An American’s Survival Guide To China

Today I am happy to introduce guest blogger Louise Baker to amerikajin.net. This is her first entry on this blog, so please help me in welcoming her and hopefully you’ll be seeing more of her work on here in the near future! Louise is a freelance blogger and journalist who writes for Zen College Life, the directory of higher education, distance learning, and online schools. She most recently wrote about the top online colleges.

Learn the Language
This is perhaps the most important point for any foreigner hoping to survive in China. Even in such cosmopolitan cities as Beijing and Shanghai, being able to at least speak and understand – and if possible, read and write a little – Chinese will make living in China far easier. In fact, in almost every major city on the mainland with the possible exception of Shanghai, some basic level of competency in Chinese is not only an advantage but a necessity if you intend to build a life for yourself in China. Even in Beijing, the capital city, many of the people you’ll need to communicate with on a daily basis – waiters in restaurants, street vendors, cab drivers, and even people you ask directions from on the sidewalk – will not be able to speak any English at all, and if they do, it may be severely limited.

Which Dialect?
As for the language itself, Chinese is an old and varied language that comes in countless dialects. However, for a stay on the mainland – or even in Taiwan – your dialect of choice should be Mandarin, which is the primary and mostly widely-spoken dialect in the country and Chinese diaspora. Even speakers of other dialects generally have at least enough Mandarin to communicate on an everyday level. For daily life in Hong Kong, however, the Cantonese dialect is still king – though in Hong Kong, foreigners should get by fine with English thanks to a still thriving British influence on the island.

Chinese Etiquette
Like any other culture, the Chinese have their own standards of etiquette and ideas of what constitute polite behavior. As a foreigner, it will be important to understand the Chinese concept of “good manners.” Some basics include denying compliments – for example, the correct reply to “You’re so pretty” is “Oh no, I’m not pretty at all.” Gifts should not, unless otherwise stated or implied, be opened in front of their givers. Shoes should be removed upon entering a personal dwelling. As for behavior in restaurants, never leave chopsticks stuck in your food, especially rice, and when reaching for a new piece of food, try to aim for the piece closest to you.

Cuisine: From Restaurants to Street Food
This, of course, brings us to the subjects of food in China. Good news for restaurant goers – you aren’t expected to tip waiters, which makes paying the bill a little less of a hassle. However, if you want your waiter to pay any attention to you at all, you’ll have to shout for him – or more likely, her – whenever you want anything. Restaurants in China are filled with shouts of “Fuwuyuan!” – a generic term for service people in China. While food in China is, on average, fairly inexpensive, the cheapest – and often tastiest – options of all are often the vendors selling snacks on the street. Be careful of hygiene, though, and never buy uncooked meat or vegetables! Safe bets for street food usually include dumplings, baozi (stuffed buns), pastries, and sticky rice.