Life in China Is Terrible. Here's Why I Can't Leave.

We live in China. People often ask us what it's really like. Here's an honest answer — written in the only language that captures it: sarcasm.

At You Can't Bring It With You, our geographic advantage isn't just about finding interesting objects. It's about actually being here — on the ground, in the city, in the daily rhythm of a place most people only read about from a distance. This is what that looks like.

Life in China Is Terrible. Here's Why I Can't Leave.

It is really bad.

Because I have some grey hair, I am treated in the same embarrassing way every time I get on a city bus or the subway — younger people get up and offer me a seat.

Recently I had problems with a tooth. One morning I went to one of the dental hospitals. They did X-rays and performed a root canal in 2 hours. It cost me 1/6th of the price of a root canal I had done 30 years ago in North America. Just terrible prices.

I am invited out to eat or attend a celebration a few times a month. I never have to pay for the meal, while I am offered beer and cigarettes. I do not smoke, so I decline the cigarettes — but I accept the free beer.

Oh, how terrible to be invited out by the locals constantly. I have been to at least 25 weddings, more than a dozen birthdays, and half a dozen 100-day celebrations for babies.

There are 100+ channels on TV, with a few in English and some Western movies. The nightly news covers all major world events. I have internet access 24/7 and spend way too much time browsing from Europe to North America. It is a terrible way to waste time.

I often visit my daughter who works 300km away in another province. Being so far away, I am forced to take the train — which takes 1 hour 30 minutes with 2 or 3 stops along the route. I could drive, but that would make for a much longer trip.

The really bad thing in China is access to food.

• We have 2 farmers markets within 2 city blocks — where farmers arrive around 6–7am every morning to sell that day's fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat.
• This is in addition to 2 grocery stores and a Walmart in the area.
• On my small city block alone, there are 14 restaurants, open 7 days a week.
• There are even the evil food chains — KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks, plus all the Chinese ones.
• We have French Carrefour, Auchan superstores, and Germany's Metro cash-and-carry.
• Worst of all: we have apps on our smartphones where we can browse menus from hundreds of nearby restaurants and have food delivered to our door in usually under 30 minutes.

If we need to go to the bank, we cannot go 365 days a year. There are about a dozen days a year when the banks are closed.

Schools are much more demanding than in North America, with homework every night. However, students do get a month off in summer — and many spend it travelling, to the US, Europe, South Korea, Thailand, or within China itself.

So far, no one around us has noticed any difference from the trade tensions — but according to Western media, China is under tremendous pressure. Or maybe they were talking about the tropical storm. In either case, it was a lot of wind.

That is how bad it is, living in China.

Please have pity on our oppression — as we say in our group of expats, some of whom have lived here for over 20 years.

Of course, we live in a large city. The situation differs in rural areas, as it does in most countries.

This is our reality — and it's also why we find things here that no one else is looking for.
If you're curious about what we discover on the ground in China, explore our finds or tell us what you're looking for.

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