On Reentry and Readjustment to the PRC

It’s been too long since I’ve been abroad, but I’m back in China! And for three and a half months this time.  For the first three weeks, I’ll be in Guangzhou helping conduct ophthalmic clinical research, while renting a room with a Chinese family (with a tiny toddler!) within walking distance of the hospital.

House I'm staying in

Porch & courtyard 

Street that I live on

Many stares and a few surreptitious photo-takers have warmly noted my reentry to the PRC.  Guangzhou is much more diverse than I remember the rest of China being, however.  I've already seen several white people and a fair number of Muslims.

The daily summer rainstorms have made me finally realize why platform flip-flops and maybe all platform shoes in general are such a thing here.  Or maybe because they're short, and can afford the extra height without reaching the point where it's just dangerous if you were ever to fall (did I mention I don't fit under the shower head?).  No one can do bug repellant quite as well as the monsoon countries, either.  The repellants all smell like deliciousness (perfume or lemons or anything) and can be a spritz or lotion.  I don't know the characters for DDT anyway.

I've taken a real liking to wearing my backpack on my front (extremely common here because of thieves), and I think I'm going to bring the trend to Yale.  Not only can you watch over your bag, but you get easy access to reach inside, and you can toddle around better!

Really strange to sneeze and not ever hear a single thing afterwards.  There's no real parallel phrase for "bless you."

Everyone I've met is really amazed at my ability to use Google here.  I have a VPN provided by Yale so I can get around the great firewall of China, but not many Chinese have (or are able to download) one.  Go to www.greatfirewallofchina.org to see what all is censored.

Guangdong has so many dialects.  English has its own dialects, including within the States, but those of Chinese are especially hard to understand as a nonnative speaker.  Even if I understand little else in Mandarin, I can catch the phrase "her Chinese sucks" every time.  Now in Guangdong province everyone uses Cantonese (广东话) instead, a dialect different from Mandarin, so I can't even eavesdrop when people start talking about the white girl.  The written characters are the same for both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects though.  Most people in Guangzhou still are able to speak Mandarin, and it's the prestige dialect used in schools.  While Guangdong locals are still Han ethnicity like 90% of China, they have a cultural identity associated with their language.  This distinct identity plus some geographic distance from Beijing allows for a few of the national policies to be a bit less strictly enforced, such as the one-child policy.  The one-child policy itself is becoming altogether more relaxed nowadays because China is worried about its aging population.  For example, if one of the parents was an only child then the couple can have two children rather than just one.

黄花岗 (Chrysanthemum Hill), a huge park right near where my house