As an Italian who has lived in China for many years, in general, I think it is easy for people to change their minds once they arrive in China. But this also means that if they do not visit China, it will be difficult to change their view of China. I will provide some of my personal opinions, the opinions of my parents and the opinions of other people I know who have been to China. At the same time, I also added each person’s year of birth to better understand whether their age and background are related to their views on China. I would also like to point out that while some simple points of view are easily affected by short-term visits (for example, safety and cleanliness issues), there are many other points of view that are not easy to change even after the visit (especially political views) .
My own thoughts:
I think China is changing almost every day, especially in big cities. Living in a place like Shanghai will make you look forward to what will happen next. Rural areas are also changing, but their development speed is different from that of cities. After coming to China, what surprised me most is that people are really willing to learn how to use new technologies, especially the elderly. My fiancée’s grandma is even more able to use smartphones than my mother. By the way, she is 13 years older than my mother. I can hardly imagine that my mother would actively use her mobile phone to search for all kinds of videos of interest or follow Douyin’s videos to do physical exercises every day. And she is not even a special case in China-after all, I have seen 80-year-old women do live broadcasts. So I think the Chinese people’s high acceptance of new things is something that surprised me very much after I came to China. I think the changes in China today are mainly composed of two parts:
1. A government willing to implement reforms;
2. A nation that is willing to accept these changes in its own life.
Although changes may take time and effort, it is inevitable that some people will still not be so happy with these changes, but the Chinese people’s acceptance of changes is indeed faster for my motherland.
I thought that China would not be so safe: I think, after all, it is a developing country, so it might not be so safe.
But I was wrong. China is really very safe. Although I don’t think any Chinese need to know how safe China is, but in order to let everyone better understand, I want to make a comparison here. In Europe, I will never go out after 10 o’clock in a place I don’t know. City walk. At least not alone. In addition, when I was in Europe, many people would say that you must be careful of scammers when you go to China, but in fact, after coming to China, I found that the possibility of encountering scammers in certain cities in Italy is even higher.
Regarding the question of whether China is cleaner than I thought, please be patient. I may need to explain some background stories about me first. For most of my life, I lived in a small town with 10,000 people. Due to war and disease, my mother’s father lost his parents at a very young age. Because of the need to take care of his younger siblings, he had no opportunity to receive education. and time. So almost his whole life has been herding cattle for a living. My mother’s situation was not very good either. She was the only young daughter of my grandfather who stayed in Sicily. Because Sicily had limited job opportunities at the time, all his other children went to the United States to make money when they were very young. Because my mother was fortunate enough to get a high school diploma, she became a teacher. In fact, in that era, there were not many girls with such a high level of education, but the current situation was limited. It took her many years to find a stable job in her hometown. So for a person who is not from a big city, it is easier to understand that when a country or place is in the development stage, there will be some very good places, and there will also be some places to be developed. So back to the question of cleanliness: Frankly speaking, I didn’t change my mind after coming to China. This is one of the few things I have judged correctly about China. As I imagined, some areas of China are very clean, other individual areas are very dirty, but most areas are in good condition. This is actually the same as in Italy. Most places have both clean neighborhoods and messy corners. In order to have a deeper understanding of a place or a country, you need to see both the good and the bad. I would not ask to see the clean streets and skyscrapers of Shanghai in third- and fourth-tier tourist cities, just like it is impossible to see the swathes of natural scenery in the center of Shanghai. So, frankly speaking, after going to many different cities and places in China, it is similar to what I imagined. There are beautiful and clean scenery, but also messy neighborhoods. Same as other places in the world. In fact, I think my family’s experience will make my view of China different from many Italians who come here. Many Italians who come to China have graduated from good universities, and their education may be better than mine. For this reason, I also want to offer some other points of view. They come from my parents and some colleagues who have been to China with me. However, they cannot represent most Italians, let alone all foreigners. After all, each person’s different growth experience will make them different from the perspective of the problem.
2. My parents (born in 1955 and 1960) didn’t like China at all before they came to China. In addition to a lot of negative news about China in Italy, it was mainly because China took away their youngest son. So before they came, they had no idea about the true development of China. But my father always wanted to go to the Great Wall and Mount Everest. But, thank goodness, they are all objective people. When they first came to Shanghai, China, their eyes opened wide. They admitted without a doubt that China seemed to be different from the poor and backward autocratic country they had imagined. My mother especially wanted to move to the United States when she was a child. After two weeks of traveling in China, she quickly fell in love with the environment of the cities (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Nanjing) we visited along the way. I think this is because they reminded her of how those American cities made her feel refreshed. Unlike my mother, my father appreciates parks, natural landscapes and historical sites. They all think that China is very safe and clean. However, they did not see the same thing as me. I would not take my parents to see the Chinese countryside directly when they first went to China, just like I never took my fiancee to see the Sicilian countryside. Because you always want your loved ones to see the best things in the places you like. In fact, another reason is that there is not enough time to take them to see the countryside in two weeks. But I am sure they know what I am hiding from them. They have lived in a rural town near Palermo all their lives. They know that the city looks better, but it still does not represent the entire country.
Spitting anywhere is one of the reasons why they think China is still a bit backward. However, it is not fair to compare Italy with China, because Italy’s GDP per capita is 2.5 times that of China, and China’s growth rate is much faster. This was a clear idea in their minds. After coming to China, they began to understand why I wanted to stay here. We agree that China is to me what the United States is to their generation. But even after coming to China, my parents and I still diverged on a series of political issues about China. They still believe that the Italian government model is better than that of China, even though they also understand that Italian politicians are much worse than Chinese politicians. In addition, after returning from China to Italy, their views on China-related news spread in Italy are also changing-now they tend to be more neutral on many things, rather than blindly believing the first stupid they heard. News. This only changed after they visited this country. No matter how I explain many issues about China in the past, they will not easily believe me.
When I first came to China on a business trip, we were four people in total. One of them is my brother. One is a Romanian university graduate. He used to work in Italy and now he has returned to his home country. The other is also Sicilian, an engineer. All three people were born in the 1980s. Since the Romanian had lived under the influence of the Soviet Union, he did not have the so-called “communist regime” fear that many foreigners have in China. He often repeats that China will be the future of the world. But as to how he views China in detail, I never got a clear answer. So I can’t comment. My brother was very excited when he was in China, because he felt that Shanghai and Sicily were completely different. When he was in Shanghai, he felt like living in the future. Another Sicilian engineer is a tech fan, and he liked Shenzhen very much before coming to China. He said that if he were younger, he would move to China and even learn the language. Whenever we talked, he always praised the country, but never never discussed politics. He also knows that China has many problems, but the positive things far outweigh the negative ones. Like many Sicilians, he doesn’t believe much in politics. I remember he once told me not to act like a politician, meaning that it was an insult. So after he came to China, he deepened many positive impressions of China, but he chose to avoid discussing many political issues. But he comes from a small mountain city, so don’t take his ideas as every Italian’s view of China.
The other person I want to introduce is my former boss. He is Polish and was born in 1971. He said: “Whoever lives in Shanghai will live in a fairy tale.”. In fact, his view is that China wants to show far more than big cities and expensive cars. He believes that there are still many areas to be developed in China. However, he really liked being there, and I believe he will visit again possibly.
Other foreigners who have been here, such as Quora, usually mention that China’s rapid development is amazing.
Many foreigners who come to China may not know enough about their own country’s problems, so don’t expect them to easily understand China’s problems. We, especially the Western world, know almost nothing about China, and the few things we know may have many prejudices. This applies to almost everyone of us, including those who study Chinese language or culture in their own country.
Moreover, most people who see China for the first time are tourists.
Visitors generally want to relax, and then return to their normal lives. He does not want to know whether this country is right on very complicated issues. This is something few people really want to figure out, especially in a very short period of time.
Others will be more receptive to all the reasons and opinions given by the party they like. For example, Italians usually prefer the United States, so they will be more receptive to opinions and influences from the United States.
I don’t know much about this world, but you must know that no country in this world is perfect. I also know that many countries have been unfairly criticized or over-appreciated because of political and other conveniences. So when I travel and live in China, I believe more in what I see and feel with my own eyes, but this is only limited to my personal opinion.