China - Notes

Last Updated: June 1, 1999

This page contains lots of little notes I had that didn't seem worth an entire page each.

Clothes
It was very hot and humid most of the time we were in China. So wear something cool. I found that my neck sweated a lot, and I wished all my t-shirts were V-neck. But the temperature varys depending on the season, so adjust your wardrobe accordingly.
The only time I had a need to wear something even slightly formal (i.e., something better than shorts and a t-shirt) was when I visited a university. So unless you know in advance that you'll be going somewhere formal, leave your good clothes at home.
Puddles
There are lots of puddles/wet spots on the sidewalks in China. Some are from the rain, some from shop owners throwing out basins of water. But you may want to step around the wet spots - three times I saw parents having their little girls squat over the middle of the sidewalk to pee. Not in a discreet place, but right in the middle of the sidewalk.
Smoking
I expected smoking would be a big problem in China. I.e., I'm a non-smoker, and the guide books led me to believe that I'd be walking in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Again, the guide books were wrong. Yes, people smoked, but it wasn't nearly as noticeable as in North America. And women don't smoke, at least not in public: the only woman I saw smoking was a Japanese tourist.
Staring
The guide books all warned that I would be stared at, and further warned about "staring circles." While a few people stared at me, I never had a staring circle. I did get a lot of "the look" - like they had seen something out of the ordinary, but not so unusual as to look at me for longer than a second. But Caucasians are rare, and I found myself giving the few I saw "the look."
In Canada, I almost always wear long pants. China was very hot and humid, so I bought a pair of shorts the second day I was there. Once I started wearing shorts, I noticed people looking at my legs with a look of curiosity (not admiration :-). I never figured out if the novelty was (a) hairy legs; (b) my white legs; (c) that I was wearing socks (most Chinese don't).

China Index