When exploring Beijing and other areas of China, the presence of American influence is obvious. From t-shirts with random, nonsensical english words to four story H&M stores, American culture is ever present, particularly in big cities. Locals are for the most part very excited to speak with foreigners and learn more about different cultures around the world. While enthusiastic to speak with us, many know very little about actual life in America. When asked about their opinions on America most responded with positive attitudes but knew little to nothing about life in America beyond clips from tv shows or movies. Within China, the possession of American goods shows a relatively higher social status. So regardless of one’s actual knowledge of America, many Chinese people still crave western products.
One particular topic that came up in many conversations was their interest in our opinions on Presidents Trump and Obama. In China, criticizing the government is not taken lightly, so many people were interested to hear our true opinions on the American government. During one class, my classmate and I were discussing with our professors what sort of news they would hear about America in their daily life. Interestingly, one teacher commented that leading up to the election there was a fair amount in the news about America and all the drama surrounding the election. After the election however, there has been very little about the state of affairs within America.
During a program trip to a middle school, I had the opportunity to give a presentation on what life at an American middle school was like. During the question and answer section, the students were shocked to hear that American students had large amounts of free time during the weekends and about an hour of homework a night. For many of these students, their afternoons were filled with homework and their weekends loaded with extra classes and practices for instruments. Interacting with these students and learning about how different that experiences of middle school students were in China and the U.S, helped me to realize that these two countries lifestyles still have an ocean of differences between them.
