China Observations

1. Chinese powerwashing: this is the term I've given to the ubiquitous cleaning technique used by Chinese people everywhere, that being water and a dirty rag. I understand that in most areas, people don't have the disposable income for Windex and paper towels (and that the Chinese aren't as wasteful as Westerners, so they probably wouldn't use paper towels anyway), but in certain stores or buildings, I know that the staff can take a trip down to the B&Q (Chinese Home Depot) and get real cleaning materials. Chinese powerwashing is literally used for everything, from cleaning your house (I had to re-clean mine), to washing windows, to wiping down furniture and other household items. I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but a. the water in China isn't clean to begin with and b. you just move the dirt around without really cleaning anything.

2. Chinese architecture: a lot of people think that because Chinese people can build high rise apartments and other structures in half the time that it takes the West, this means the buildings are half as safe. There are assuredly two sides to this argument, so let's assume that first, Western contractors suck in that they get paid a lot of money to scratch their ass and take their sweet time building things and second, that Chinese buildings aren't as safe as European/American ones. Why, you ask? If you've ever seen Chinese contractors, you know that aside from the professionally (Western) trained ones who know how to operate machinery and draw blueprints, the people who actually bring in the materials and put them together use techniques that probably haven't varied much since the Great Wall was made. Case in point, there is a nice high rise apartment development going on right next to where I live, so everyday I walk past the skyhooks and scaffolding while also noticing the people putting up walls and windows with almost no equipment.

3. I am an interesting anomaly in this country: as a Korean-American, I'm not really Korean but often mistaken for Chinese. Most Chinese people think I'm Chinese, and most Korean people think I'm Korean, showing that there isn't a good method to tell Asians apart. Westerners, however, lose their shit when they figure out I'm really American. Europeans always tell me how nice it is that Wuxi is becoming such an international city and grill me about the Presidential election and the Americans I've met are happy just to have a fellow expat to talk to (Americans aren't as well represented here as the Brits and Aussies). That being said, because I am a dick I do take advantage of this situation purely for my own amusement. Exhibit A: I wait for Westerners to try and awkwardly communicate with me via gestures and staring before I talk to them in English and tell them that I'm from Detroit. Exhibit B: I go along with it when Chinese people talk to me in Chinese, but if I really don't feel like carrying on a conversation I'll say, "You know I'm not Chinese, right?" (in Mandarin)...they then feel awkward and usually leave me alone.