What's With The Chinese and Hardship?

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

I'm sitting in an internet cafe/Starbucks waiting for my wife to come out of her interview... and freezing my a** off.

 

It has been cold in GZ since I got here, yesterday was a brief exception when the sun poked out for a few hours. That's OK, I live in Denver, I can handle cold weather, but I am used to being able to enter a building and warm up. Not in China! Nooooooo! In China, they keep the doors and windows open so the friggin' (usually polluted) air can blow through and freshen things up. Bullsh**! I'd rather take a chance that I'll catch colds and flu and breathe in dust mites galore than keep wiping my cold, runny nose and shivering because I didn't bring my ski mask and long johns to a semi-tropical climate.

 

And WTF is up with laying on bricks?!!!!! I toss and turn at night because the part of my body that's against the "mattress" has become numb from a lack of circulation. I know I've seen foam rubber around here, how about a little extra padding on the flippin' beds?

 

I remember last summer was sweltering heat, but could I find a damn AC anywhere in the country?!!!! Hell no! OK, so they had a little cooling machine that blew cold air. The ratio of coolers to square feet was about 1:5000 sq'.

 

How about some hot water too? I got a hotel room with about a 10 gallon hot water heater in it. Don't forget to turn it off once you've drained the sorry little bastard of all it's heat. Wouldn't want to use more gas than is absolutely necessary, oh, except when you drive your carbon monoxide leaking, fuel inefficient car through the jammed up city streets.

 

Is it me or do the Chinese seem to get off on self abuse and living a life of hardship? Can I dub that the "Mao Mentality"? Or is it that we Americans are soft? We obsess with comfort and convenience to our detriment?

[hypoclear]

.... keep wiping my cold, runny nose and ....

Jethro Tull.. Aqualung!!!! ??

B)

 

Mark and Bea and Elizabeth

 

P.S. It's not you Bea misses that in door heat concept right along with the warm water and comfy bed.. although we do own a western style, french matress.. heaven!!

[BobandNicole]

Actually, they live in nice comfortable heated houses with nice soft thick down mattresses, central heat and air. They just enjoy torturing the foreigners, especially Mei Guo.

 

In all seriousness, this is a DEVELOPING country. Most people sleep on straw mats on boards, not even a mattress!!. No hot water, if there's running water at all. If there's a door on the house even, one's doing good. You're just seeing "city life" in GZ, a lot of the country doesn't live that well. Remember, $300 bucks US a month is a good living here. Most make less than $100 a month. My mother in law still cooks on a wood fired stove.

 

I remember going to Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, where they re-create Plymouth colony in 1620, and thinking how could people stand to live that way back then. Fast forward to a farming village in Guangdong province in 2004..... Only thing different was maybe a TV in the living room, and maybe an old fridge, like avocado green and chrome vintage 50's model. And that was a "rich" family. Oh, and the people were Chinese instead of Pilgrims. Otherwise, there was no difference.

 

I've only been coming here for 8 years, only lived here for 3, and there's light years difference in the city I live in from when I first started coming here in '97.

 

Considering how fast things have modernized, I'm impressed!!

Bob

[BuffaloPaul]

Actually, I've stayed in 4 different 5 star hotels in China now and every bed feels like sleeping on bricks - so I don't think its a poverty thing. Disconcertingly, my fiancee seems to love sleeping on these bricks. I think I will have to get one of those bamboo mattress pads for her in the US.

 

Even in Yantai where it snows in the winter the house is absolutely frigid. Everyone lays in the beds all day long with winter coats on.

 

I'm too spoiled to live like that, but it sure does make me appreciate my creature comforts

[BobandNicole]

When I first moved here to China I was renting an apartment, and my mom had come to visit us for a few weeks. One day she sort of gathers up her nerve to tell me, "son, you need to complain to the landlord, they gave you the foundation but forgot the mattress" I told her "that IS the mattress, they don't use box springs here. She refused to believe it.

 

I'm pretty sure the Chinese believe the hard bed is good for you actually, trying to find a soft mattress is pretty difficult, Zhi Xian insisted the hard mattress is good for your back. When we moved into our own apartment and had our own furniture, i insisted on a softer mattress, finally found a real good imported pillow top mattress, expensive but worth every penny. Now when we stay at hotels with the traditional hard mattress she can't stand it, has gotten used to the softer mattress.

 

Slowly she converts.

Bob

[lele]

Hey!

 

At least everywhere in China I have been, I have had access to some sort of bed (or other type of similar sleeping device ... with in Pingyao, getting to sleep on top of one of those heated raised late Ming and early Qing platforms, being a true historical and comfort treat!!! (if you want to see pics, feel free to PM me))! In many places (such as Korea where it is more tradition, and in SE asia where people can not afford one) the floor is where most people sleep!!

[warpedbored]

Ah yes the famous upolstered concrete slabs they call mattresses in China. When Bing first came here she complained the mattress was too soft. We went bed shopping to about 5 different stores before we found one that was firm enough for her. (barely) A little firm for me but acceptable. She does like the indoor heat though. No problems with opening the windows and doors in dead of winter. Most of the hotels I stayed in in Nanning GZ and SZ had adequate but not wonderful air conditioning and enough hot water. Haven't been there during a time of year where heat was needed.

[tonyontherock]

Actually, I've stayed in 4 different 5 star hotels in China now and every bed feels like sleeping on bricks - so I don't think its a poverty thing. Disconcertingly, my fiancee seems to love sleeping on these bricks.  I think I will have to get one of those bamboo mattress pads for her in the US.

 

Even in Yantai where it snows in the winter the house is absolutely frigid. Everyone lays in the beds all day long with winter coats on.

 

I'm too spoiled to live like that, but it sure does make me appreciate my creature comforts

I find it hard to believe that in 5 star hotels they don't have soft mattresses. Even in the World Trade apartments, the beds are pretty soft.

stay with family is another thing. Cost is one thing. But actually a lot of people prefer hard beds.

[warpedbored]

I do remember in Guilin we stayed in a 5 star hotel that catered to westerners. The only nice mattress I slept on in China.

[Dan R]

What is with Americans???

We spend tremendous amounts of income resisting nature rather than living with it. A child has no difficulty sleeping on the floor. I remember enjoying that at times. Today my misshapened arthritic spine can't handle a Chinese matress. I would take all the pillows to make a mattress pad. Actually I was fine on about half of the matresses I slept on. I wasn't sure what the differences were because they all felt hard.

 

The Great Wall Hotel in Beijing had the best bed in China. It was very comfortable but still firm. When I left the Yantai Marina Hotel I suggested they provide a foam mattress pad at the guests request. I hope they do it before I go back.

 

In the 60's and early 70's the Japanese were proud that they were not wasteful nor isolated from nature like Americans who use central heat and air. Today the modern Japanese rarely leaves the central air or heat. I found that while stoic the Japanese had many ways to stay warm and enjoy creature comforts. Since then I try to avoid heating and air conditioning but I live in L.A. where that is easy. However few of my friends do the same.

 

Modernization need not be a divorcing from nature and catering to many comforts that are self destructive. I hope the world will begin concentrating on being less disposable and comfortable and more sustainable and healthy. In Singapore recent studies have indicated that increase of modern type diseases parallels the increase in a western lifestyle. We all have a lot to learn about quality of life and developing a truly modern lifestyle and outlook. By mixing cultures I hope we choose the best of both and not the worse. Future generations are depending on choices made today.

[Jim - Portland, USA]

What is with Americans???

We spend tremendous amounts of income resisting nature rather than living with it. A child has no difficulty sleeping on the floor. I remember enjoying that at times.

LMAO - this whole thread is funny. Yes Mark, I think you might be on to something about the Chinese being able to endure tough conditions and not think twice about it.

 

I say this because my sweet wife prefers to sleep with no pillow! She just lays her head down flat against the mattress and sleeps like a baby. Of course we have pillows, lots of them, I even have one of those super expensive $150 Tempurpedic foam pillows that they make on the moon. She'll have nothing to do with it, or even a $5 pillow from Wal-Mart. Nope, she just pushes them all aside and lays her head down with nothing underneath. That's how she likes it

[pingme]

one thing that amazes me, and touched me deeply.

 

coming from america, the land of comfort and convienence, we have so much material wealth. yet all around me, i see very few people who are happy or appreciate what they have.

 

but then if you go a place like china and observe the people.

 

in general they have less, but i have felt they complain less, and are happy that they have what they have.

 

to me, that was so refreshing to see and feel.

 

we take our comfort for granted, while for others, even the slightest comfort or luxury is a wonderful blessing.

 

i was in China in Dec, and i was cold. but i didn't complain, i just cuddled up with my fiancee a little closer and counted my blessings.

[eeyore]

Mark,

All I can say is "Welcome to China"!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[frank1538]

Just yesterday I was talking to a buddy about the some of the differences between the US and China, and I likened China to what the US was like in the late 50's - new innovations being introduced almost daily but not yet widespread. As examples, I said in China might find cell telephones but no gas lines running to the house/apartment, washers but no dryers, internet access but no heat, multi-floored apartments but no elevators.

 

Given China's prior isolation from the rest of the world (read West) and given the populace's reliance on aged traditions, it is not surprising that things the Chinese accept or take as gospel, we find anachronistic. Jingwen's views often confirm this. Things that we chalk up to old wives tales still hold sway in a country like China. So, despite the fact that the outside air is visible because of the smog, it's still considered fresh air and is therefore better for you. If you really think about it, a lot of what our SOs think or believe may have once had a basis in fact during the dark ages (for example, isolating a mother of a newborn for a period of time), don't really have much relevancy today but are still accepted by a culture steeped in tradition. The same might be said for that slab of concrete they call a bed. Being historically a poor country, the only requirement for a bed was that it be horizontal. Comfort was not that important then but the culture has been so ingrained with this concept over the centuries that modern Chinese matresses still reflect this.

 

Remember, an American's view of "long term" might be two months while a Chinese view might be two decades. Things will change in China albeit more slowly than in the West. In the meantime, our backs or our lungs will suffer through.

[Trigg]

You make some great points Frank. When my wife tells me about the Chinese police and corruption, I always liken it to Chicago in the fifties. A few bucks could buy your way out of anything. Same as the Chinese medical system--much like the 50s in the US.

 

Looks like they are westernizing--I just hope they don't lose all of thier wonderful culture. Sometimes convienences cost more than just money.