
China Chinese
Nobody has a good impression of them. They spit. They shout. They jump queues. They eat dogs. They are uncivilised.
They are “China Chinese”.
But I went anyway, to their largest city — Shanghai. On a half-business, half grad-trip, I spent a whopping two weeks being on my guard, because as they say, China is a very dangerous place where they just want to cheat and steal your money. All the more, this banana (white on the outside, yellow on the inside) barely spoke an ounce of Chinese, confirm die one.
Here’s what I learnt about the world’s most populous city:

Anything goes
Driving on the other side of traffic, balancing as much cargo on a two-wheeler, and cycling with a toddler in the front basket are perfectly normal. One needs to thread carefully on pedestrian walkways to avoid one of the five million, reckless food delivery motorbikes. Even for someone like me that grew up in the anyhow nation of Malaysia, being in Shanghai definitely pushed my threshold for life-endangering situations. Buildings and infrastructure sprout up at the speed of their maglev trains, with jarringly obvious construction mistakes. A foreigner friend of mine who isn’t used to the speed, joked that it was just a matter of time before the bridge we were walking on will collapse. Safety, or doing things right, is only second to speed. After all, if anything goes wrong, there are still “so many others”.

New New York
Barely anyone I met originated from Shanghai. Everyone seems to be migrants from provinces (and countries) near and far. This was like New York in its olden days. And just like the American dream, the Chinese too, have dreams. Millions of them have left their hometowns and came to this land of opportunity to earn a living, and they are hungry to hustle really, really hard. This is the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

Parallel universe
Most things in the Western world are accessible there, as they have swapped their chrysanthemum for cappuccinos and dubbed most English movies and books. However, the great firewall of China has blocked access to the biggest Internet services (Google, Facebook, Youtube, etc).
Their tech industry exists in a different, somewhat parallel universe. After two weeks of trying their services first hand, I am seriously amazed. I think their Internet is years ahead of the world in the payments and transportation industries. Their WeChat and AliPay have replaced cash, even when dealing with street peddlers. Their ofo and Mobikes have solved the dreaded last mile problem, even replacing cars and subways. Their Ele.me and Waimai have replaced grocery shopping and eating out. I still find their user interface quite confusing, but their speed and willingness to try new things (features, apps, services) has created this advanced ecosystem.

Same same but different
With my yellow skin and small eyes, I blend in just like any one of them. Tourists ask me for directions and shopkeepers are confused when I speak in English. There’s this thing called “face” to upkeep and exorbitant business lunches to entertain others. Their soy ginger steamed fish, plain stir fry kangkung and cucumber soup could have very well appeared on my family’s dinner table. Their social media too, is filled with food, friends and a better version of our lives.
There’s a saying that goes “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” But sometimes we forget that as these bunches get larger, there are also more bad apples to ruin it. And when the Internet is where we learn everything about the world, the Internet is the one spot where they aren’t able to defend, or provide a better glimpse of what life is truly like inside that firewall. I plead guilty to this, but maybe we can hold off our judgements just a tad longer until we actually interact with them?
I have had airborne spit landing on my leg and taxi touts trying to rip me off. However, I will never forget how kindhearted and unselfish my Airbnb friends have been. They’ve cooked me way too many meals for free despite their busy schedules, pre-paid for all my purchases on Taobao and nights out, and always made sure I made it home safely. Although they don’t speak much English, we make effort to share our lives and laughs (and preferences for life partners) through a mix of sign language and translation apps. They have not only invited me into their home, but into their lives as well.
I draw many parallels between our lives. As we leave our families and friends, we’re trying to create a new family of friends. We struggle to fight loneliness in a crowded city, while trying to put a roof over our heads. We’re unsure on how to manage our expenses, or our past childhood relationships. We’re just trying to find our space in the world, while doubting if we made the right choice, but it’s all too late now. And so we just march on.
Our lives were separated by one decision made three generations ago — to migrate to Malaya. Today, we are separated by language, culture and colonisation, but deep down in our blood, we are no different. We used to be family. And so I cringe whenever I hear remarks of how the China Chinese are invading the world with their newfound money and old habits. Didn’t our ancestors did the same?
Aren’t we China Chinese too?
