I was so grateful to Lisa and her family while I was in Dalian, as without them I am not sure I could have survied there. I was continuously amazed at how little English there was, either spoken or on street signs. Basically there was none.
In the tourist dependent countries of Thailand and Cambodia, English signage existed for everything, despite the fact that almost none of the locals could read it.
The Chinese economy does not seem to have the same need for English, and I found very few speakers that knew more than 'hello' or the theoretical stuff they had learned about in school but had never tried in practice.
Dalian was more than I expected. It was bigger (much bigger), more affluent, and more modern than I could have imagined. All the locals told me that Dalian was a small city, and I should wait until I get to Beijing or Shanghai. If that is the case, I can scarcely imagine it.
The pace of development was huge, it was not uncommon to see a row of sky scrapers under construction all at once, and I can't help but feel that there must be a way for more New Zealand businesses to help with the change that is going on there. New Zealand milk powder is already huge in Dalian, is purchased at premium prices, and the New Zealand brand in general seems very strong.
Generally, if New Zealanders' think the urban Chinese are not interested in their products, they're wrong, if they think most urban Chinese can't afford their products, they're wrong, if they think its just plain difficult, they need to try harder.
The opportunities in China seem staggering, and I feel far more inspired to practice my Chinese when I get back to New Zealand.
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| The square on the sea side, created in the shape of a book |
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| The square from a distance |
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| One of the sculptures in the square (there were many) |
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| There was an ammusment park at the square and we spent some time playing the dodgems. This girl (car #17) was the most vicious, and we unanimously agreed that when she grew up she was going to be a taxi driver |
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| One of the views out of Lisa's brother's appartment. The other view was of an operational aircraft carrier below. After some discussion we decided the aircraft carrier was none of our business, hence the lack of photos |
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| A row of sky scrapers, all of which are under construction (there were many sights like this) |
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| If the pace of development made my head spin, I wondered what this guy must have thought as he took his goods to market |
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| The direction he was headed in |
2 comments:
I guess that you might have already been surprised by the size of the city in Beijing? I would be interested in hearing what you'd say about all you have experienced in China. Don't get lost and take good care of yourself!
Great to hear from you again John. Thanks for the warning that you wouldn't be able to post on your blog while in China. Can I take it you've moved on to Mongolia or somewhere else then?
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