Reasons to like China

[website]

Here are some reasons to like China:

1. The women

2. The weather in southern China

3. Cheap prices

4. Booming economy

5. Few drug addicts, mentally ill, or homeless

people

6. Little violent crime

7. Learning Chinese

Feel free to add your own reasons to the list.

[TSkillet]

few homeless people?

i guess if you consider the masses of migrant labor not homeless.

few drug addicts?

i guess if you're not including the province of kunming

[TSkillet]

er. . .yunnan

[niubi]

there are drug addicts every where in china.

[liuzhou]

There are many reasons to like living in China. They have kept me here for eight years.

But No 5 listed above is NOT among them.

[wushijiao]

The food

9) Watching the fastest changing society on Earth

10) The nice people

11) The diversity of travel spots

12) Guazi 瓜子 (semi-joking)

13）opportunity to teach motivated students

Also, the language, as mentioned.

[benotnobody]

Hmmm.... point five is somewhat contentious. Unfortunately, there are drug addicts and homeless people in every country, even in supposedly "developed" nations like the US, the UK, Australia etc.

And no offence, but mentally ill people usually have no control over their condition. Perhaps it is unfair to classify them as something that detracts from society.

[To Whom It May Concern]

I think that you shouldn't make fun of the mentally disabled, home-deprived and unfortunate people who are addicted to little jagged pills...Also the economy is currently in a tailspin...

Also...the mentally ill can not help their condition...

[To Whom It May Concern]

PS...Crime levels in China are the highest ever in the world!

[website]

A few observations:

I don't doubt drugs exist in China, but what kind of drugs are popular in China now? Crack? Pot? Heroin? Opium? Although drugs are almost everywhere, I never saw any drug addicts, dirty needles, tent cities, or many mentally ill people here like I saw in Los Angeles. I hope no one is offended, but I personally would feel more safer walking around Beijing at midnight than Detroit.

I also forgot to list food as a benefit to living in China. Chinese food is delicious except when it makes you sick, has bones in it, or is something weird like chicken feet, duck lungs, dog meat, cat, snake, or fish heads. Actually, many people prefer the Chinese food made

in the US. Ironically, I have never seen eggrolls, fried wonton, or fortune cookies in China. Chinese food is a bit cheaper in China, though.

www.goldendragonrest.com

Despite the annoyances of Asia, many American expats have no great urge to return to the USA. Reading the hysterical, doomsday articles about terrorism, oil prices, divorce, homelessness, depression, crime, inflation, outsourcing, lawsuits, credit card debt, and a shaky economy in the American media really don't make many people want to go back. Life is just simpler in China.

[TSkillet]

I don't doubt drugs exist in China, but what kind of drugs are popular in China now? Crack? Pot? Heroin? Opium? Although drugs are almost everywhere, I never saw any drug addicts, dirty needles, tent cities, or many mentally ill people here like I saw in Los Angeles.

Heroin, opium (again), ketamine, ecstasy, other clubbing drugs. The heroin addiction in southwest china is especially bad, becuase it's mainly drugs delivered via needle, leading to the double societal ill of a large, unspoken AIDS issue.

If you haven't seen drug addicts or dirty needles, then you're not really ilooking hard. Especially in Shenzhen.

I also forgot to list food as a benefit to living in China. Chinese food is delicious except when it makes you sick, has bones in it, or is something weird like chicken feet, duck lungs, dog meat, cat, snake, or fish heads.

Fish heads and chicken feet are weird? Shoot, we eat those here in Houston. Snake too - I just saw rattlesnake down at Central Market- it was $32/pound.

Actually, many people prefer the Chinese food made

in the US. Ironically, I have never seen eggrolls, fried wonton, or fortune cookies

Yeah, those people would be Americans. Lots of people also prefer TGI Fridays and the Olive Garden to Yung Kee or French Laundry.

Eggrolls are easily found in dim sum restaurants. Fried wontons and fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco.

[Ian_Lee]

What is wrong with food having bone in it?

The bones can actually train your tongue and lips for certain movements that your girl friend would desperately yearn for.

In fact, I just eat fish and chicken with bones. Only eat filets.

[PollyWaffle]

Crime levels in China are the highest ever in the world!

really? how do you know this?

[bhchao]

Crime levels in China are the highest ever in the world!

That is incorrect. If you view this ranking of the countries with the highest number of murders per capita, you will see that China is not even on the list. Colombia is 1st and South Africa is 2nd. I think I recall a discussion on this forum mentioning those two countries as having the highest homicide rates.

China has its own share of crime, but most of the crime are non-violent.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap

[tokyo_girl]

Great cheap street food, depending on where you live.

A motivated population (sharp contrast with Japan)

Not sure about mental illness. Suicides are very high

in China which would indicate mental illness.

I think mental illness might be a lot higher than reported.

[liuzhou]

Suicides are very high in China

In fact, according to the World Health Organisation, the suicide rate in China is three times the average.

Also the number of suicides among woman is 25% higher than that for men, which is very unusual. In almost every country, suicide among men is more common.

[hamz]

China surely is not the best country for living. but it 's also not so bad.

for example. drug problem. as you know, the drugs are very expensive. so mostly they are sold to american, europe. so when you say chinese people are not too rich, please considerate we have not enough money to buy drugs. I don't think drug problem is flood in SHENZHEN, in china. most people will think it is extremely unacceptable.

let me talk about suicide. It's true that we sometimes see the suicide news on newspaper. But it is not so common. at least, I don't heard it happened on my friends, my relatives, my neighbours, my colleagues. and I never see this happened around me. (p.s. I am 29 years old) But I don't know how often is suicide caused in other countries. so I can't say it happen least in china.

If you are interesting in china, why not travel here yourself, and see in your own eyes. just like, some people say US is not so good because of high crime, drugs problem, discrimination to asian and so on. but it is told by others. if I want to confirm these, I think the best way is going there for seeing the truth .

my english is not good. hope you can understand me. and don't force me type pinyin. ha ha .

[bhchao]

Let's not exaggerate conditions in China. Two countries stand out when it comes to suicides; Finland and Japan.

Biggest problems in China right now:

1) Environmental (Air quality, water pollution). 70% of China's major cities have poor air quality. Beijing is taking some steps to improve its environmental quality just to prepare for the Olympics. Let's hope that these initiatives are not just confined to Beijing, and not solely for the purpose of looking good in front of the world.

2) Energy shortages. With its huge population, rapid economic growth, and growing incomes, China's demand for oil will certainly rise and eventually surpass the US, making it heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil.

China needs innovative people who can think of ways to reduce the dependence on foreign energy sources, and move in the direction of energy efficiency (whether it be nuclear, renewable energy sources, or better central planning in the first place). I recently read an article in the New York Times saying that France has greatly reduced its dependence on foreign oil by using nuclear power to produce electricity.

3) Huge gap between the rich and the poor.

4) The ever-growing sex ratio problem partially caused by the one-child policy. If people think unhighly of having female kids and get rid of them, one day there will be no more women to produce the desired males!

5) Corruption

Why not discuss these issues rather than overgeneralize China by saying the people there are rude, crime is the highest, or suicides are among the world's highest. Japan has a much higher suicide rate than China. What steps have been taken there to alleviate the problem? Seoul is also facing an alarming, growing number of suicides; with people jumping in front of moving subway trains. The government has responded by playing Art and Garfunkel music, soothing jazzy music, and music with lyrics asking philosophical, positive questions about life. How much that has alleviated the problem in Seoul I don't know.

[wushijiao]

let me talk about suicide. It's true that we sometimes see the suicide news on newspaper. But it is not so common.

I used to work in a Chinese university of about 6,000 people. In one year alone there were three suicides, including one of my students. It was the start of a new semester, so I didn't know everyone yet. He commited suicide in about week three of the term, and my students were forbidden from telling any foreigner what had happened (hardcore secret punishments were the norm). So, I looked quite the fool calling his name in my role call after he died. Needless to say, his classmates suffered heavy trauma, which they had to endure in quasi-silence. The so-called psycologists advice to depressed and at-risk students was always, "think of your family!".

I don't mean to post this as a "blame China" thing. In fact, I think suicidal behavior is somewaht normal for young people around the world. What matters is the way the system deals with it, and it seems that at least in Shanghai, mental health is starting to become a huge new topic. But in the hinterland the situation can seem desperate. The stress on Chinese young people can be enormous, especially when the go from being their parents' obedient tool to being their parents' financial guardian in a one-year span.

[website]

China may not be the cleanest, richest, fairest, safest country in the world, but I personally feel that Asia is best for me. Many Americans in the US feel they need to work 40+ hours a week just to keep their head above water. Being Chinese in China may be very difficult, but China is almost a paradise for most foreigners.

Maybe the rate for mental illness is the same in China, but I just don't see too many people walking around talking to themselves while pushing shopping carts like I did in the US. Chinese women also seem more level-headed than other women. Many American women I have met are single parents, overweight or have tattoos, piercings, tried drugs, alcohol, smoking, are not virgins, and are a bit pyscho. This is just my

opinion, but I would feel much better going up to an average girl at a bus stop in China than in the US. How many hot, young, single chicks wait for a bus in the US? American girls always seem a bit snooty to me, too.

China may have more suicides than the USA, but China is a bigger country. This chart says the USA rate is higher:

http://www.fathersforlife.org/health/who_suicide_rates.htm

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