I keep bracing myself for friction when travelling in China. It never comes
The country has come a long way since my first trip there in 2011 when few had seen a dark-skinned person and several wanted to pose for a picture with ‘Obama’.
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China’s app-based life, arguably the most advanced in the world, has made the country accessible to foreigners and non-Mandarin speakers, says the writer.
PHOTO: EPA
Each time I return from China, I find myself puzzling over the same question: Why did the trip outperform my expectations again? Why did the frictions I braced myself for, mainly on account of my non-existent Mandarin, again fail to materialise?
Do not misunderstand me. I am no novice when it comes to China, nor am I ignorant of its rapid development. Please do not lump me in with some of my fellow millennials, loudly declaring on social media, after a couple of hotpot meals at Xiang Xiang and one Guilin trip, that they are in a “very Chinese time” of their lives. Bro, where were you all this while?
