“Real China” – that vague yet somehow all-encompassing term that is flung around by locals and expats alike. Whether it be hanging out in the hutongs or taking a cruise up the Yangtze, snippets of real China can be found wherever you are in the country. Even in Beijing, my current city of residence, there are still places where you’ll forget you’re in one of China’s largest, developed and most frenzied cities… But what does the concept of “Real China” evenentail anymore? Is there still such a thing? Upon my first arrival here as a fresh-faced 21 year-old four years ago, I thought I’d struck gold with regard to finding “Real China”. I chose to spend a year that I’ll never forget in a little-known industrial fourth-tier city in Guangxi Province called Liuzhou. It was here that I got my first dose of what I believed was “Real China”, albeit mostly through the locals (the ancient buildings were mostly replaced with industrial complexes). In this article, I’d like to offer an insight into my experience of being an expat in smaller cities through the perspective of my relationship to several locals.

 
Flickr

Mike – the music teacher

During my year in Liuzhou, like many expats that find themselves in a fourth tier city, I taught English at a local school. Soon after starting, I befriended one of the school’s music teachers, a fun-loving joker-type named Mike with decent spoken English. Little did I know this friendship would offer me a priceless path to a whole new social life in the city. Through Mike’s far-reaching network of contacts across the city, I was invited to nightclubs, KTVs, banquets, and house parties, and it seemed like making friends in a city where almost no one spoke my language was a lot easier than I thought! Bonds with locals were quickly struck through the clinking of beer bottles, the sharing of cigarettes, and the murdering of various Beatles tunes in one of the city’s many KTV bars.

Being a music teacher, Mike soon became aware of my ability to play the guitar, and asked me to play in a one off gig in the run up to the 60th National Day holiday. The concert was held at a small venue in front of a crowd of laborers and local government officials. Cue the clueless foreigner on stage amid a sea of red flags playing guitar while the band belted out songs of revolution against a heavily patriotic backdrop. I thought it was fun at the time, though later on I came to realize that I was being used as a foreign face in Chinese propaganda. A consequent appearance on a local TV show and the free dinner and KTV session that usually followed such events reasserted this feeling that my friendship with Mike might have been spurred by my foreigner status more than anything else. But you take the pros with the cons when you're one of the few foreigners in a small Chinese city. Looking back on Mike though, I remember having a lot of fun with the guy, and it’s because of him that I have some of the best memories of Liuzhou. He may have benefited in some ways from having a foreign friend at his side, but if that’s the case, I can live with it.

Steve – the raucous businessman

Steve was the guy who ticked all the boxes that many of us would associate with the typical sleazy Chinese businessman. He liked people to give him face. He’d often drink his weight in baijiu. And as was slowly being made clear to me, having a foreigner hang out with you at social events in a fourth tier city with a tiny expat population was a huge face-gaining maneuver. Due to my curiosity and desire to meet new people, I usually showed up when Mike invited me to join him and Steve in their many escapades.

The first time I met the guy, he was almost on the floor in a restaurant after apparently being bested in a drinking competition. Of course, he insisted on driving us home afterward. No prizes for guessing what happened next. Steve then promptly crashed his Audi into a lamp post, after which Mike and I carried him home to his poor wife—who, judging by the expression on her face, wasn’t too surprised to see him in such a state. We then proceeded to sit and drink tea in Steve’s plush two-story apartment while he chatted away and tried several times to throw his arm around me in a bizarre expression of affection. I was slightly unnerved, but I pressed on. This was all part of the package, I told myself, all part of my quest to find “Real China.”

Other Steve-related antics included him trying to flirt with waitresses, driving around with various mistresses in his car, bribing traffic police, and somewhat disturbingly, stalking a female expat friend of mine back to her apartment after a night out. Steve was just one of many similar sleazy Chinese businessman-types I met during my time in Liuzhou, and despite being introduced to aspects of upscale lifestyle in the city, I was left with a sour impression of the social elite who rule over small Chinese cities. Perhaps Steve was a shining example not of “Real China” but of what China has become.

Fang – the lovable barbeque guy

Drunken sleazebags aside, I managed to find solace in the ordinary Liuzhou folk. On my street, I met several hospitable locals who treated me more like a human being and less like some weird foreigner showpiece. That’s not to say that I didn’t receive my fair share of staring and pointing as well. But as aggravating as it can be, I’d still take (mostly) innocent curiosity over blatant exploitation any day of the week. In fact I soon became good friends with Fang, the owner of a small barbeque stall on my street. After a night on the town, I’d often stop by and have a late night snack and one final beer. Fang was always around to share a drink and play cards, and showed a surprising talent for Uno. In retrospect, it was through my friendship with Fang that I got my first insight into the life and culture of ordinary Chinese citizens. I finally felt like I was living like a local (incidentally, I learned a lot about the Chinese language from him too).

Robert – the foreign colleague

In a similar vibe to my experiences with the locals, the members of the small Liuzhou expat community were also a varying bunch. After just arriving, I was relieved to meet Robert, another foreign teacher at my school who had been in Liuzhou for a while and was pretty familiar with the city and was willing to help me acclimate.  At school, he struck me as a chilled out guy, so we’d occasionally go out for drinks after work. After a few beers however, Robert would suddenly explode into life, though the emergence of his character as someone who was prone to sweeping (and often racist) rants made him a person you wouldn’t want to be left alone with in a bar. Despite this, we worked in the same school and lived in the same block, so I felt somewhat obligated to hang around with him. For a time, life at the school further reinforced the notion that I had to be friends with Robert. We shared the same teaching schedules and to a certain extent, relied on each other for various aspects of our lives. Nonetheless, I soon found myself actively working to distance myself from Robert and the rest of the small tightly-knitted group of expats at the school. After all, I was here to embrace a new culture, mix with the locals and to find “Real China”; why should other foreigners play such a large part in that experience?

Time for the big city

Small Chinese cities provide great respite from the bustling metropolises of places like Beijing and Shanghai. Sure, there are the frustrations of being the token foreigner in town, the lack of Western comforts, the greater likelihood of culture shock, and the sometimes-forced interactions with the limited local expat community, though for some that’s just what’s needed.

Personally, after spending a year in Liuzhou, I found myself wanting nothing more than to “disappear” into a big city, and not have to deal with the often unwanted attention that comes with being a foreigner in a fourth tier city. After I moved to Beijing, that’s precisely what I got, though I still find myself looking back at my time in Liuzhou with a smile. In my mind, all of those crazy nights out and dodgy characters, as well as the more normal folk like Fang, my barbequing friend (and even the other foreigners like Robert) paint a vivid picture of what “Real China” means today.

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: Real China