The main cultural differences between the UK and China
There's quite a few strange things over here, however I've managed to categorise the main cultural differences within 3 different categories quite conveniently supporting the WTF acronym.
Weather: It's not so much the case anymore, but I arrived on the 20th of July at the peak of the heat wave, during which a Shanghai man supposedly cooked some bacon and eggs on the pavement. It wasn't so much the scorching sun that was hard to adapt to(mainly blocked out by the grey skies), it was the humidity. Impossible to survive without air conditioning and after 5 seconds of walking outside you would be under the impression that you just jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed.
Traffic: Pure madness. I only have to cross one intersection to get to work every morning, despite this fact, I treat every breakfast as my last. I've seen pretty much everything, scooters carrying goats and whole families, cars driving down roads the wrong way and grandmothers speeding past cars on turbo boosted electric wheelchairs. Road signs have no significance whatsoever over here, there's only one rule, the biggest gets priority. They do nonetheless have cameras on top of traffic lights taking pictures of people to verify that seat belts are being worn. I can't imagine how tedious it would be flipping through 1,000+ pictures a day of people sitting in cars to check the seat belts.
Food: After having lived in France for 10 years, the first time that I actually ate frog was last month in Shanghai(after our host told me to guess which meat it was, which I reluctantly agreed to). I'm quite picky with my food, I don't like seafood or spicy food. So this is probably the hardest adjustment for me and has resulted in me mainly eating at KFC, MaccyDs or Subway (whom know what sandwich to start making as soon as I walk through the door as I eat pretty much every lunch there).
There is a saying that the Chinese eat everything with 4 legs, apart from the table. This saying has so far proven to be extremely truthful. I have witnessed chopstick fights during a meal over who gets to eat the fish eyes. They sell chicken feet as crisp packets in corner shops. Whilst walking through Shanghai I also saw some kind of scorpion brochette being sold by a street vendor. I am sure many will disagree with me in regards to my lack of nutritional curiosity (and I don't blame you, as I said above I am picky) and I mean no disrespect to the Chinese bravery in the face of food, but I do feel as if there are many things in this country that are being inexplicably orally ingested, which should not be. I miss my steak & ale pies and salt & vinegar crisps :(
Traffic: Pure madness. I only have to cross one intersection to get to work every morning, despite this fact, I treat every breakfast as my last. I've seen pretty much everything, scooters carrying goats and whole families, cars driving down roads the wrong way and grandmothers speeding past cars on turbo boosted electric wheelchairs. Road signs have no significance whatsoever over here, there's only one rule, the biggest gets priority. They do nonetheless have cameras on top of traffic lights taking pictures of people to verify that seat belts are being worn. I can't imagine how tedious it would be flipping through 1,000+ pictures a day of people sitting in cars to check the seat belts.Food: After having lived in France for 10 years, the first time that I actually ate frog was last month in Shanghai(after our host told me to guess which meat it was, which I reluctantly agreed to). I'm quite picky with my food, I don't like seafood or spicy food. So this is probably the hardest adjustment for me and has resulted in me mainly eating at KFC, MaccyDs or Subway (whom know what sandwich to start making as soon as I walk through the door as I eat pretty much every lunch there).
There is a saying that the Chinese eat everything with 4 legs, apart from the table. This saying has so far proven to be extremely truthful. I have witnessed chopstick fights during a meal over who gets to eat the fish eyes. They sell chicken feet as crisp packets in corner shops. Whilst walking through Shanghai I also saw some kind of scorpion brochette being sold by a street vendor. I am sure many will disagree with me in regards to my lack of nutritional curiosity (and I don't blame you, as I said above I am picky) and I mean no disrespect to the Chinese bravery in the face of food, but I do feel as if there are many things in this country that are being inexplicably orally ingested, which should not be. I miss my steak & ale pies and salt & vinegar crisps :(
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