Life in China Before the Pandemic
As we all know, life for most people around the world has changed since the Covid-19 pandemic. In my opinion, however, few places have seen such drastic changes as China. While my ability to travel even within China was heavily restricted after the initial outbreak, before the pandemic I was largely free to go anywhere I pleased both domestically and internationally. Before the pandemic, I saw places in China I did not see during my first visit as a tourist. I also returned to Japan and South Korea several times to see friends I had met during my time at university. Throughout this post, I will describe a bit more of my overall experience in China before the pandemic as well as a few other places I have visited.
Work-Life Balance and Cost of Living in China
Because I was a high school history teacher, that meant I had every weekend and numerous holidays off work. And unlike almost every teacher in the United States, I did not have to lead extracurricular activities or coach any sports which meant my evenings were free as well after classes ended at 4:30 PM. Before the pandemic, school proceeded normally in person withfew people even thought about remote learning.
It took me about a month to get comfortable enough with my new job as a high school teacher before I could start going places in China, but once I did I spent almost every weekend outside of Wuxi. Now Wuxi is not a bad place to live in, but my main complaint is that it does not have much to offer for a foreigner as it is a Tier 2 city. One of my main reasons for choosing to live in Wuxi was that it was not far from Shanghai which is a very international Tier 1 city compared to the rest of China. At the same time, I could benefit from a lower cost of living and more benefits, chief among them not having to pay rent.
Also, I should mention that besides not having to pay rent, just about everything in China is way cheaper than in developed countries such as the United States or Japan. Although there are some not nice things about living in China, the low cost of living is a big positive for many foreigners. To give an example, I could order takeout from a local Chinese restaurant at the cheapest for around three dollars total including the cost of delivery. And the price of getting a taxi in China is the complete opposite of Japan, meaning that it was doable for me to take a taxi every dayto work without worrying about the cost. In general, it was relatively cheap to buy clothing and miscellaneous household items, as China still has a robust manufacturing sector. Because my school paid me what would be considered a normal salary for a teacher in the United States, that meant financial issues certainly were never among the problems I had in China.
Chinese Food in China
So I did say that I did not have a problem with finances, but one problem I did have was getting used to the food. I did at least try actual Chinese food while I was a tourist, but living in a Tier 2 city meant I would have to eat Chinese food more often than not as few Western options were around. Most Americans may be aware of this, but authentic Chinese cuisine is far different than something you would find at P.F. Chang’s or Panda Express which could be best described as a fusion of Chinese and American food. Unlike Chinese-American food, real Chinese food has less sugar, but can also have a lot of oil and salt, with the meat often having small bones and gristle which was very annoying, but after a while Iknew which restaurants were slightly more suited to my tastes, usually those that served fried rice with dumplings.
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In addition to being oily and salty, Chinese food can also get very spicy, as pictured above in a Sichuan-style hot pot. Hot pot restaurants could be found in virtually every city in China, which is a great thing as out of all the Chinese food I have tried, hot pot remains my favorite. It could be best described as a sort of stew to which you add any vegetable or meat/seafood you could think of, with also a mild broth option being available. In all hot pot restaurants in China, you order from a menu then you add the food to the pot on your table and you cook it yourself. These types of restaurants can be found in a few larger American cities, but most Americans at least have some experience with Chinese-American buffets which are virtually unknown in China.
As far as grocery shopping goes, most supermarkets in China are geared toward Chinese people which meant I was not a huge fan as a foreigner. But there was a large import supermarket chain called Ole where you could reliably find Western-type food from all over the world at a higher price. Although it is certainly not healthy, it is cheaper to order take-out frequently than it is to go grocery shopping at a regular or import store in China, which is very much the opposite of America.
Travels in China Before the Pandemic
As I said, before the pandemic I was able to see a few other cities in China such as Chengdu in Sichuan Province. In China, Chengdu is famous for several things, among them being panda bears and hot pots. Although hot pot restaurants can be found in every Chinese city, Chengdu is considered by many to be its birthplace.
As for pandas, the largest panda research and breeding facility in China is located in Chengdu, which means it is much more than just a zoo as pandas are both a symbol of China as well as an endangered species. Panda watching, contrary to what people may think, is not all that exciting, but I had to see them personally for myself. For most of the day, they can be found sleeping. But if you want to see them eat bamboo like in the picture above, you have to get there early in the morning. I have seen few animals lazier than a panda, so lazy that they do not like to breed much at least in captivity. This, of course, is a major problem but it is not realistic to let them out into the wild as there are relatively few left. If anything, the pandas I saw were so cute and cuddly that it was easy to forget they are very strong despite being so lazy.
Besides pandas and hot pots, the area around Chengdu is also famous for Qingcheng Mountain which is considered by many to be the birthplace of Daoism, one of the three major philosophies/religions of China. The mountain itself was not tall and there were steps all along the path to the temple at the top which made it accessible to most tourists or pilgrims. China is very much known for its huge cities, but there is still a huge number of not only Daoist temples such as this one but also Buddhist and Confucian temples. Although I am not a follower of any Eastern religion or philosophy, when I could still travel, I enjoyed visiting these places for their beauty and, when there were no hordes of Chinese tourists, their serenity.
Conclusion
So as you might have guessed, one of the main differences in living in China before the pandemic was the ability to get from city to city and province to province. Even during the height of the pandemic in the United States, you could go to most places with no restrictions on travel. I was able to visit a few more places besides Chengdu, but I may write about that in a future post. As far as living expenses, for me as a foreigner, it did not change very much in China from before to during the pandemic, unlike in the United States where inflation is very high presently. In any case, as you will see soon from my firsthand account, China during the pandemic (I say during because of the ongoing dynamic zero Covid policy in China) is a much different place than before Covid-19.
