China, a Modern Nation..?

I remember there being a bit of controversy over if China should be considered a modern, industrialized nation or still developing years ago. I think it mostly had to do with climate goals and which standards China should be held to.

But the part I remember the most is China wanted to be considered both, but in different situations. China wanted to be considered still developing so it could burn as much coal and oil as it wants for electricity. But it wants to be developed so that it has more authority and power in other international negotiations and agreements.

So, which one is China, really? Let’s take a look:

Modern

China does use most modern technology. They even manufacture most of it. The only difference between their iPhone and yours is that when theirs spies on them, it reports to the government and not Apple.

They’ve also completely embraced digital payments. Something that was only gaining popularity in America because of the pandemic (no one wanted to touch anything).

Technology (aka WeChat)

Qr codes and WeChat here do everything! Need open a specific app? Just scan a code with WeChat. Need to pay for something? There’s a code for that, too. Take a cab? Your cabbie has a QR code for you to use to pay. The homeless guy on the corner? Yeah, he’s got a WeChat code, too.

All payments here are digital. Many places don’t accept credit cards anymore. It’s really annoying as a tourist when you can’t use your cards, but places do still accept cash. They have to as not everyone has a smartphone or smartwatch. Yes, even kids use a barcode on their smartwatches to buy things.

And, after living with WeChat, digital payments, and QR codes, I can see why they’re so popular. They do make life a lot easier. Well, as long as you have a phone and it’s charged. Life gets really hard if you don’t have your phone!

But, I’m definitely going to miss it when I leave the country. It makes life simple. There’s no questions of ‘Do they take this card?’, ‘Do I scan or do they?’, or ‘Do I have enough cash?’. The only question I ever have is, ‘Where’s my phone?’ and the answer is usually in my back pocket.

Transportation

China’s transportation system is on par with Europe’s and, it could even be argued, in some ways, it’s better. China has everything – planes, trains, cars, subways, e-bike, share bikes. And a real fondness, probably legislated, for electric vehicles.

In most major cities, it is almost impossible to register a gas-powered car. There’s a lottery system and only a few are given out every year, compared to the number of applications. However, getting an electric car registered is much easier. Just about anyone can get and register an electric car.

But, many people in China never buy a car because they don’t need one. Large cities have subway systems that are constantly being expanded. I was just reading about how they’re going to make 2 new transit hubs in Shenzhen, one of which was going to be connected with metro line 25. Currently, there are only 11 metro lines. In addition to the subway’s unceasing growth, everywhere I’ve even heard about has a bus system that goes everywhere in the city, even if I can’t figure most of them out (it’s really hard without speaking Chinese).

There was just an article in one of my expat news feeds on WeChat that compared the New York subway with Guangzhou’s newer system. It was night and day. One is dirty and old, the other is shiny. Some people even commented on how there is no screen between the people and the tracks.

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And just about every city or place tourists might want to go has either a train station or an airport, usually both.

Somewhere as small as Zhangjiajie, which people only know about and visit because of the movie Avatar, has 2 train stations, an airport, and lots of buses, but no subway.

Developing

However, for all their modern conveniences and advances, there are still some things that aren’t quite the same as the rest of the modern world.

Water

The most obvious one that every tourist is told – you can’t drink the tap water. China’s tap water is not considered safe to drink. I was told that parts of China can purify the water so that it is safe to drink, like other countries, but they can’t get it to people’s homes in a drinkable state.

Everyone just buys and drinks bottled water. Hotels supply several bottles for free every day. And, water isn’t that expensive. Most stores in Shenzhen sell a half-liter bottle for around 3 yuan and outside major cities, it’s much cheaper, contrary to what I paid in Zhangjiajie (8 yuan is ridiculous!).

One less talked about issue with drinking all your water from bottles is that you don’t get the extra fluoride that many countries add to their water to protect people’s teeth.

Hygiene

Dental hygiene in China, in general, is also atrocious. Children aren’t taught to brush their teeth until they’re a bit older. Which, as you can imagine, leads to black rotting teeth. I can’t count the number of kids I’ve taught who have black spots on their teeth or they’re just missing lots of teeth.

(I was going to post a picture of rotting kid’s teeth, but, when I went looking for one, I nearly threw up. It’s disgusting, disturbing, and just plain gross. I don’t want to even see another picture of rotting teeth, or really anyone’s teeth, ever again. You’ll have to either take my word for it, imagine it yourself, or search for your own pictures. I definitely don’t recommend that last one.)

It doesn’t get much better as they get older either. Going to the dentist is also not as common as in some other countries. I have been going twice a year for longer than I can remember.

But, in China, you only go if you have problems. A coworker went for a 6-month cleaning and the dentist was very confused as to why he was there as his teeth were all still white.

To make matters worse, the lack of oral hygiene leads to people having a bad taste in their mouths often. They don’t want to swallow something that tastes that bad, so they spit. Everywhere. It’s disgusting! And, worse, they all make this horrific sound when they’re getting ready to spread their bodily fluids all over the sidewalk (that’s the favored place to spit). Careful where you step!

Unfortunately, teeth are not where the lack of hygiene ends. They also aren’t always great at washing their hands after using the restroom. And deodorant isn’t all that popular! But soap is, thankfully.

Machinery and Manual Labor

If the sidewalk by where you live needs repair, do 5 to 10 people and a wheelbarrow show up to fix it? Or is it a couple guys with some power tools and a big truck?

I’m used to seeing the guys with the truck and power tools but, in China, it seems to always be a lot of people and a wheelbarrow who fix most things.

I know China has power tools. I’ve even seen them used on more than one occasion. However, if fixing something can be done without them, it seems to be preferred, even if it takes 10 times as long to do without as it would have taken with.

There has been some sewer work going on on my route to work for three months now. The gas and water companies have been doing something and have no intentions of being finished any time soon. I have no idea what’s wrong, but it does smell really bad.

Back home, for a repair like that, they’d tear apart the street and sidewalk using heavy machines, use some more machines to fix whatever needed fixing, and close everything back up again. And it probably wouldn’t have taken more than a week to do everything.

But, here, I think I’m stuck with a smelly commute until at least Christmas.

China is …

In some ways, living in China is just like living in any other developed nation. It relies on technology and the internet just as much as other countries. It is concerned about the environment and is doing what it can to be green. It is building at a fanatical and fantastic pace. It is constantly changing. There’s always something new going on.

However, in other ways, it’s also a bit like living in the past. Smoking is still a big thing here. People don’t have the same sense of germs or what is dirty and gross that I grew up with (spitting everywhere, not brushing teeth).

But, with all the changes I’ve seen between when I was in China a decade ago and now, China has come a very long way in a short amount of time.

I’d be very interested to see what it can do in a few more years.

What do you think – modern or developing? Or both?