I have been taking a few notes in a small notebook since being here in the birthplace of my blog. Some of them follow.
Last time I came to Guangzhou, I didn't want to be here. I was exhausted from a summer of work and was very uncomfortable in a place where I had no bearings, no sense of direction and did not feel like home; not to mention that I have quite a few stereotypes of the mainland thanks to living in Hong Kong. I decided to come in with a different outlook this time. While in Costa Rica, I learned (through very good examples) what it is to enter into situations where you might be uncomfortable or at least a bit culturally-disoriented with as little judgement as possible. I think I am understanding why my cousin Chris enjoys the Chinese culture so much. In a city as large as Guangzhou, I definitely wish I could understand and better communicate with people.
This vacation is not very much of a vacation. In between days of going to markets and shops, I make the trek to Hong Kong (about every other day) for doctor's appointments to clean up my system and such things. Which means I get plenty of train time and thus watching people time. The other day I met my dad at Starbucks after I got back in the afternoon and it just blew my mind how many people were in the store. Starbucks is now changing the taste for coffee worldwide; making people crave sugary flavored italian coffee drinks instead of the traditional plain coffee (possibly with milk and sugar). Here, as in other places, it is a status symbol. There were many people holding business meetings, students studying, moms with young children and nannies, etc. When there used to be so few Starbucks' in Guangzhou, there has been a start to almost mass-produce the stores. The baristas know the drink names in both English and Mandarin (and probably Cantonese, to be honest) and pump them out incredibly fast. Side note - they have a drink called a cranberry white chocolate mocha; it is delicious.
The train is also ridiculous. It probably holds 800-1,000 people running from Guangzhou to Shenzhen every ten minutes from 5:45 am until probably 9pm. They run full almost every ride I have been on. No words can describe the masses of pushy people trying to get on a train that they have assigned seats for.
Racism is pretty big here. It is somewhat surprising. I feel like I learned in one of my classes that racism is only really a problem in the United States (mostly because there are people who choose to acknowledge that it is a systemic problem that creates both physical and psychological violence). What I have realized after my time in Costa Rica and in Guangzhou is that racism, though sometimes different, is very, VERY similar around the world. Africans or those of African descent have it the worst. When you cross the border into China, you don't stand behind people who look African or Indian; they will inevitably take longer to get through. This is not a phenomenon that I have discovered: I was standing in line last Friday striking up a conversation with a German businessman who said exactly that - and then followed this up with the statement that it is more of an acknowledgment of the reality of Chinese racism and acting in a way that benefits you the most - unfortunately in alignment with furthering that racism. In Costa Rica, it is a similar story. A popular myth (so popular that many people believe it - I met a few who did) was that there was a law until 1950 which prohibited people of African descent from emigrating to the Central Valley. Though this law never existed, until 1950 they were not given citizenship in Costa Rica and prohibitions for working in various companies and sectors (namely the United Fruit Company) caused the province of Limón to remain relatively distinct in racial makeup. People associate all sorts of negative stereotypes with this province (it's dirty, dangerous, there are lots of drugs, etc.), oftentimes pointing to the high population of people of African descent. It is really difficult to see, but also definitely shedding some light on how racism trends around the world.
