s I see the white, fluffy catkins soar through the air, I laugh to myself. It reminds me of when I first arrived. I was under the impression those little balls were actually the PM2.5 pollution particulates I had read about. I thought, “Wow, you really can see it.” But that was hilariously disproven when I mentioned it at a party. This was the first of many zany and uninformed misconceptions I had about this country I’ve called home for the past seven years.
Way back in May of 2016, I landed in Beijing with a twinkle in my eye. Being the type-A detective I am, I thought I knew everything, but I was wrong. Even with all the research in the world, there is always going to be an invisible “you had to be there” asterisk.
The day I arrived in China, I was whisked away – way, way outside the first five ring roads to a place bloggers would likely call “off the beaten path.” The dust and catkins were swirling, the wind was wailing, and I felt like I had just stepped onto the set of Mad Max. Although this post-apocalyptic scene made me feel slightly uneasy, I accepted it. “I guess this is my life now,” I thought.
Over the next few days, I got familiar with my area and sent pictures home. No one batted an eye there either. They also had it in their heads that I would be living in some sort of village-situation. But all that changed when I got an invite to the downtown for Cinco de Mayo.
The door of the cab swung open furiously as we battled the wind and sand, but once we were in, we headed into town for some festivities and tacos. When pulled into Beijing’s city center, it was as if we had been transported into a futuristic city bursting with life.
These realizations made me think, “Why is everyone so wrong about what China is actually like?” So, I made it my mission to make sure they did know. I took as many videos and pictures as possible to show how advanced and modern Beijing is. My friends would comment “Is that really Beijing?” or “Woah, I didn’t realize they had that there!”
As time went on and I discovered more and more about China outside of Beijing, I realized there was so much more I had been wrong about. Media, movies and commentary commonly used to describe the country make the Eastern powerhouse seem as if it were operating in the Middle Ages. My experience included modern times at its finest – bike and ride shares, high-speed trains, cheap transport by flight or rail and the ability to order any and everything at a fraction of the cost back home. Where is this underdeveloped country that people back home seem to think they know so much about?
I’ve seen these misconceptions amplify in the US now that there’s a trade war and media bias against China from many major news outlets. This year, I decided to take a cruise back to China from the US. Each night, I would sit with a different group of solo travelers, and the obligatory question would always come up – “Where are you from?”
So, when I’d say I had lived in China for the past seven years, it would turn a lot of heads. Many were curious and asked me every question they could think of, while a few had their own hard-wired thoughts. I was actually taken aback by some of the things people were saying. I was frustrated at their conclusions about a place they had never been. I did have to remember that I had once been the same. But the issue is, I highly doubt any of these people would ever take the time to look at what China was really like beyond what their screens told them to think.
But I made sure to let them in on what had been left out. I saw the disbelief in their eyes when I told them how much I loved living in Beijing and started showing them pictures. I explained how safe I felt and how much opportunity there was. While it will be a long road to get everyone up to speed, I’ll keep doing my part to ensure misconceptions aren’t mistaken for truth, one story, one photo and one conversation at a time.
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