Beijing vs. Shanghai

- Beijing people are more friendly
- Shanghai people are more effective at getting things done.
- Beijing people care a lot about social relationships, even with random strangers
- Beijing people like dogs. A lot.
- Beijing people like squat toilets
- Beijing people care about appearances and privacy of their homes. On the other hand, they also spend evenings out socializing on the streets
- Shanghai has a more robust night life

I met a guy at the Embassy who said when he visited Shanghai 10 years ago, he loved it, but now after being in Beijing for a few years, he hated Shanghai when he visited it again.

I think the reason is that there's a friendliness <-------> effectiveness spectrum. When you are new to China and have no connections with anyone, Shanghai is better because on the surface it's more professional/better at dealing with Westerners. However, as you get used to China's way of dealing with things and start building relationships, you like Beijing more because relationships matter more here.

Part of it, too, is where the US is on that spectrum. Perhaps 10 years ago Shanghai was a closer approximation to US levels of friendliness, but now Beijing is closer because Shanghai has gotten less friendly to the non-residents... ?

Meeting Ex-pats at the embassy

So going to the Embassy was cool because I was in the special "American Citizen" line, which meant everyone else there was American. It was cool to see Indians and Koreans who were Americans, and to remind myself of the diversity in America. (In China you start to get used to seeing homogeneity of race everywhere -- although I suppose I shouldn't be thinking in these racial terms.)

Talking with people at the embassy was strange because on the one hand, I was glad to be with Americans and associating with them in a way that I'm familiar with -- small talk and general friendliness, and speaking in English. On the other hand, I couldn't really relate to their China experiences because I don't feel like an ex-pat when I'm in China. It is my motherland, afterall. I suppose they feel about China the way I'd feel if I'd been living in Spain or Egypt for a year -- "I've learned so much and had my world expanded by my experiences in a foreign land!" Whereas I feel like both countries are a homeland of sorts, so I mostly feel the need to educate one about the other -- making the learning a 2-way street instead of an "enriching life experience" for solely myself.