China Reflections 2: people

While in China we had tour couriers, met people in other choirs, and of course dealt with merchants, workers, and those trying to sell us stuff on the streets. As usual when traveling we learned a few words and phrases in the home language. I managed to remember how to say hello and thank you, but that was about it. Fortunately, (due to the Olympics I think) the language barrier wasn't as big deal as I anticipated. There were times we struggled to order food, but for the most part pictures on menus, and more English being spoken helped us.

I found the people to be very gracious. (Except the mosquitoes! Those that "swarmed" to the bus to sell us post cards, "rolex" watches "5" dollar!). As Rick Steves says in his books about travel if you respect the culture, accept the fact that things will be different from home (and that's a good thing) and try to be a good guest in the place you are visiting you'll have a wonderful time and find the people to be helpful and friendly. I've traveled to many countries in Europe, and to Israel/Palestine three times and have had very few times when I didn't feel welcomed or was frustrated by interactions with the local people.

One of the things I didn't realize before we went to China was that there were so many different ethnic groups within the "Chinese" population. I knew there were a few like "Tibet" but, there are many more! They mostly speak Mandarin, but with so many different dialects that some groups can't communicate with each other. And, the "rules" are different for different groups. For example, we've all heard about the one baby rule. Well, that's true for the majority group and people living in cities, but if you are a part of some ethnic groups you are allowed 2 children, and if you are a farmer and you have two girls you can have a third (lucky you if it's a boy). Anyway, when we were in Dalian we saw influence from Japan and Russia. I