If you are traveling to China and are looking for some advice, I’ve got one for you. Leave your credit card at home. Instead, bring small change – lots of it.
The reason for this advice is not because China is dirt cheap – forget about the days when lunch is 2 kuai (USD0.30) and a nice top is 20 (USD3). The underlying reason to this advice is much simpler than that – it’s just because salespeople in China are obsessed with small change.
KTV, the Chinese abbreviation for karaoke, is a heavenly place where Chinese people hit up and let loose. Unlike small Karaoke bars in America tucked away in quiet corners, Chinese KTV joints are a lot more serious. They are grand, three-story buildings broken into rooms that come with their own karaoke setup and ten thousand Chinese and international songs for you and your friends to sing until your lungs give out.
Mooncakes are eaten in China during the Mooncake festival in the Autumn. Thanks to scaredzone for sharing these.
Pocketcultures loves to discover food from around the world. If you have some photos, why not join our Food of the World Flickr group?
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No one feels the pulse of a city like its cabbies.
Beijing taxi ride: credit
Miao Wang’s film Beijing Taxi will show Beijing’s and China’s road to modernisation through the eyes of three Beijing taxi drivers: the jovial optimist, the young mother with a free spirit and the veteran driver with a lost youth.
The film (still in production) has also found an original way to fund itself. Beijing Taxi’s production will be financed by its own fans, in an online crowdfunding experiment (details here). Sponsors of the film get rewards (such as a signed DVD of the film) based on the amount of their donation.
The film will surely show some interesting and original perspectives on China’s rapid growth. But some of the cabbies’ comments could also be true of life in many cities around the world.
“Modern life demands more… life quality has improved… psychologically the pace of life is faster, there’s more pressure.”
Watch the trailer here
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Growing Chinese trend for no-frills weddings
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Getting married is expensive in many cultures. In China, customs put extra pressure on men to prove their success before getting married. But rising living costs make this more and more difficult.
So a new trend has appeared: a kind of no frills version of wedding, called a ‘naked wedding’.
Worrying about the bills? (credit)
The following excerpt is by Andy Yee for Global Voices Online. Read the full post here.
“A new term has become popular recently among Chinese netizens: ‘naked marriage’ (裸婚). Don’t be mistaken, but the term has a special meaning: it means getting married without a house, a car, a diamond ring and a proper wedding ceremony. Just taking a picture and getting a marriage certificate is all that is involved. Will you accept such kind of marriage?
Among these ‘naked’ aspects, having no house is the key point. A popular Chinese TV drama, Dwelling Narrowness, strikes chord with China’s ‘house slaves’ (房奴), especially those born after 1980, whose youth ambitions are wrecked because of the high property prices in China and inability to afford a mortgage.
Perhaps ‘naked marriage’ is common in Western countries, as couples in love will not care too much about having no flat, car or a big fat bank account. However, it is different in China, as housing is a very important symbolic guarantee. Few unmarried young women (or their parents) would agree to marry to unsuccessful men. And one important criteria of success is whether you have a flat.”
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“This is the kind of Chinese food you can’t really find in restaurants” says Xiaozhuli, sharing another great photo!
Inside the pancakes are jiucai (leeks) and meat. Are you hungry?
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