This is probably the most common question that I am asked by friends and family back home, and by newly arrived foreigners here in Beijing. So, what is it like to live in China? I don't know, I have only ever lived in Beijing so I honestly cannot speak to life outside of the great Northern Capital. I have traveled extensively, and I have spent a significant amount of time in Guangdong, so I may know a little more than most, but the more time I spend here the more I come to realize that if anything, I am moving farther away from the truth of life in China.
I believe this because China is a vast nation, full of a myriad of peoples all with different cultures and languages. China is simply a big place, and to claim knowledge about the whole of this wondrous nation is to claim a falsehood. Anyone who says that they can speak to the idea of "life in China", including Chinese people, is probably lying, at least to themselves. How can anyone claim to know what life is like in a country that spans over nine million kilometers, with a population of almost 1.5 billion; a country of steppes, deserts, jungles and plains. A nation of 56 ethnic groups and at least 292 currently spoken languages. A place of literature, opera, martial arts, monumental architecture and a deep history that spans the entirety of the human race. The world is recapitulated within the bounds of China.
What I can speak to, sort of, is what life is like as an American living in Beijing, and it is a truly amazing thing. I have had experiences which I could have not possibly engaged in back home; I have laughed, cried, loved, been sick, healthy, drunk, sober, on subways deep underground and mountain tops that soared into the sky. I have been to high level government functions and low life dive bars. I wake up every morning and look out onto a sea of high rise buildings that stretch for miles to far off beautiful mountain ranges. I take one of the largest subway systems in the world to friends houses, where I walk through neighborhoods that are hundreds of years old, filled with temples that count centuries as we count years. I hear dozens of languages spoken daily, by people from a hundred different cultures exchanging a thousand different ideas. Life in Beijing is life in the truest sense of the word; when a man is tired of Beijing, he is tired of life.
Living here fulfills something in my heart that was lacking in my birth nation, something I can't think to describe. If America was China I lived in 2nd Tier City; not too big, not too small, but not really too much going on in terms of life, culture, the arts or a party scene. I guess it's just that Beijing has what was lacking in my old home, but it can't be just that, there is still something more in the back of my mind telling that Beijing is more than that. I mean, it's Beijing! An ancient capital of two dynasties, a republican government and a communist government. The history is literally dripping off the walls here. The arts scene is great and is filled with countless local bands and traditional artists that explore there talents freely in a city welcoming of such endeavors. And the party scene, well it is damn crazy; bars clubs and everything in between exist here to fulfill the wildest hedonistic dreams of foreigners and locals alike. We have high culture, low life, mega shopping malls and small boutiques, ancient temples and brand new apartment buildings. Beijing has everything that anyone could possibly want or need. I almost forgot about the food; the culinary scene here is nuts. We have all four major styles of Chinese cuisine present in the city, the ubiquitous Peiking Duck, and of course, all the foreign fare you could possibly imagine. I discovered my new favorite cuisine here in Beijing, Pakistani cuisine, something I would have never had the chance to try back home.
Life in Beijing is like life nowhere else on this glorious planet of ours. I love it here, I love it so deeply I cannot imagine how to possibly put into words. Everyday I wake up in Beijing is another day in which I am happy to be alive. I sometimes still cry when I think about the fact that I actually live in Beijing. Like Dr. Seuss said, you know life is good when you don't want to sleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
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