EctiBot 2014-06-03 12:13:00

Lucky you :(. China is one of the top 5 countries I wanna travel to before I die XD.

LunacyEcho 2014-06-03 20:35:16

As someone who's lived in China for quite a while now and has been to Xi'an multiple times, I'd advise you to LOOK OUT. Chinese culture is extremely different from Western culture. I'm sure you knew that already, but you really do have to change your behavior and expectations enormously. Most members of the public are absolutely ruthless. No more polite gestures from strangers, no more friendliness from employees. I'm half convinced the national sport of China is spitting on the streets.

However, that's not saying you shouldn't have a good time. If you learn to ignore China's weird underbelly (which more often than not is the people), you'll find that it has a charm that you can't find anywhere else. It's got amazing scenery, a rich history, and is not that bad of a place to live in if you can get used to some of its flaws. There's always more to explore.

PS: The first few days of learning Chinese is probably going to test your patience. It wasn't rated the second-hardest language to learn (second only to Arabic) for nothing. Speaking from experience, the first push into Chinese was definitely the hardest. Good luck and have fun!

Pene 2014-06-04 01:27:11

Awww C: you're awesome bae
Love you so much boo dont let them get to you always stay true to your dreams <3

Tichondrius12 2014-06-04 19:43:47

Thats awesome man! I always wondered how it looks the Forbidden city, theres also the temple of Heaven, the well know Great wall and the Terracota army. I wish i could go to China, though i was born in Taiwan :(

But anyway, Enjoy your trip!

UnknownOne 2014-06-08 20:20:39

If you go to any of the bigger cities, I'd say that good restaurants and cultural highlights should be your target. Beijing is the epitome of this, with the Forbidden City and vast numbers of restaurants.

Also, a bit on the Chinese language: grammatical cases are built up by adding words, and it's very different. Plural pronouns are made by the singular noun + "mén" after. There's a shitton of individual symbols, and a certain order each part of them are written. Also, when pronouncing Chinese words, you must have the right intonation, speaking monotonically will break any sense you're trying to make of your sentence.

Bubbowrap 2014-06-13 21:39:27

That sounds awesome and I'm completely jealous! I have friends who went to Hong Kong to study for ten weeks, and they made a lot of "jokes" about avoiding the Triad--especially at night.

Have fun, dude!

SpikeVallentine 2014-06-30 16:18:44

wow.........make as much as you can before you go!

This sounds fantastic for you man.

KrisKrosNL 2014-07-09 00:21:25

The first step into learning Chinese (to be more specific, Mandarin) is the most frustrating one. It took me around a year to grasp the basics - although I was unwilling to learn it, as it was forced upon me. Now I can speak fluent Mandarin after learning it for 6 years. Hopefully you can manage to master the basics in a few months time. Learning Chinese will be one of the greatest linguistic gifts you can hope to get, it's really useful.

And a few things to put in mind. Try not to use sarcastic remarks while in China, because most people cannot understand sarcasm - they take words literally. The Chinese language isn't designed to make sarcastic remarks like Germanic languages (English, etc). Also, some dialects of Chinese will be hard to understand or nigh impossible (Guang Dong Hua, per example).

Last, be careful of the people there. There are some citizens who disrespect foreigners just because they are not Chinese. And if you can't understand Chinese, they will sometimes make insulting remarks on you while you remain oblivious to their words. Of course, not everyone is like that, and some Chinese people like foreigners. Also, if you see beggars, do not give them money. I'm not saying it because I'm heartless, it's because most of the beggars are fake. I've seen many blow their cover on some occasions.

I've lived in Beijing for six years and been to Xi 'An on one occasion with my classmates. Xi 'An will be pretty HOT, and the air there is pretty DRY. I got sunburned in just 3 days while visiting there. And, of course, a moderate level of pollution (although not as bad as Beijing and Shanghai). Prepare yourself, both mentally and physically.

Krichotomy 2015-01-11 16:57:13

r u back yet im getting impatient grr

Krichotomy 2015-01-14 08:31:52

Oh, I wasn't expecting a response! Glad to hear from you, bro. :D Enjoy South Korea and Japan, then!

E102GammaFans20 2015-09-25 02:22:01

I am so sorry about the late response here, I am sure you are back by now, I am from Singapore, trust me, Singapore food is the best and you should try it.
One thing from me:
I went to China, Qingdao, for a cultural exchange for my school, it was fun and we could communicate well, I am Half-Taiwanese/ Singaporean, but learning their language is fun and you could enjoy the joys, the spitting in their is way worse than any other countries I went, so be careful of it. And you should go to Taiwan and their food is nice, like, smelly tofu and the like, so if you do ever read this comment, I will be grateful!
By the way, I like your music and hopefully you could create more like your classical music Tears of Remorse. It is awesome!
From: Kasendra

E102GammaFans20 2015-09-25 02:26:30

Regarding about my previous comment, you can also ask me about Taiwan or Singapore if you are going there, I am an expert on it!