Yesterday evening on the way back from the supermarket I found a mobile phone lying on the ground. I looked around, picked it up and put it into my pocket. Once I had got home, I kept the phone on expecting the owner to call it the moment they realised it was lost.

I checked out the number by calling 10086 and discovered that the SIM had over 200yuan on it, so I was expecting a call. I checked the phonebook for possible contacts but found that it was empty.

Come the next morning the owner must have realised what he or she had done because the SIM was blocked. There was never a call made to the phone, the owner probably figured that ‘what good would it have done anyway!’ and simply made sure to cancel and transfer the SIM to a new phone.

I’ve had experience with this before and It doesn’t really surprise me that nobody called the phone back. When you lose a phone it’s gone, whether that be in the back of a taxi at a restaurant or in any public place (I’m yet to hear of anyone getting their lost phone returned). Even if you can place where you last had it, this is of no use. Nobody will accept liability, the chances are much more likely that it’s been switched off and sold for a couple of hundred yuan at the black market.

I think this touches upon a vein of dishonesty that runs through so much in life here, a type of selfishness that most outsiders consider obnoxious. People acting without conscience and being able to justify almost anything.

The ‘If I don’t do It then somebody else will’ attitude.

Sure there are always dishonest people anywhere in the world, however I find it difficult to believe that there is another country where it is so rampant, for me it is like a disease. Perhaps this stems from a basic lack of morals and/or spirtual influence being replaced by raw materialism. Money = morality. Maybe having no rule-of-law and a corrupt justice system makes things very easy to get away with. It is fair game; finders keepers, losers weepers.

It’s probably a sign of how conditioned I am, that I don’t feel bad about this anymore. I do have a conscience and I do have morals, though I you have to be pragmatist. But I still believe that once I chose to pick up the phone and put it into my pocket there was nothing more I could do. If the person won’t even call their old phone and ask for it back it is no longer my problem.

I certainly won’t be handing it to the police, that’s for sure. There probably isn’t even a system in place for handing-in lost property and I might end up get accused of being a thief!

Stocked up on 15 boxes of Earl Grey tea (伯爵茶) the other day after an impromptu visit to Wal-Mart during the work lunch-hour. The price of them had been cut to only 7 yuan a box, when the normal price is usually more than 20 yuan. It’s actually pretty good tea and Is the only tea I drink regularly. Usually I avoid Wal-Mart as I think it’s more expensive than other places and the fact that their stores in Changchun are a little out of the way for me.

The thing about Changchun is that it can be very difficult to know whether a particular shop will be expensive or cheap, without actually going inside and finding out.

From a western perspective you would expect the large supermarkets to be cheaper than the smaller stores – economies of scale and all that. However in Changchun I would say that it is much cheaper to get your things at the local market, or at a variety of different locations. Another thing is that the price of goods differs quite a lot depending upon where you buy from. It is quite reasonable to be able to walk around the corner and get something for half the price. You just have to shop around. A good example is the Hengkelong supermarket (恒客隆超市) at Guilin Lu. This is perhaps the most expensive place to buy daily groceries in the whole city!

Perhaps the deal with supermarkets is that you pay a little more just for the convenience of being able to get everything under one roof? Or maybe the supermarket concept is considered ‘upmarket’ and hense stores can charge more?

My personal belief is that this exists as there is no real competition. Prices are set not depending on what the market expects, but what the retailers think they can get away with! It may also be true that the Chinese consumers are not as savvy as consumers in the west, perhaps in part to the whole supermarket thing being very new. I think that many Chinese consumers place a high value on loyalty and will keep on coming back it they like a place – perhaps this is why they are prepared to pay more? In the west if a supermarket is 20% more expensive than its competitior and they are selling essentially the same stuff to the same market, It would be out of business in no time.

Over the last few months I’ve been getting frequently frustrated with the way things are done at the publishing company I’ve been working at. It’s one of my various part-time jobs, It’s a challenge and often enjoyable but immensly disillusioning if you care about quality of work. I think it’s mainly because the errors I see are so easily fixed and yet no one cares as long as they keep on producing materials. I suspect many of the business practices I see here are mirrored throughout other Chinese businesses.

Everything is so terribly short-term, nobody plans ahead by more than 24 hours and this causes great strain on the operation of the company. On the 30th September everyone was told that they would have a 7 day vacation in line with the National holiday, from the 1st to the 8th. So most staff made arrangements to travel to other cities to meet friends and family. Imagine my consternation when on the evening of the 4th I received a phone call asking me to work on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Apparently the person in charge had a change of heart and decided that everyone must go back to work for the rest of the week! Stuff what was previously said, if people are travelling then they must come back to work! I, of course, told them there was no chance of me working however after some persuasion I gave them a compromise; You pay me triple pay and I’ll think about it. This worked becasue they never did call me back and no more questions were asked!

The next week I spoke with some of my Chinese collegages and many had to rush back to Changchun from their home towns or cancel visits to see people, but they all agreed to do it. Nobody questioned this. This is because there is basically zero job security, they can be easily replaced and there are no trade unions let alone employment laws protecting their rights. In many ways this represents the very primitive kind of capitalism China has adopted, at its worst. So I have come to the not-so-shocking-conclusion that if I were to work long-term in China, it would only ever be for a foreign company.

This company don’t seem to get it that it is so easy for them to produce quality materials, they have the resources to do it, it’s just they don’t want to change. The management are so afraid of changing things, even if that means continuing to produce sub-stadard material. As I see it, the problem is that there is no business incentive for them to produce quality work.

The company I work for produces the national examinations for high school students as well as various other English language learning materials – including a newspaper. They have a captive market; students have to take the exams and will subscribe to their newspaper regardless of the quality of the end product. They don’t have to worry about competition much less accountability to any government standards body.

I guess that’s just China and one of the problems of ‘communism’ as long as everyone has a job (even if their job is meaningless) then all’s well and good. Why rock the boat?
When this place finally fully opens up to foreign companies so may of the Chinese companies will have to change their act or face insolvency.
Much of the content of the English texts is composed by fake foreigners (Chinese people signing the work with a foreign name like John Smith) is factually incorrect. They could get real foreigners to write these articles (rather than just edit) or even copy from real sources. Or who knows, maybe even write all their own materials?

Imagine westerners writing articles about Chinese culture (in Chinese) who have never actually been to China, then using these articles in educational materials!

It seems that often the cultural content of these articles appears normal to a Chinese person’s eyes, but it’s clearly not a right perception of culture and world view. It simply miseducates students about foreign cultures.

Another problem is a considerably inaccurate world view presented in the articles. At least 50% of the articles cover two countries (US & UK) alone, with half of the rest covering Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. And the rest of the world covering the rest! This gives the students a very skewed view of the world – and perpertuates those terrible stereotypes.

So much stuff is produced with no regard for quality, there is no standard followed regarding the usage of english and so it is almost impossible for me to tell them if their work is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. There is basic misconception that there is a right and a wrong way of doing things in English as if there is a ‘common’ English as there is in Chinese – 普通话
Things are almost always plagerised – which isn’t the real problem – that’s to be accepted, but if they plagersise they should at least do it well!!
Sadly, most copy from Chinese English sources (because they can’t understand enough english to be able to copy from a real English website!) so you get things that are already bad being copied and made even worse 🙁 – then it’s my job to try to make head or tail of things!!

Then there’s the attempts at direct translations from Chinese, which almost always fail. The thing is being able to simplyfy a translation without distorting the original meaning of the text is easier said than done. The idea of simplyfying something from scientific language into quite easy language, without destroying the idea of the writing whilst making sure the work still makes sense.This is a really high level thing to do, It is tough for a native speaker and I have only met one Chinese person in the place where I work that can do it well. Frankly speaking, I believe that most of the people producing the learning materials don’t have competance to be able to pass their own tests!

I fear that, in the not too distant future, a bastardised ‘chinglish’ dialect will evolve and this is being perpetuated by the learning materials the students have. And now I am a part of that system…

I think living off campus, out in the community, is a much better way to see how things really operate. Living where I do now has enabled me to witness so many new sites that I
otherwise would have not seen.

Of course there are downs; getting woken up at 4am by the men cutting sheet metal or the guy upstairs who likes to play the trumpet, but the ups vastly outweigh them. It’s a good place to go outside and broaden your knowledge of other cultures and everyone wants to talk to me. Beyond the usual questions you can actually get some idea of how many of these people perceive foreigners and their beliefs, and some of the things I have heard are mind opening.

I don’t mean living in an upmarket, exclusive compound for the rich; though I have done this too and although very pleasant, it’s rather like being in legoland – distant and cut off from reality and I can understand why this is appealing.
Of course most foreigners live in such places or in specific buildings designated for foreigners only, and I think most westerners wouldn’t accept anything less in terms of a basic standard of accommodation, unless you have lived in China for a period of time and are accustomed to the conditions.

The government (and employers) encourage this is to protect the safety of the foreigners, as if anything happens to them the employer is vicariously liable.   But by doing this they inadvertently have created a situation where foreigners and Chinese dont mix.

Sure there are some unsafe places just like any other city but I think Changchun is significantly safer than London. I’ve heard stories of foreigners getting in fights and being hurt- but this is confined to drink related bar-brawls and this happens in any city, and is often to an extent, self-inflicted.
I think having an awareness of what is going on around you (understanding the basics of the language and the culture helps) – probably goes a long way to keeping yourself safe.
However, most people I know have had at least one phone stolen at some time or another. Petty theft and pick pocketing is a problem (as it is everywhere in China) especially so on public transport and in other public areas – but you just have to be vigilant. Also if you leave something somewhere, like forgetting to pick up your phone from the restaurant table, then it is gone. You won’t get it back. The same applies to taxis, shops, even classrooms.

When I get on a bus I adopt a common stance, I take my phone into one hand and move everything else into my other pocket and leave my hand in that pocket. Fortunately (touch wood) I’m yet to lose a phone, though someone took my keys (yes my keys!) when I left them on a table once.
Living on campus has it’s advantages in that work is convenient, I had only a 5 minute walk every morning, but keeping work separate from the rest your life is impossible.
I would find that students would ask me questions like ‘what were you doing last thursday night, I saw you walking past the library’ and other such nosy, but inquisitive questions
At first I thought that someone was following me, but I later came to realise that news spreads incredibly quickly when you are on a campus – everyone seems to know things about you and often they know things before you! Which is spooky, but you soon learn that you are the last person to know about anything that happens!

 
I used to think this was and example of the great Chinese eaves dropping network in operation, the idea of nothing being private. I actually believe it was more a case ‘Chinese Whispers’; the students having nothing else to do but speculate and spread rumour, and being the foreign teachers on campus makes you an interesting topic of conversation!
I sometimes got the feeling that my life was being watched, (It might well have been!)
as people would know things about my movements, but I never found out if this was true or not.

Most universities (all in Changchun) have special buildings for the Foreign Teachers to live in and these are subject to curfews (doors are locked!) which to me spells nothing but FIRE HAZARD. At least they don’t cut the power, like the Students halls.
The Chinese teachers also are expected to live in special accommodation on campus, but in recent years as home ownership has become more affordable, many can rent or live in their own place. And I don’t blame them, the Chinese Teachers’ accommodaton can be nothing more than a military style dormitory!

Recently i’ve noticed that more people have been trying to engage with me in English. It’s probably because the schools are on holiday, and the youngsters that are usually stuck in a classroom for 8 hours a day, can actually get outside and meet other people！
Of course many college students also want to practise their English with the foreigner, and I understand that most students seldom have the opportunity to converse with a native speaker. So I try to be friendly, but sometimes i’m not in the mood.

I have become particularly hardened to this over the last few months and my attitude has begun to change.

They say the environment in which one lives has an effect on how one thinks and acts, and this is what has happened to me.

My attitude is now this: I now generally ignore people that try to speak to me in English.

This is because (outside the classroom) I’m just fed up of listening to bad english, and trying to understand someones meaning when I don’t have either the time or energy to think about it. This is a bit of a selfish attitude, it’s just that too many times i’ve been harangued by people wanting no more than a free English lesson – and the fact is, I really don’t have time to help everyone all of the time.

But I think the real issue here is one of complete ignorance. It seems that most Chinese beleive all foreign people understand English, especially that all White people in the world speak English. This claim annoys me, and so If anyone assumes I speak English without first asking ‘Do you speak English’ I stare back giving them a look as if they are a total moron.

This technique works for most, but it fails to deter the real hardcore element, who will keep asking and asking. For them it is necessary to reply with the simple and succinct ‘我听不动英语’ ‘I don’t understand English’. This results in a confused look ‘but you’re foreign you MUST understand english, don’t you all understand english?! you must be stupid!’

Indeed I have met many people who despite being told ‘我听不动英语’ persist to ask questions in English – it is at which point I tell them I am from Iceland , and to please shut up. Another tactic I have recently employed is to speak complete gibberish back to someone, makes me laugh anyway.

I don’t often eat at McDonalds, but I went there yesterday, and before I reached the counter the lady behind the counter said ‘Hello. How can I help you’
I gave her a confused look and said ‘ 什么?’ ‘What?’ , she repeated the English and I said ‘ 请说汉语，我听不动英语’ ‘please speak Chinese, I don’t understand English’. So I ordered, and she said in in English ‘wait 2 minutes’ I gave that blank stare again and said ‘不动’, she stuck two fingers up at me as if to emphasize the two minutes, which only made me laugh, unfortunately she didn’t get the joke! 🙂
It seems logical to me, to first use the language of the country that we are in (i.e. Chinese), then if the customer doesn’t understand to revert to another language, but to assume this is quite offensive. It’s like seeing someone in the UK who looks asian and immediatly speaking Chinese to them.
Probably some bright spark in the Mcdonalds managment has told their employess to always speak English to foreigners – seemingly even if they don’t understand…

It still astounds me that in the year 2006, how people can remain so insular looking, lacking such basic common sense, afterall Changchun is only 300 miles from Russia and last time I checked they don’t speak English.
I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a Western born Asian who speaks English but no Chinese.