Below are some of the things I’ve learned about China, its people and its culture over the years I’ve been here. Some are pretty common knowledge (such as the ideas about colours and numbers) whereas some off them are more from my own observation (such as Nong Fu overfilling their water bottles).
On Technology
Just about everyone has two cell phones. Usually one of the latest iPhone models. And WeChat on both.
WeChat is one of the best social media platforms out there, not least because there are a plethora of amusing emojis to choose from (not like the “safe for work” crap that Facebook offers). Oh, and this smiley: 
But there is another smiley, a happy face, that doesn’t mean happy at all. It actually means a sarcastic smile, as in “I don’t care.”
Alipay and WeChat Pay have basically taken over as methods of payment. Too much fake money (50 and 100 RMB notes) and a tech-obsessed country means that China has just shown the world how to make a currency digital.
Taobao and JD.com, both shopping websites, are where most Chinese people spend most of their time.
And cell phone games. Don’t ask me cause I don’t play them but they all look like Candy Crush or card games. I only play Simcity Buildit.
QR codes are used everywhere in China, hardly anywhere else. These are especially used for digital payment systems, such as for Alipay or WeChat.
On Transportation
Fast delivery service in major cities, courtesy of motorbike delivery people (usually young or middle aged men).
Look both ways when crossing the street. Or else you’ll get hit by a motorbike.
The bigger the vehicle, the more right of way it has.
China trounces the world in high-speed trains. I’ve become so used to 303km/hr that anything less just seems slow. China can build a high-speed train faster than most Western countries can debate them in their respective political houses.
The city buses still have actual people who can sell you a ticket. Since the move to digital payment methods, I’ve wondered just how much longer these people will be employed.
The Beijing subway system is, simply put, one of the best in the world. You can get just about anywhere in the city in about an hour or less. However, that being said, the system can get so crowded that instead of a traffic jam, you experience a people jam, especially on Lines 1, 2, 5 and 10 in rush hour.
You can actually get on a train and go all the way to Moscow, one way. You do need a visa for Russia and in order to apply for it, you’ll need to prove you have residence in China, or else you have to go back to your home country to apply for the Russian visa.
And, technically, Singapore, but it’s not a direct route like it is to Moscow.
Bike-sharing is huge. 1 kuai ($0.20) per ride. It became so popular that Chinese companies copy-catted themselves and nearly ran everyone out of business. MoBike (orange bikes) and Ofo (yellow bikes) have survived the battle while others have limped on.
On Food
The company Nong Fu often overfills their water bottles. I wonder if this is a sign of prosperity.
Often in restaurants, especially small, Mom and Pop shops, you have to shout “Fuwuyuan” (pronounced fu-yen) or, in Beijing dialect, “foo-you-are” for service.
They love to put mayonnaise on everything: burgers, sushi, fruit. It’s the one country I have to consciously ask for “No mayonnaise” and then mentally prepare myself for getting it anyway.
Mainland Chinese food is much different than overseas Chinese food. Most overseas Chinese food is made by emigrants from the southern part of China (around Fujian and just north of Hong Kong) and then suit their cooking to the local taste.
On The Chinese Language
Many people think that if a person is born Chinese they will inherently know the Chinese language.
Chinese is one of the harder languages I’ve tried learning. The language is very much pictographic and continues its lengthy, historical-run of building upon what came before it. As a result, there are several characters that look very similar but have little to no connection in pronunciation or meaning 手 毛, 干 千, 厂 广, 人 入 (respectively: shou/mao, gan/qian, chang/guang, rou/ren).
The Chinese language alters the name of foreign words so much sometimes that it’s hard to understand where they got the idea from. For example, mei guo (USA), e luo si (Russia), bi li shi (Belgium). Some languages simply transliterate the word, but Chinese often attaches a meaning to the characters and words used. I’m not sure how the decisions are made about other countries’ names.
I never feel like I’m reading Chinese, I just feel like I’m remembering the sound of little pictures. Then I think, isn’t that all language learning?
Dirty Language
People often say 我操 (wo cao) but really means 我肏 which roughly means “Oh Fuck”, yet they won’t ever actually say “Oh fuck” because it is considered a “dirty word”. Girls are supposed to say 我靠, which is a gentler version of “Oh fuck”. Gender boundaries, right?
There are a few sounds that Chinese people use in certain circumstances. “Pei pei pei” is similar to the Western idea of saying “Knock on wood.” Meanwhile, “pa pa pa” means “to fuck”.
The pronunciation for “llama” and “fuck your mother” is very similar (肏你妈 or 操你媽 (cào nǐ mā).
If you say “Your Mother” (他妈的 ta ma de), know that it can mean something much worse.
So too with the English word “shabby” which, when said in Chinese (傻屄 (shǎ bī), which means “stupid vagina”), is probably one of the worst things you can say to a person. Avoid this.
Didi is the Chinese version of Uber (Didi Dachung bought out the Uber division in China). Didi is the word for “younger brother”. Xiao Didi is slang for a “penis”.
Xiao Jie literally means “little sister”. It’s also slang for “prostitute”.
On Old Beliefs
Cold water freezes the uterus so women can’t have babies.
Being “fat” is a sign of eating too much. It’s also a sign of wealth.
The reason I’m “fat” is because I drink too much cold beer. I have yet to try a warm beer diet.
Hot water fixes everything.
On your birthday your supposed to eat noodles as they are thought to give you good luck. This has brought a horror story to my mind that, should I eat the noodles and they get cut short, I’ll have bad luck.
Spring Festival has a host of traditions associated with it, not least is watching the Spring Festival Gala on CCTV.
Other Spring Festival traditions include eating jiaozi (like perogies or dumplings) because they look like how silver ingots used to look like.
The number four is bad luck because it’s pronunciation is similar to that of the word for “death”. (But they have different tones, “death” is the third tone while the number 4 uses the fourth tone.) My apartment complex is missing floors 4, 13, 14, and 24.
The number 8 is good luck. Same with the number 6 and you’ll see people flash their hand with their thumb and pinky extended as a sign of good luck (which is, in the West, known more as “hang loose”).
In the digital world, they’ll type “666”, which, in the West, is often associated with the Devil, especially thanks to that Iron Maiden song “Number of the Beast’.
Red is good luck. White is the symbol of death. And yet there is a move towards using white, Western-style dresses for weddings these days.
On Daily Life
Around Tian An Men is the place where foreigners can still be creep-shotted.
Getting a hair cut isn’t so much about finding time, it’s building up the courage for the language battle and disappointment with the subsequent results.
China isn’t really known for its gay scene but judging by what I can see, there is quite a scene. Although men and women will be quick to tell you that they are not “gay” or a “lesbian” (both words always elicit a giggle from whoever is saying it), they have no problems holding hands in public or (especially the boys) draping themselves over each as they sit together.
People still spit on the streets. Most foreigners (usually from the UK) dislike this habit whereas I seem to partake in this. Both men and women spit. Young people say they don’t. I’ve seen different.
Personal space takes on a new meaning in China, especially on public transportation. Everywhere else in the world, “personal space” usually means a three-foot diameter around the person, invasion of this space constitutes an aggressive act. In China, “personal space” is the exact space you occupy… and sometimes you have to move anyway.
A “chop” is a special red stamp needed to make anything official.
The country is actively trying to curtail smoking in its population.
We only get paid monthly here. No bi-weekly option available.
There is a point at which a woman is considered “old” and she can go square dancing, that is, dancing to dance-like music but with traditional lyrics.
After 26, a women is considered “leftover”. The government instituted this word and there are books about it. The modern Chinese woman does not like this idea but still many will marry and have babies even if they don’t want to.
Some men (though not so much in Beijing recently) use bull whips to stay in shape. You’ll know where they are because they sound like gun shots, but it’s them just slapping the whip against the ground.
I see more women than men with tattoos in China these days. This might be simply in the larger cities, such as Beijing, but it seems more common nowadays.
Skirts are short. Isn’t there some saying about the “short skirt index” in the stock market? (Yes. It means people feel wealthy.)
The news reported in the China Daily always seems to be happy.
In terms of foreigners and their jobs in Beijing, you can almost slice the city in two parts: in the West is Haidian District where foreigners are either students or English teachers, and in the East, Chaoyang District, foreigners usually hold more “professional” titles such as manager or “former English teacher”.