Emma Sorensen, Psychology and Chinese Student, Iowa State University
Answered April 24, 2018 · Upvoted by Taylor Wu, lives in China (1997-present)
爱荷华州立大学心理学与中国学生艾玛·索伦森
2018年4月24日答：吴泰勒，生活在中国（1997年至今）
Born and raised in the United States, my first time to China was in 2016, shortly after I graduated from high school. Since I had studied Chinese for four years and high school, as a gift for graduating my dad decided to take me on a two-week tour of China. To say that this trip was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my lifetime would not be an exaggeration. There were five things that were surprising to me when I visited China and that were entirely different than what the Western media had taught me:
我在美国出生和长大，第一次来中国是在2016年，高中毕业后不久。因为我已经学了四年的中文和高中，作为毕业的礼物，我爸爸决定带我去中国旅行两个星期。说这次旅行是我一生中最令人大开眼界的经历之一并不夸张。当我访问中国时，有五件事让我感到惊讶，这与西方媒体教给我的完全不同:
China is a beautiful place. Growing up in the U.S., pretty much all you hear about China is how “ugly” it is. Before I went, I expected the skies everywhere to be dark and clouded, and the air to be difficult to breathe due to all the media coverage that the pollution in China receives. However, when I actually got to China, I was shocked at how beautiful it was. The skies were blue, the cities were clean, and the pollution seemed just as bad as in any other big city that I had visited in the U.S. Not only that, but there were some landscapes in China that were just absolutely stunning. I particularly remember being blown away by the beauty of the countryside views in Guilin, and the massive rock formations on the Guangxi River.
中国是一个美丽的地方。我在美国长大，你听到的几乎都是中国有多“丑陋”。在我去之前，我以为所有地方的天空都是阴暗的，空气很难呼吸，因为所有的媒体都报道了中国的污染。然而，当我真正来到中国的时候，我被它的美丽惊呆了。天空是蓝色的，城市是干净的，污染似乎和我在美国访问过的其他大城市一样。不仅如此，中国还有一些风景是绝对令人惊叹的。我尤其记得被桂林美丽的乡村景色和广西省河上的巨大的岩石所震撼。
Chinese people are very friendly. In the U.S., it is a common assumption that Chinese people are quite rude. My trip to China proved this assumption to be completely wrong. Every Chinese person that I met was extremely friendly, and they were always excited to approach us either to talk or to get their picture taken with us. It was like being a celebrity! Not only that, but everyone was always willing to try and speak English with us, and were very kind when I attempted to converse with them in Chinese. In my honest opinion, many of the people I met in China were friendlier than many people back home. One person that stands out to me in particular was our rickshaw driver in Beijing. Even though he didn’t speak much English, he still tried to point out all of the sights of Beijing to us the best he could, and even though he had a hard job he always had a big smile on his face.
中国人非常友好。在美国在美国，人们普遍认为中国人很粗鲁。我的中国之行证明了这个假设是完全错误的。我遇到的每一个中国人都非常友好，他们总是很兴奋地接近我们，或与我们交谈，或与我们合影。就像当名人一样!不仅如此，每个人都愿意尝试和我们说英语，当我尝试用中文和他们交谈时，他们都很友好。在我看来，我在中国遇到的许多人比在国内的许多人更友好。有一个人特别让我印象深刻，那就是我们在北京的黄包车司机。尽管他不太会说英语，但他仍然尽力为我们指出北京的所有景点，尽管他的工作很辛苦，但他的脸上总是挂着灿烂的微笑。
Authentic Chinese food is good. Back in the United States, it is commonly believed that the food eaten in China is weird, abnormal, and unappetizing. However, all of the food that I ate in China was delicious (my favorite food being from Chengdu), and I actually preferred it to the Chinese food that you can find in America. Yes, there are several cultural differences in the type of food that we eat, but that doesn’t mean that it is bad! While I did see some foods that surprised me, including ants and rats, this was mostly out in the countryside. To any foreigner traveling to China, I would recommend trying as many foods as possible, even if they are a bit out of your comfort zone like they were for me. It’s worth it!
正宗的中国菜很好吃。在美国，人们普遍认为中国人吃的食物是怪异的、不正常的、令人倒胃口的。然而，我在中国吃的所有食物都很美味(我最喜欢的是成都的食物)，实际上我更喜欢中国菜，而不是美国的中国菜。是的，在我们吃的食物类型上有一些文化差异，但这并不意味着它是不好的!虽然我确实看到了一些令我吃惊的食物，包括蚂蚁和老鼠，但这主要是在农村。对于任何一个来中国旅游的外国人，我建议你尽可能多地尝试各种食物，即使它们和我一样有点超出你的舒适区。它是值得的!
There are people in China who are very rich. Most of what Americans hear about the Chinese is the extreme poverty that they experience. While it is true that we did see many poorer families while on our trip, we also saw a very luxurious side of China that I didn’t even know existed. The area that appeared to be the wealthiest was definitely Shanghai. There were luxury stores (i.e., Gucci. Tiffany’s, Prada, etc.) all over the city, and there were always Chinese people shopping at these stores. Not only that, but there were also always very expensive cars driving around the streets of Shanghai. It was a side of China that I never even heard about back home, and it was great to be able to see how prosperous China has become.
在中国有非常富有的人。美国人听到的关于中国人的大多数事情是他们所经历的极度贫困。虽然我们确实在旅途中看到了许多贫穷的家庭，但我们也看到了中国非常奢华的一面，这是我以前不知道的。最富裕的地区无疑是上海。有奢侈品商店(比如,古奇、蒂芙尼(Tiffany 's)、普拉达(Prada)等)遍布全城，而且总是有中国人在这些商店购物。不仅如此，在上海的街道上也总是有非常昂贵的汽车在行驶。这是我在家乡从未听说过的中国的一面，能看到中国变得如此繁荣真是太好了。
Chinese people love their country. In the United States, it is a common thought that many Chinese people must feel oppressed by their government due to their country not being a democracy. However, while I was in China I saw nothing but pride and love for their country. Through many conversations with Chinese people, it was clear to me that they loved being from China. They had a lot of respect for their history, their culture, and for their government. In fact, it seemed to me that Chinese people had much less negative things to say about their country than many Americans do. This just goes to show that just because you don’t agree with a certain method of government doesn’t mean that the people living in that country have to share the same views as you.
中国人爱他们的国家。在美国，人们普遍认为，由于中国不是一个MZ国家，许多中国人肯定受政府YP。然而，当我在中国的时候，我看到的只有对他们国家的骄傲和热爱。通过与中国人的多次交谈，我很清楚他们开心自己身在中国。他们非常尊重自己的历史、文化和政府。事实上，在我看来，中国人对自己国家的负面评价要比许多美国人少得多。这只是表明，仅仅因为你不同意某种政府方法，并不意味着生活在那个国家的人必须与你有相同的观点。
----------评论----------
Romy Kerwin
May 9, 2018 · 40 upvotes
Almost everything surprised me. It was so clean and well organized, the Chinese people are so creative about recycling almost everything. There were plants everywhere in pots. There are also all kinds of contraptions on the road, some bizarre, some funny but always ingenious. There are signs for the blind on the pavements…… The subway is so clean and beautiful with art work and pastel colours. There are glass partitions and one knows exactly where to stand. Everything was good quality and so inexpensive, especially clothes. Beijing made me think of Paris. The Opera House was extraordinary.
几乎每件事都让我吃惊。它是如此干净，组织良好，中国人在回收几乎所有东西上都很有创意。花盆里到处都是植物。路上也有各种各样的奇思妙想，有的奇形怪状，有的滑稽可笑，但总有巧妙之处。人行道上有给盲人的指示牌……地铁是那么干净、美丽，有艺术作品和柔和的颜色。有玻璃隔板，你知道该站在哪里。所有的东西都很好，而且很便宜，尤其是衣服。北京让我想起了巴黎。歌剧院是非凡的。
Patrick Koh
February 26, 2019 · 4 upvotes
Excellent answer. So glad. With many rather weird questions that obviously from those that dont like or understand China, a lot always say “Go visit China and see for yourself“. I lived 2 beautiful years in US, I found it a fantastic country for visitors too
优秀的答案。很高兴。那些不喜欢或不了解中国的人问了很多很奇怪的问题，很多人总是说“去中国看看吧”。我在美国度过了两年美好的时光，我发现美国对游客来说也是一个神奇的国家。
Christopher Slater-Walker
April 28, 2018 · 24 upvotes
A few years ago I spent 3 weeks mainly working in Beijing, and I would mostly agree with all the above, especially regarding the nature of the people. My team was fortunate enough to be taken to the Great Wall by someone from the Chinese business we were working with, who knew how to avoid the overly touristy parts of the wall, and it was fantastic. Most of all, though, I was expecting it to feel secretive and oppressive, like when I spent 10 weeks in the old Soviet Union in 1988, but it was nothing like that. We were able to go pretty much anywhere and talk to anyone. They might have been watching us, but it certainly didn't feel like that.
Beijing does get quite polluted though, to an extent which I didn't see in Californie, for example. The traffic in the city is awful, but the public transport is cheap and efficient, in particular the Metro.
几年前，我在北京工作了3周，我基本同意以上观点，尤其是关于人这一方面。我的团队很幸运，我们的中国同事带我们去了长城，他知道如何避开人流过大的旅游景点，那真是太棒了。但最重要的是，我原以为它会让我感到神秘和压抑，就像我1988年在前苏联待了10周那样，但事实并非如此。我们几乎可以去任何地方，和任何人交谈。他们可能一直在看着我们，但肯定不是那种感觉。北京确实受到了严重的污染，这是我在加州没有看到的。这个城市的交通很糟糕，但是公共交通又便宜又高效，尤其是地铁。
Charles Ng
April 24, 2018 · 29 upvotes
You just proved the western media only portray China as the poor bad guy is propaganda, people that have bias view of China, please go see the actual China and experience it yourself, do not trust what the western media said, believe me it is worth it.
你刚刚证明了西方媒体把中国描绘成可怜的坏人是宣传，那些对中国有偏见的人，请去看看真实的中国，亲身体验一下，不要相信西方媒体所说的，相信我是值得的。
Amit Jodha
February 14, 2019 · 32 upvotes
US have a LOT of preassumptions, I guess.
How can you expect a whole nation to be dirty, poor, unfriendly and ugly?
And we are not even talking about Somalia or Brunei here, we are talking about the second largest economy of the world, which is a civilization as old as the history allows to.
Of course, China is beautiful. Almost every nation is beautiful in some or the other way and all have got some issues as well.
Katie Pedro
January 15, 2019
Just curious, where did you find rat meat? I heard about it existed in West Fujian province but never saw any.
Good post and great photo by the way. Welcome back to China again.
我很好奇，你在哪里找到老鼠肉的?我只听过说福建西部有【龙叔注：闽西确实有老鼠干，闽西八大干之一，龙叔见过，但没吃过】，但从未见过。不错的帖子和照片。欢迎再次来到中国。
Kelly Murra
May 15, 2018 · 2 upvotes
Thank you for so eloquently writing what I have witnessed many times now. The misconceptions of the masses here have kept them from exploring an absolutely wonderful country.
谢谢你如此雄辩地写下了我现在已经见证了很多次的东西。这里群众的误解使他们无法探索一个绝对美妙的国家。
Poh Foong
April 28, 2018 · 4 upvotes
I am glad you see through the Western propaganda of China. Demonizing China is an American practice that is very unfair and shameful.
我很高兴你能看穿西方对中国的宣传。妖魔化中国是美国人的做法，这是非常不公平和可耻的。
Billy Burt
May 14, 2018
I appreciate you writing this. So many need to know about these things. Thanks.
我很感激你写这篇文章。很多人需要知道这些事情。谢谢。
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