I've had the privilege to visit China on several occasions, mainly the city of Shenzhen (in the mainland just off Hong Kong). As you mentioned, I just love the way the Chinese are almost puritan about the everyday things in life. There's a certain dignity I find in street folk where there appears to be this absence of vanity. They just don't ridicule one another about external appearances, which I thought was so refreshing to see in a culture.

On my first visit, I was just bamboozled by the amount of bikes in the early morning before the cars and trucks take over the roads. Men riding with female (or male) passengers sitting side-saddle on the rear carriage, all going up this massive 6 lane overpass on single speeds! They don't look very fit but I only noticed a few of them stop and walk. I also saw this office worker in his business suit, riding a service bicycle of sorts in a dignified manner... not something I would ever see back home.



There's good and bad in any culture, and various countries are no exception to that. But each time I visit China, I just really enjoy watching a community that operates without sarcasm and malice (in my eyes anyway). It's just something I admire about the "mainland" Chinese.

I hope they stay that way...



.