As everyone knows, China is very large. In fact, as the world’s third largest country, it has a total landmass of 9,326,410 square kilometers (it’s slightly smaller than the U.S.). While we only spent time in Beijing, there were many times when I was keenly aware that the Chinese have a different perspective when it comes to personal space. I can only assume this is because they are accustomed to sharing space with so many people. For example, many times in the grocery store or at the ATM, I had Chinese people stand at a distance that I considered an “invasion” of my personal space and it never seemed to faze them.
One of the things I missed about home while in China was solitude while outdoors. I used to live on the lakefront in Chicago and spent many hours reading, watching sunrises or walking on the shore of Lake Michigan all alone. Our Chinese driver once asked me about some of the differences between home and China and I brought up the issue of solitude. He laughed and said Chinese people don’t like to be alone and that he did not understand the appeal of not being around others.
We had Chinese friends from the workplace so most of them spoke pretty close to fluent English (Chinese accent, of course). Obviously, all individuals are different so I won’t make generalizations about an entire group of people. What I did observe in our Chinese friends was that most of them were very sociable, they liked going out for meals together, they celebrate long Chinese holidays like the Spring Festival, most were very much into Western culture, the women tended to be rather shy and they really, really like karaoke.
Getting around Beijing is actually quite convenient. Taxis are easily accessible and cheap. Beijing has an extensive bus system (again, quite inexpensive). My husband frequently bicycled around the city, although I would not recommend this for the faint of heart.
