6- VPN's

Unless you live under a rock its pretty known worldwide that China has major issues on censorship. They censor apps, websites and news articles for a whole bunch of reasons, especially anything negative to do with the Chinese government. Trouble is, for an expat that is used to accessing a whole multitude of things on the internet, this could be quite inconvenient !

Never fear, the VPN is here. VPN stands for virtual private network and allows you to access blocked sites by essentially pretending to be in another country. When connecting to a VPN you can choose which country you wish to connect with, which is pretty handy when accessing content that requires you to be in a specific country (BBC iPlayer anyone?!).

In my opinion a VPN is essential if you will be going to China for an extended period of time. I'm not kidding - here is just a few of the things that are blocked in China:

- Facebook
- Google (including Google maps)
- Instagram
- Youtube
- Snapchat
- Blogger (This blog haha)
- and many, I mean MANY normal shopping sites/blogs

The list really does go on and its literally soul destroying at times. It also affects apps like whatsapp, that may not be blocked but certainly is slow to send media.

Now before you suddenly cancel your trip and refuse to visit China it is worth mentioning that with the right VPN and strong enough internet connection you will be able to access anything you like! Be warned though, there are so many rubbish VPN's out there that don't even work once you get to China.

My number one top recommendation would be PandaPow, its not a free service and I normally pay a yearly subscription as i'm on China quite often. I must say it is fantastic and blows all other VPN's out of the water (including Astrill which is really not as good as it seems).

You can check out PandaPow's website here.

As always, any questions please let me know!

Amie ~

5- Food Markets

It wasn’t until I moved out of my uni dorm and into my own apartment that I really started to appreciate the markets around Beijing. Like seriously they are awesome.

I’ll tell you what, in China there is no such thing as ‘organic’ and ‘non organic’, all these fruits and vegetables have come fresh out of the ground (or tree) and you can really tell the difference. Every morning very early you can find pop up sellers with their produce on the floor consisting of a few varieties of vegetable, they are all cleared up by about 7:30am as they are so cheap and fresh.

For those with a somewhat later schedule AKA we get up after 7am there is always the all day market that is generally located in every community. Stocked up high with veggies and shockingly only a fraction of the price of the supermarket. I can normally get myself a three or four days worth of veggies for less than £1 which is a beautiful thing. 

On the flip side though, I always struggle to buy meat at the markets. The conditions are just so different to what I am used to in the UK, even at the supermarket I cringe at how on display the meat is, with no covering and free for people to touch with their bare hands if they want (and they do!). Whenever I buy meat from China I cook it that very day/or freeze it and make sure its thoroughly done! I could just be being overcautious but the standards are extremely different to that of the UK so just be wary of that. 

Highest quality meat storage I have found so far - Carrefour

Overall though I must say I do love shopping at the markets, going to each little section for what I need and for a really low price you can't go wrong! I wish it was this way in the UK but I guess you just can't compete with the low prices of large chain supermarkets that import things very cheaply. Extremely refreshing to see it the other way round here in China - big thumbs up to that!

4- Deliveries

I’ve got to say, ordering online and receiving your delivery (or kuaidi as is known in China) is almost a pleasure. Vastly more efficient than the UK and something I will surely miss when I return home.

Firstly the delivery time is on average 2 – 3 days, maximum of 5 days if its coming from the other side of China, but then again considering how large China is that's really quite impressive.

Secondly once arrived at its destination the delivery person won’t just knock once and leave an annoying red card saying ‘Sorry we missed you!’ No certainly not. Here in China the deliverer sends you a handy text with parcel number, location, time they will be leaving and their phone number just in case. Here's an example:

Of course.. being able to read Chinese is a necessity!

These texts are usually sent out in the morning and then we have the whole day to leisurely go to the collection point and collect our parcels whenever we want. Be warned though, the collection points are not quite what you would think. The parcels in question will all be lying on the floor in some kind of order unbeknown to the receiver and you need to fight your way past all the Chinese students who clearly have the advantage of speaking fluent Chinese and so can quite easily cut over you as you mumble your number in broken Chinese to the delivery guy.

Quite an ingenious system actually, and in actual fact they have changed this system as of late with a brand new building and facilities that I will go into on a different post. 

As always, any questions let me know! 

3- Spitting

Chinese people spit. That's a fact.

One could go as far to say that only the uneducated people spit, but I don’t think that's the case. Frankly it’s quite normal within the Chinese culture for people to cough up their lungs and spit so loudly it makes you want to die a little inside.

Be prepared for it because men, women, young and old - Even the cute little old lady plodding down the street could do it at anytime. I’ve been living in Beijing for little over a year now and I still can’t get used to it because quite honestly I think it’s disgusting.

Of course I wouldn’t be a proper intercultural communications student if I didn’t delve a bit deeper – many of the culprits believe they are getting rid of a poison within their body and that's its healthy to spit often and loudly. It is such a normal part of society that no one even turns an eye.

That being said, its definitely not for me!

2- Apps

Trust me, if you want any semblance of a normal life in China there are two or three must have apps to download before you get here, those are Alipay, Wechat and some sort of underground map (I recommend Beijing Subway).

To clarify, Wechat will be you life while you are in China. It is going to be your Whatsapp and Facebook all wrapped into one and is the only thing you're going to need when making friends and communicating online with Chinese people. You can also pay your friends money via Wechat and normally get paid if you're doing any tutoring/teaching around China. 

However Alipay is where its all at on the money side of things. Once you have set up your bank account in China you can create an Alipay account linking your card to the app - this enables you to pay for things all around China. 

But why don't I just pay with my debit card? Well. As much as China is developing it seems to be a little slow on the whole card payment thing. I can tell you for a fact that KFC do not accept card payments, only cash or Alipay, crazy right?

Alipay will also enable you to pay your bills, book cinema tickets, flights etc. It also allows access for you to buy things from Taobao - the holy grail of shopping. Think of Amazon products but at least 50% cheaper because it hasn't been exported, with delivery being under 50p and arriving on average within 3 days. I would highly recommend you check it out. 

Lastly the Beijing Subway map - well I suppose the maps are also listed in the underground but this app is an offline map saved onto your phone and will route you to where you want to go, not too bad and I still use it today over one year later of being in China. 

Handy Phrases to Learn

Alipay - zhī fù bǎo

Wechat - weī xìn 

Pay by card - shuā kǎ

Any questions let me know,

Amie ~

1- Intro

Girl with the China tattoo - it's a weird one isn't it.  I was inspired by the fantastic character of Lisbeth Salander from the Millennium series, one I would fully recommend (however not for the faint hearted!). The first novel 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is brilliant, and quite obviously from where I was inspired for the title of this blog.

So am I similar to Lisbeth Salander? Will this blog be full of my fascinating hacking expeditions? No. Not at all. In actuality i'm just a girl, with a China tattoo, quite literally. Four years ago I got the Chinese characters for China - 中国 - tattooed onto my body and have suffered the teasing from fellow classmates ever since, (not that they understand the meaning behind my actions of course). 

In a nutshell this blog will consist of very short, concise, posts revealing differences and similarities and basically anything I find worthy of writing about living in China. Did I mention I live in China?

Enjoy!

Amie ~