Over the past several months of traveling in China, there have been some crazy adventures! That's why we are called Team Adventure, right?
Here are just some differences between the places I visited in the last two weeks of my stay.
Regional Differences
Over the course of our two week tour throughout China, many of us experienced our own internal turmoil from culture shock, to a great experience of a life time. Xi’an, Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai all have their own distinct linguist patterns and culture. Categorically one can also see the differences between the southern and northern provinces visited as well. Not only was each place different culturally and linguistically, but the people, weather, and food were dramatically different as well.
As our two week tour started off in Xi’an, our first task was to find any local Xi’an person and ask them what distinguishing features made up Xi’an’s culture. Not only were the people in Xi’an the most willing to listen to my questions, but I feel like this is one of their characteristics. After asking both younger and older generation questions about Xi’an, this made me excited to ask other strangers questions in the future. Our tour guide was also one of the nicest tour guides on the trip, willing to answer our questions and explain them clearly. Xi’an also has the most multicultural feel in China due to its tourism and muslim culture. While in Xi’an our tour guide also explained that you should never ask for pork products because of the muslim culture. During a midnight stroll through Xi’an you could also experience this muslim culture with midnight snacks. When it came to food, the main staple was not traditionally rice but mantou, a steamed bun, which is what we ate during every meal.
After Xi’an we went to Beijing which had the greatest regional differences. Linguistically, Beijing was the most different in all the places we traveled to as soon as we met our tour guide. The accent of our tour guide and the natives was one of Beijing’s or northern China’s most distinguishing feature. Before Beijing, our group had not been in the northern part of China, so linguistically Beijing was something to look forward to. Beijing is also more up to date, therefore it’s people move at a faster pace. Due to this I feel interacting, especially with our tour guide was hard as northern people aren’t as patient and willing to respond. In Beijing, one of the questions we asked were the differences between northern and southern China. Many people responded that culture, linguistics, people, and food are both different by region. Culturally, people in the north are more about preserving and displaying the history of China. In Beijing we saw the most historical places such as the forbidden palace, summer palace, hutongs, great wall, and many more historical monuments. In southern China like Hangzhou and Suzhou, parks emperors would escape to, temples, and beautiful scenery seemed to be more important to their culture.
With the change between culture, the dialect or way of speaking also changes. As soon as we set foot in Beijing, the standard and common chinese that we had learned in America did not seem as standard and common while studying in the South. When traveling in Beijing, linguistically you could tell a difference between the pronunciation. Our tour guide had a true northern accent, while it was obvious our class had true southern accents.
Not only were the accents different, but having conversation with natives were different as well. When it comes to having a conversation with people, people in the north typically do not like to talk to strangers or just walk away without responding. This happened a few times in Beijing, when asking about the forbidden palace most people would just ignore me and walk away. If you walk up to any random person in the South, they will respond with what we call southern hospitality and be patient if you don’t understand.
As the people changed from region to region, so did the food. When we first started in Xi’an, main courses were usually served with their staple of mantou, a steamed bun, and fried rice. When we moved to Beijing, we went back to the traditional main staple of white rice.
Beijing is also known for its interesting snack food as well, but we unfortunately did not get to try it.
After Beijing, we slowly worked our way back down south to Hangzhou and Suzhou. Both Hangzhou and Suzhou are known for their amazing landscapes, even so that emperors would visit them during their summer time. During of first day in Hangzhou, we visited West lake known as the lake of romance for its true beauty. Culturally this lake is not only famous for its beauty but associated with poets, artists, emperors, and scholars. The second day in Hangzhou, we visited Leifeng pagoda which had the most interesting story I have heard thus far in Chinese culture and in Hangzhou takes a big part in it.
After asking a hotel staff in Hangzhou about the differences between northern and southern China, they said the main differences are food, the way of speaking, and the people.
They believe not only are the ways of speaking different but southern people are more patient and nice when it comes to answering questions, and northerns are strict and to the point. They also said northerns tend to be taller and bigger while southerners are shorter. Food in the south is also spicier and heavier while food in the north is lighter.
Finally, our last days were spent in Suzhou and Shanghai. In Suzhou, many temples and scenery were seen as important to their culture. Suzhou seemed to be at an extremely slower pace then Xi’an, Beijing, and Shanghai. Being one with nature and enjoying life seemed to be important to them. All of a sudden when we switched to Shanghai for the last day, the differences were extreme. While Suzhou was all about nature, Shanghai was all about the latest fashion and building the tallest buildings. After asking a random person from Shanghai what distinguishing features made up Shanghai’s culture, they said if you want to find work come to Shanghai. If you want to sit around and enjoy life with a cup of tea and play cards all day, visit Suzhou or Hangzhou.
In the two weeks we traveled, culture, linguistics, people, and the food changed drastically throughout each region. Interactions made between the natives and tour guides were also different throughout each province. Xi’an, Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai all have their own distinct linguist patterns and culture which can even categorize as northern and southern differences. Even though each province has its own unique characteristics good or bad, the Chinese culture all in all is one that can never be forgotten.
Hannah Greene
