Thank you for continuing your reading here. I sincerely hope that my writing will help you understand more about life in China. (Again, you may need to turn up the volume to hear the Moonlight Sonata.)

One of the unique elements of the Chinese education system is that students get homework over vacations. We get a 64-page (typically) work book (each page containing work that is to be completed daily) along with other assignments such as calligraphy, writing practices in pen, journals, etc. We must also visit the school once every week (usually on Monday) to let the teachers check off our work. Here's what would usually occur in the long, two-story apartment building I lived in: although it's summer, not even a sound wave of any child could be detected for a whole week; then, it would seem as if the People's Republic of China was just founded - you've got kids screaming, jumping, and running everywhere. Well, all the kids worked day after day and night after night to finish a two-month work load in one week so that they could play, play, and play for the rest of the summer. After such a war with homework, they do deserve a decent break. Often, groups of students are assigned to volunteer in helping the old people in the community, but the attendance is never perfect. However, during the school year, the students get to participate in many fun activities. The school organizes a great deal of field trips to parks (usually monumental ones), movie theaters (to see movies, puppet shows, etc.), museums, etc. There's a catch to this; every trip is usually educationally beneficial in one way or the other, and the students often have to write essays to recap and reflect on the trips. The trips are, nevertheless, lots of fun, and students always look forward to participating in them.

Reaching the topic of entertainment, when we have a sufficient amount of leisure time, we often play with neighbors, watch TV, play video games, engage in sports, or going to fun places with parents, much like the American kids. However, we don't listen to music (especially rock) as much, nor do we frequent the movie theaters as often. However, in a huge city like Shanghai, a student will hardly ever be bored or feel lonely because almost all of his or her school mates live within 10 minutes of walking distance from his or her residence, in addition to all the neighbors in the area. That applies for all people in China; there is always someone to talk to. The lack of communication is fortified by telephones, cars, and other means in the United States. One surprising contrast of housing between China and the U.S. is that the wealthy in China live in apartments (mostly fairly new) whereas the poor live in houses (old and small).

Most Chinese people have no idea what the U.S. is really like. They think it is incredibly beautiful, rich, and prosperous, like a heaven in which money can literally be picked up from the ground (I'm exaggerating a little bit). However, many things in the U.S. are far worse than they are in China (one of which is the competitions that people in a capitalist society face, plus of course the consequent pressures and stress) . What the people in China will not consider is that the U.S. is not impeccable; it does have many unpleasant aspects although the living conditions are great. This is a fact that applies to every nation in the world. Just like any human being, a balance exists within the person; one can always find both good and bad inside him or her.

In terms of living standards, China still falls behind the U.S. and other developed countries in the race; but of course, China is constantly endeavoring to catch up, and it has done surpassingly well. Air pollution represents another big minus for China. This much about the U.S. is true: the extensive highway system (symbolic of the U.S. in China, it's talked about by many people and shown in some Chinese TV programs) help promote transportation, business, and communication; cars are everywhere, hardly any bicycles can be spotted on a road. It's a capitalist nation, thus each person has equal opportunities to make a decent living. Making money becomes facile once one is willing to work (Safeway, McDonald's, Albertson's, etc.). In addition, one never has to worry about not being good enough to keep getting an education, but to decide which university among the thousands of them to choose from. The above may be some of the main reasons why Chinese people spare no effort to come to America. In China today, even the skilled can lose their jobs and become penniless due to the rapidly changing economy and limited job opportunities.

Some of the major factors that distinguish China from the U.S. are the life of the community, the closeness of the people, and the sense of unity. Sure, American students have much better social lives than Chinese students do, but where can you find people other than schools, malls, movie theaters, and offices? I don't mean for you to name some places with great concentrations of people, as I'm sure you can, but the idea is that Americans are mostly on their own and isolated from the outside. The majority of the neighborhoods in the U.S. seem to present themselves as isolated areas left behind by advanced cavemen. In China, you find people and noise everywhere. It never becomes even slightly annoying or provoking no matter how riotous it gets. The feeling people get is not that of disturbance or exasperation, but a sense of belonging.

Chinese students are willing to work assiduously to the point of accepting school as their whole life. However, you must realize that a Chinese infant, just like any infant, is not born a bookworm. A person is born neither surpassingly intelligent nor mentally retarded. What dictates both the nature and future of a child depends on the environment that grows and nurtures him or her. After years of severe punishments and inhumane quantities of homework, Chinese students have adapted themselves well to the ambience of relentless learning. To learn is to live. That is why we excel in academics, and not solely in math or the sciences - though it proves much easier to manifest capabilities in these areas. The average scores in math and the sciences of Chinese students are leading the world. Moreover, China has always done astoundingly well in the International Mathematics Olympiad, International Physics Olympiad, International Chemistry Olympiad, International Biology Olympiad, etc. Chinese students' outstanding verbal skills are harder to see due to the language barrier.

In China, the teachers work no less hard than the students do. They truly care about the students' growth and success. Teachers often become so involved in the lives of their students that they visit the students when they are sick (for even small things like a cold or a cough that would go away in a few days). Some teachers come to school very early in the morning to tutor the ones who are falling behind. We hardly ever correct our own assignments, the teachers are the ones who do all the work and thus give us professional and effective opinions. Every teacher has so many students to teach, and every student is given hours upon hours of homework every day, can you picture how much work the teachers have to do every night? But they do it. Teachers are candles, who work with great dedication, shortening their lives, but guiding us toward the successful road in life.

One important convention about children's education outside school is that when they learn something such as playing a musical instrument, they dedicate to it as much time as they would on homework, and become genuinely attached to the skill and endeavor to learn it as best as they could. The parents will put enough pressure on the children to learn and become adept at the skill. In the U.S., kids do not learn to become the greatest musicians, artists, dancers, and the like, but for primarily fun - or just something to do - instead. It's an entirely disparate story in China; parents and the instructors are so demanding and forceful on the kids for acquiring well a particular skill that an average Chinese student, after some time of learning and learning, will probably turn out as at least a state champion in the U.S. in the particular skill to which he or she devoted.

It is now apt to shift the life styles of the Chinese people. Interesting enough, religion does not prevail in China (the country is about 70% atheist); perhaps it is so due to the inclination toward scientific ideas. However, many people do believe in Buddha. On the street, one may observe the great varieties and styles of clothing that people wear. Men, woman, the young, and the old all wear clothing made of all types of fabrics. In fact, the fashion industry in China probably surpasses that of the U.S., where apparel is quite monotonous (where else do you find 50% or so the of population wearing white cotton socks and blue jeans?). Moving onto food, a great selection of delicately made, highly nutritious, and wonderfully delicious dishes is always there to serve the curious mouths that belong to wealthy. (Have you been to a top Chinese restaurant? The ones in China are still much better.) That, of course, does not mean that the relatively poor have little to eat; people can usually get tons of good stuff in the free markets in the morning (they are food stands on the street, as opposed to the supermarkets). One could definitely consider food an art form in China; the existence of the overwhelming number of famous dishes and both innovative and traditional foods and snacks makes eating an enjoyable experience in China. It is typical that people give thanks to others or to spend some valuable time together by having a magnificent and luxurious dinner. Note: (though I'm sure most of you already know) by tradition, Chinese people eat lots of rice for both lunch and dinner (also as a primary source of carbohydrates, of course), which is accompanied by at least two other dishes, and quite often some soup.

What do kids do to have fun? Children watch - in addition to educational TV programs and cartoons- Kung Fu drama series; they are usually made in Hong Kong (China does the best - and primarily focuses on - making practical films about life, while Taiwan excels in producing love dramas). If you have never seen the seemingly preternatural ancient Chinese Kung Fu, you may want to go to Chinatown to rent a few with English subtitles. The fights are faster, more fierce, and almost ethereal comparing even to the type of fighting observed in movies done by Jack Chan or Jet Li. (They are THAT good.) Of course, there are those who like listen to music, though it is not too popular. Chinese do play tons of video games, especially from the Nintendo system. Do not underestimate this system, its some thousands of games are invaluable, many of which have excellent graphics (equal to or better than those observed from the SNES). Kids in the U.S. have never really experienced Nintendo because the country has imported about perhaps only 1/100 of the games available. Children in China also engage in many fun activities and games with their neighbors; many of the games are often created by themselves. Card and board games also play a role in the leisure activities of not only the kids, but the other age groups as well. The children also play all kinds of sports; Ping-Pong, soccer, and basketball are somewhat more prominent than others.

Chinese students have idles just other youngsters in the world do. They have their favorite movie stars, singers, etc.; some look up to the better students in academics and endeavor to do equally well as they. Most of the time, though, as you can imagine, many students are so busy with school that they "have no life" and thus no time for doing anything outside school work. However, when everyone is working so hard, you would not feel like you are working hard at all. (This applies probably to many aspects in life; say, if everyone got lots of allowance from his or her parents, you then would not feel as special as you would if you were the only child to get allowance from his or her parents.) Eventually, you will work your way out of the struggles and fights, and everything you have done will pay off. A school, its teachers, and its students, combine to form a remarkably special and close family that bounds tightly together year after year.

Every country, culture, and person has its uniqueness. We should appreciate our own cultures, as well as those of others, and try to learn the cultures of the rest of the world. This may sound excessively trite and superficial, but once you indulge yourself in the experience, you will find it not only intriguing and captivating, but also inconceivably satisfying. You will see that happen.

Thank you so much for spending your precious time reading what I wrote about life in China. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me. :) Again, I appreciate your coming here. You may wish to check out a monthly magazine called "China Today", which covers nearly all aspects of Chinese culture and brings you the most recent, important, and interesting events taking place in China. This magazine also does an exceptional job presenting information about China and its people in both pictures and words. Here is the web site if you're interested: "http://www.china.org.cn".

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