At 10:34 PM 6/12/98 -0400, Jason Liao wrote:

Nothing really to add to what Jason wrote, except that I was in the
People's Republic of China (PRC) several years ago. Although I was just
visiting, I found that pretty much everything Jason wrote re: the people of
Taiwan was also applicable to the PRC.  (things may have changed, I don't
know - this was the year before Tiananmen Square)

I found the people friendly, for the most part (as almost anywhere), and
the younger people would strike up a conversation just to practice their
English.  

true story -- I was in the hotel shop in Chengdu, and 3 teenager girls were
standing together in one corner of the store, near the lady at the cash
register, whispering to each other. One of the girls finally came over to
me and asked if I was an American. When I said yes, she got this big smile
on her face, turned to her friends and said "she is! she is!". The lady
behind the register smiled, and I found myself surrounded by teenage girls,
asking questions about Disney because they wanted to take a test to work at
Tokyo Disney World and had to practice their English.

Another story -- we were in a small town in the southern provinces (I don't
remember the reason), and there was some sort of festival going on. Turns
out it was to honor local soldiers going off to duty on the
China-Vietnamese border. The soldiers paraded through the streets, smiling
and waving, led by a marching band of kids.  The soldiers were as bad as
the kids - they all wanted their pictures taken.

I can't answer any questions about Tsingtao, Shanghai or Sinkiang/Xinjiang.
I was in Beijing, Taiyuan, Leshan (slept under mosquito nets), Chengdu,
Xi'an (saw the Terra Cotta Warriors -- amazing!), Shenzhen, and misc other
places in Xianxi and Xianxxi provinces.

I found the large cities to be modern in places and not so modern in
others. The rural areas appeared to be poor, for the most part.  Remember,
this is from my POV -- they may have considered themselves very well off.

Hope this helps, as old as the info is




Jeanne Hedge



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