Wall of text and photos incoming, tl;dr, I traveled across China and this is what I saw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IYLBCe5Gg
In light of recent and not so recent threads that always seem to point out negative things about China and Chinese people, I want to make a thread that gives a different perspective on China than what we are accustomed to around here. One of the things that sucks is I personally feel like I'm defending China a lot of the time on GAF, but not because I want to, China has boatloads of problems I would be the first to admit that, but because the majority of GAF has no clue about how China actually is and they believe random bullshit on the internet. People come into threads talking like experts based on what they read, or their one week experience in Beijing and Shanghai, or even Hong Kong.
The reality is that this is a complex place and it's actually quite difficult to understand, especially without extensive studying of the country as a whole and living here for an extended period of time (longer than I've been here even!). I've been here for 4 years, been to almost every province, tons of major cities, and towns, villages, and everything in between. I still know very little about this place. One thing I do know however is that just like every other country I've been to (around 30 I guess), the majority of people are friendly, well-mannered, generally honest, and just trying to get by as best as they can. I really believe that humanity is generally good, and that just a few bad apples spoil things. When you have 1.5 billion people, a few bad apples is actually a lot of bad apples just based on percentages, and then you get threads about how Chinese people are savages, when in reality they are just like you and me, decent human beings. I'm not trying to be some white savior of the Chinese people on GAF, just want to present what I've experienced.
My friend and I recently tried to drive a what most of GAF would recognize as a tuk-tuk across China, we failed in driving the little car, but we still traveled East (Beijing) to West (Xinjiang) across China over the course of nearly two months, taking photos and interviewing people along the way. I discovered a very diverse country both in its physical landscape as well as in its cultures and people. I never felt unsafe at any point, China is a safe and friendly country. I felt welcome in stranger's homes, cars... you name it, people are very welcoming and mostly honest (some want some money after they show you around). I met a few really awesome inspiring people, and a country full of completely average, normal human beings. They weren't savages, they weren't spitting or shitting on the street. They were regular as hell, and to me that is inspiring in its normalcy. Across wide swaths of China, from cities to rural villages, people are all pretty much exactly the same. I'd expect to discover the same in my home country of the USA, my first adopted home in Australia, or pretty much anywhere else across the globe, save for some war-torn or extremely fucked regions.
Here are some photos and descriptions:
This is my partner 香菜 and our car for the first week or so before it decided it didn't wanna run anymore. We bought it second hand for 4500 RMB. Big mistake.
Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
Around day 5 we stopped in this village in Hebei. The houses were made of dirt 土房 mainly, and mostly abandoned. Most young people have left, like most villages in China. The people there mainly herd goats and sheep. This guy and his family showed us around.
Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
Kids all over the world are intrigued by cameras. Wherever you go if you have one you'll attract a crowd. We had fun learning their one handed counting method, it's different from what I learned in Shanghai.
Luoyang - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
The majority of people work hard and live normal lives. China isn't some weird "other" place, it's as normal as every other place, just different. We talked with a different street cleaner, he makes 1500 RMB (220 USD or so) a month and works 6 days per week, morning til dusk. His streets were clean, as are most of China's streets, despite the ridiculous number of people here. It does take constant cleaning to maintain, not saying everyone is throwing their garbage in the proper place or anything like that.
Xian - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
We hiked up to the top of Huashan and camped overnight. The sunrise was ok, nothing spectacular. It's a bit of a hike though, and that plank walk, if you watch that youtube video I linked at the top you'll see a bit of it. Crazy shit.
Huashan - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
I met this fortune teller in Shaanxi. He talked to me for 30 minutes for 15 RMB. I learned a lot about my future (perhaps). He said I would meet my future wife in the 7th month, but we were unsure if he meant my calendar or the Chinese one. We will see.
Weinan - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
But China isn't all old hocus pocus traditionalism. It's a modern place where people are free to express themselves and their individuality.
Weinan - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
But it does have the old, traditional, conservative people. They are probably more open to chatting with you than the young individualistic modern Chinese person. This guy might spit on the ground though and I know how a lot of GAF feels about that... the horror!
Yan'an - Crossing China by Eric, on Flickr
Struggled to decide if I should include this photo, because I envision if this thread has any discussion it'll be about this. But guess what, this is the reality of China and I'm showing you the reality of this place, good, bad and ugly. I'm including this because I want to share the story. I saw the sign for dog meat on the outside of his shop. I was curious so I went in and asked him about it. He was, like most Chinese people, overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming to me. I asked him to show me around, show me the meat, show me dogs that he was raising to butcher, etc. He had no problems showing me and talking to me about it all. He had no way to know my motives, maybe I was trying to expose him on the internet as some bad guy. But he didn't question me, he just took me at face value as a curious person and he took time out of his day to show me his business and talk to me on a human level. I don't necessarily agree with what he's doing (though it makes me a hypocrit since I eat meat), but he is just a normal dude trying to get by as best he can, just like the vast majority of humanity.
Inner Mongolia - Crossing china by Eric, on Flickr
China has also got beautiful, clean, remote, amazing places. We spent a day out here, 2 people on the lake with a guide for about 30 bucks. This was the only other group of people we saw.
Inner Mongolia - Crossing china by Eric, on Flickr
China is also incredibly culturally diverse, especially as you move out west. We went to the Mosque in Xining, Qinghai and this guy enjoyed proselytizing to me. I respectfully disagreed with everything he said, we shook hands, and said goodbye. People are friendly.
Crossing China - Qinghai by Eric, on Flickr
The next group of photos are all related and probably the highlight of the trip for me. We met a group of people on the streets of Zhangye in Gansu Province. They are an ethnic minority called Yugur and there are only about 13,000 of them left (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugur). They invited us to some beers and then later said they'd drive us to their village the next day if we wanted to come. We of course said yes and they were at our hotel bright and early. The village was 3+ hours drive up into the mountains. There was no running water, no phone signal, no internet. Just some sheep, some alcohol, and lots of nature and stars.
Crossing China - Gansu by Eric, on Flickr
Crossing China - Gansu by Eric, on Flickr
Crossing China - Gansu by Eric, on Flickr
Crossing China - Gansu by Eric, on Flickr
We ended up in Xinjiang, which if you look at the pictures you'd probably assume isn't China. And if you ask Xinjiang people they'd probably tell you the same. Anyway, they were once again fantastic people.
Crossing China - Wulumuqi by Eric, on Flickr
Crossing China - Wulumuqi by Eric, on Flickr
If you made it through that, thanks I suppose. I'm open to any questions about the trip or about China in general. We also have a China-GAF thread where we talk about China in usually a much more realistic fashion than the majority of threads that get posted around here. China (the country) has tons of problems, China (the people) are the same as you and me, and ideally this will help remind some people on here not to treat people as "others," but instead recognize everyone on an individual, human level. When you see them acting like "animals," maybe stop to consider more about why they behave that way. Perhaps consider the recent history of the country, the culture, and all the other variables that go into it. It's a lot more complex and takes a little more nuance to understand, but it's easy to kneejerk and judge people.
Hope this doesn't fall under self-promotion and get locked, because that's not my intent. I'm intending to show China from a much more personal, non sensationalist level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IYLBCe5Gg
In light of recent and not so recent threads that always seem to point out negative things about China and Chinese people, I want to make a thread that gives a different perspective on China than what we are accustomed to around here. One of the things that sucks is I personally feel like I'm defending China a lot of the time on GAF, but not because I want to, China has boatloads of problems I would be the first to admit that, but because the majority of GAF has no clue about how China actually is and they believe random bullshit on the internet. People come into threads talking like experts based on what they read, or their one week experience in Beijing and Shanghai, or even Hong Kong.
The reality is that this is a complex place and it's actually quite difficult to understand, especially without extensive studying of the country as a whole and living here for an extended period of time (longer than I've been here even!). I've been here for 4 years, been to almost every province, tons of major cities, and towns, villages, and everything in between. I still know very little about this place. One thing I do know however is that just like every other country I've been to (around 30 I guess), the majority of people are friendly, well-mannered, generally honest, and just trying to get by as best as they can. I really believe that humanity is generally good, and that just a few bad apples spoil things. When you have 1.5 billion people, a few bad apples is actually a lot of bad apples just based on percentages, and then you get threads about how Chinese people are savages, when in reality they are just like you and me, decent human beings. I'm not trying to be some white savior of the Chinese people on GAF, just want to present what I've experienced.
My friend and I recently tried to drive a what most of GAF would recognize as a tuk-tuk across China, we failed in driving the little car, but we still traveled East (Beijing) to West (Xinjiang) across China over the course of nearly two months, taking photos and interviewing people along the way. I discovered a very diverse country both in its physical landscape as well as in its cultures and people. I never felt unsafe at any point, China is a safe and friendly country. I felt welcome in stranger's homes, cars... you name it, people are very welcoming and mostly honest (some want some money after they show you around). I met a few really awesome inspiring people, and a country full of completely average, normal human beings. They weren't savages, they weren't spitting or shitting on the street. They were regular as hell, and to me that is inspiring in its normalcy. Across wide swaths of China, from cities to rural villages, people are all pretty much exactly the same. I'd expect to discover the same in my home country of the USA, my first adopted home in Australia, or pretty much anywhere else across the globe, save for some war-torn or extremely fucked regions.
Here are some photos and descriptions:
This is my partner 香菜 and our car for the first week or so before it decided it didn't wanna run anymore. We bought it second hand for 4500 RMB. Big mistake.
Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrAround day 5 we stopped in this village in Hebei. The houses were made of dirt 土房 mainly, and mostly abandoned. Most young people have left, like most villages in China. The people there mainly herd goats and sheep. This guy and his family showed us around.
Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrKids all over the world are intrigued by cameras. Wherever you go if you have one you'll attract a crowd. We had fun learning their one handed counting method, it's different from what I learned in Shanghai.
Luoyang - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrThe majority of people work hard and live normal lives. China isn't some weird "other" place, it's as normal as every other place, just different. We talked with a different street cleaner, he makes 1500 RMB (220 USD or so) a month and works 6 days per week, morning til dusk. His streets were clean, as are most of China's streets, despite the ridiculous number of people here. It does take constant cleaning to maintain, not saying everyone is throwing their garbage in the proper place or anything like that.
Xian - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrWe hiked up to the top of Huashan and camped overnight. The sunrise was ok, nothing spectacular. It's a bit of a hike though, and that plank walk, if you watch that youtube video I linked at the top you'll see a bit of it. Crazy shit.
Huashan - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrI met this fortune teller in Shaanxi. He talked to me for 30 minutes for 15 RMB. I learned a lot about my future (perhaps). He said I would meet my future wife in the 7th month, but we were unsure if he meant my calendar or the Chinese one. We will see.
Weinan - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrBut China isn't all old hocus pocus traditionalism. It's a modern place where people are free to express themselves and their individuality.
Weinan - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrBut it does have the old, traditional, conservative people. They are probably more open to chatting with you than the young individualistic modern Chinese person. This guy might spit on the ground though and I know how a lot of GAF feels about that... the horror!
Yan'an - Crossing China by Eric, on FlickrStruggled to decide if I should include this photo, because I envision if this thread has any discussion it'll be about this. But guess what, this is the reality of China and I'm showing you the reality of this place, good, bad and ugly. I'm including this because I want to share the story. I saw the sign for dog meat on the outside of his shop. I was curious so I went in and asked him about it. He was, like most Chinese people, overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming to me. I asked him to show me around, show me the meat, show me dogs that he was raising to butcher, etc. He had no problems showing me and talking to me about it all. He had no way to know my motives, maybe I was trying to expose him on the internet as some bad guy. But he didn't question me, he just took me at face value as a curious person and he took time out of his day to show me his business and talk to me on a human level. I don't necessarily agree with what he's doing (though it makes me a hypocrit since I eat meat), but he is just a normal dude trying to get by as best he can, just like the vast majority of humanity.
Inner Mongolia - Crossing china by Eric, on FlickrChina has also got beautiful, clean, remote, amazing places. We spent a day out here, 2 people on the lake with a guide for about 30 bucks. This was the only other group of people we saw.
Inner Mongolia - Crossing china by Eric, on FlickrChina is also incredibly culturally diverse, especially as you move out west. We went to the Mosque in Xining, Qinghai and this guy enjoyed proselytizing to me. I respectfully disagreed with everything he said, we shook hands, and said goodbye. People are friendly.
Crossing China - Qinghai by Eric, on FlickrThe next group of photos are all related and probably the highlight of the trip for me. We met a group of people on the streets of Zhangye in Gansu Province. They are an ethnic minority called Yugur and there are only about 13,000 of them left (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugur). They invited us to some beers and then later said they'd drive us to their village the next day if we wanted to come. We of course said yes and they were at our hotel bright and early. The village was 3+ hours drive up into the mountains. There was no running water, no phone signal, no internet. Just some sheep, some alcohol, and lots of nature and stars.
Crossing China - Gansu by Eric, on FlickrCrossing China - Gansu by Eric, on FlickrCrossing China - Gansu by Eric, on FlickrCrossing China - Gansu by Eric, on FlickrWe ended up in Xinjiang, which if you look at the pictures you'd probably assume isn't China. And if you ask Xinjiang people they'd probably tell you the same. Anyway, they were once again fantastic people.
Crossing China - Wulumuqi by Eric, on FlickrCrossing China - Wulumuqi by Eric, on FlickrIf you made it through that, thanks I suppose. I'm open to any questions about the trip or about China in general. We also have a China-GAF thread where we talk about China in usually a much more realistic fashion than the majority of threads that get posted around here. China (the country) has tons of problems, China (the people) are the same as you and me, and ideally this will help remind some people on here not to treat people as "others," but instead recognize everyone on an individual, human level. When you see them acting like "animals," maybe stop to consider more about why they behave that way. Perhaps consider the recent history of the country, the culture, and all the other variables that go into it. It's a lot more complex and takes a little more nuance to understand, but it's easy to kneejerk and judge people.
Hope this doesn't fall under self-promotion and get locked, because that's not my intent. I'm intending to show China from a much more personal, non sensationalist level.
However, if you like my photos you can follow on Instagram @crossingchina or subscribe on youtube above. 
