absolutely HATE this city. It is gloom and doom even on the sunniest day of Summer blocked out by the cloud of coal dust that looms over this place like a black cloud of Mordor.
The traffic is insanely bad and the city design makes absolutely no sense. I have seen Beijing traffic and it sucks but in Taiyuan they constantly gridlock for no reason other than everyone is a newly rich coal boss that thinks he/she should go first.
The Runner up city:
Zhengzhou, Henan - This city sucks so bad even other Chinese hate it. You know how Chinese despise Henan people (strong steretypes shown against them in the media)?... this is why... the city is dirty, I believe it is the most populated province... soulless and on top of that... many people there STRONGLY dislike foreigners.
Only the Shaolin temple is EVER worth going to this province. And I can see why the monks stay in their temple...
Women are taught to chase money and sell their soul to do whatever it takes. The men are unruly, and would sell their wives, mothers and children for a few RMB (they literally do this... A LOT).
Don't go to either of these cities... Libera Te Ex Inferis... EX INFERIS!
diverdude1:
Zhengzhou. I agree. A vision of how I pray Earth/Humanity does not become.
I hate Shanghai because I find it tacky, overcrowded, overpriced but I thankfully only have to go there on business trips which makes it tolerable. Big cities do my head in the world over. China is no exception.
Recently, I went to Yiwu in Zhejiang Province for the first time. I hated every second of the experience. It is such an international trading hub that the locals know how to exploit foreigners so everyone there seemed sleazy, dishonest and untrustworthy. I found many of the people to be extremely rude even by Chinese standards.
Hulk:
Shanghai sucks. I didn't like it, but I didn't spend much time there to begin with... I just wanted to get the hell out every time I went.
Heard Yiwu is a great place to go shopping... sad to see it's another scamfest.
DunceCap:
Shanghai ren are awful. Prissy little jackasses with all the bad manners of the rest of the country, combined with the insufferable assurance that their shit don't stink.
Well I haven't had the misfortune of visiting any of the above mentioned places. And I won't. My least favourite is Urumqi. It's dirty, crowded and gridlocked. But it does have a fantastic Peoples' Park where the Uyghir dancing can fascinate for as long as you want to stay and watch.
And the 5 days I spent in Tianjin are 5 days I'll never get back again.
The most depressing places for me are the "small" cities around 1st tier cities with about 1-3 million people. Basically every company that can't afford to be in Shanghai/Beijing/Whatever settles just outside the city limits, it's just grey depressed, dirty and boring.
Surprised about all the Shanghai hate though, I enjoy Shanghai.
There's no city I *really* hate in China. Many are very dull, with their historical soul long destroyed and forgotten, and very limited social life. I have a black spot for Beijing : bad memories, awful air, just way too big.
Hulk:
Beijing is awful. It's one of the few cities I can't stand. Everyone I run into is an asshole, except a couple expat friends.
For me Nanchang Jiangxi i hated the most , people are rude and (sorry) ugly tooooo
Totally agree with Changsha, it's a totally godforsaken place. I'm not at all surprised that a certain top cat came from there.
Two of my most abiding memories of there are:
Having the runs from the awful cuisine I was served the night before, and desperately looking for the toilet in Carrefour only to find that each door handle and almost every surface was smeared with faeces.
Visiting the largest Mao head in the world, yet being unable to see the thing through the smog until we were within 50m of it.
Everything else I tried to forget as soon as I possibly could.
I didn't like Beijing, non-stop women tea scammers and I was hoping for something else, the traffic, the air smelled like someone was deep frying rotten garbage.
.
Hulk:
Yar. Too many taxi scammers, too. Even if you sit there telling them in Chinese that you're hip to the game they play on foreigners.
1: Beijing: Flithy, over-crowded, noisy, polluted and just depressing looking. Even on a sunny day, the city looks like a bombed out relic from Dresden. Add to the fact that the locals are as arrogant as can be (being they live in the capital) and the new fish that come in are beyond ignorant (just go to Beijing West Train Station to see that) and you will learn the best parts of going to Beijing are either not going or watching it disappear in your rear view mirror.
2 Nanjing: Or, as I call it, my two years in Hell. Nanjing is pretty, but an extremely depressing city. Ignoring the history of the place, the city just has an aura of melancholy that can bring you down instantly. Unless you live in Bai Xia, Gu Lou or Xuan Wu, being a foreigner in Nanjing is the same as a lower tier city. Add to the fact that the people are rude and proud of it and Nanjing is a place I can't stand. I haven't been back since I moved out 18 months ago to Suzhou.
3: Handan: Now we go to the lower tier cities. . .Handan is a small city between the provincial capitals of Hebei (Shijiazhuang) and Henan (Zhengzhou). There were many nasty things people in Shijiazhuang (when I lived there for three years) said about Handan, namely they didn't like the people because the people were transplanted Henan people. Outside of the stereotype. . .it is a completely forgotten place. The train station is as disgusting at the Hangzhou station, the buildings (even the new ones) look like they are about to fall down and the streets have pot holes you could house families of five in. Nothing about Handan makes it worth going to, staying in or being in. Added to that fact is the local people tend to be rude and rather aggressive (especially the pan handlers when they see a foreigner) and Handan is #3 on my list.
4: Lizhuang: This is my wife's hometown. It's a small place between Danyang and Jintan in Jiangsu. One road, one supermarket, no life, no excitement, no nothing. The place doesn't even have a bar and the area closes at 10 PM. At least you can watch flies procreate and paint dry. Maybe even grass grow.
5: Hefei: I spent a month there one week for a job. It's Handan, without the fun.
