网友1：Fred Schlimm, High Risk International Business Consultant
Answered Oct 16
I live near Shanghai now and am going home to America in December.
My first visit to China was to a SAR. Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong. English. Cantonese. Mandarin. They drive on the British side of the road. It’s a very British … albeit exotic place … , so I’ll pass.
我住在附近，现在12月份已经回美国了
我第一次去中国是香港。英语、粤语、普通话。他们开车是英式左边走。非常英式所以我去了。
My first real visit to China was Beijjng. 2012. Mandarin Chinese language. Ancient China and the modern People’s Republic of China. They drive on the right side of the road … the American way.
我第一次正直去中国是12年在北京。普通话，古老的中国和现代的中华人民共和国。他们开车是美式的右边
Surprise number one. Fireworks. Anywhere. Any time. For any reason. WOW!!
Surprise number two. Car horns!!!
1.The spoken language is Mandarin Chinese.
2.Written language 1 is Simplified Chinese Characters.
3.Written language 2 is pinyin with tone marks. Roman alphabet. Thank god!
4.Gestures … try to count to ten on one hand. They do. Perfect!!!
5.Honking car horns is a language of its own. You get used to it … after nine months.
6.E-Bikes. Electric bikes. Silent Death!!! You never hear them or see them and one day, you will be hit from an unexpected direction.
非常惊讶的一个就是烟花另一个就是汽车鸣笛。
讲普通话
写的是简体汉字
用罗马字母拼写拼音带声调
用一只手势表示1-10个数，他们做的太棒了
他们按汽车喇叭沟通。
电动自行车。安静的要死。你永远不会听到或者看到他们，有一天你会被悄无声息的撞到
Food. Great. EXCEPT CHICKEN FEET!!! OMG!!! Horrible. It also looks horrible. America doesn’t eat chicken feet. America exports chicken feet to China.
Lots of people. I mean LOTS.
One has to boil his water.
K-TV. Karaoke Parlors on steroids. EVERYWHERE!!!
Squat toilets … yes, I got used to them in South East Asia, but …
Surprises …
Not a surprise … the country looks great. The people are wonderful.
食物非常棒，尤其是鸡爪。 太恶心了。看起来很恶心。美国人不吃鸡爪。美国出口鸡爪到中国。
非常多的人，中国人非常多
他们喝热水
任何地方都有KTV
蹲厕。以前在南亚国家用过，但是在中国很惊讶
总之中国是个非常棒的国家，他们的人民也非常棒
网友2：Jeffrey Ripley-Gonzalez, Sport and Exercise Science & Medicine MSc from University of Glasgow (2017)
Answered Nov 5
My first trip to China was May this year (2017). Before my travels there, I had been living with three Chinese guys at University. They had told me not to worry as most people can speak English and it would be super easy. Another thing was the “Normal” advice that every parent will tell you, be careful, you are in a foreign country etc.
我第一次去中国是在17年5月，在我去中国之前在大学和我三个中国同学生活在一起，他们告诉我不要担心大部分中国人都会讲英语，在中国会非常容易。其它的就是一些平常的建议像父母告你的一样。注意安全哪里毕竟是外国
I arrived in Guangzhou and was completely lost, tried to speak to some people and quickly realized that my friends may have been slightly wrong. However I did meet a couple of Indian guys outside the airport who were quite helpful. Thereafter my experience communicating got slightly better, however, most people won’t speak English to you, but they will attempt to understand you if you try to communicate.
Overall I will list a few of my experiences below:
我到广州就完全迷路了。尝试和一些人讲英语然后才发现我朋友讲的完全错了。然后我遇见了两个印度人在机场外他们给我很多帮助。然后我的沟通变得更好一些。大多数中国人都不会讲英语。但是他们会试着让你明白如果你想和他们交流。
总体来说我例了一引些我自己的经历在下面
1.People are incredibly friendly, having lived in London for a long time I realized I missed this. I can’t express enough my gratitude to those that helped me and offered to show me around.
2.It is Busy. I mean it is really busy.
3.Food! Amazing, Incredible, lovely Food. If you are like me and love spicy food, your experience may be greater. Please try all the street food too.
4.Very tall buildings, I already knew there would be apartment blocks, but I grew up in rural Colombia. This is always a shock.
5.Beautiful scenery. I was lucky enough that some friends of mine took me to see the scenery around Guangdong and Hunan.
Overall I had an amazing experience in China and will go again this month.
中国人十分友好，我在伦敦信了很长时间我发现我真的借过了。我不能向那些给我提供帮助 的人表达我的谢意
太忙了，真的太忙了
食物真的是太棒了，非常喜欢，如果你喜欢听辣的食物，你的经历会更棒，请大胆尝试街上所有的食物吧
非常高的建筑物。我已经知道很多是公寓楼，但是我长在哥伦比亚农村，真的很震撼。
非常美丽的风景，我非常幸运认识很多朋友带我去广州周边和湖南旅游
总体来说，中国这次经历非常棒，我下个月还会再来
网友3：Gagan Salh, worked at Caltrans
Answered Nov 9
My first trip to China was to Beijing in winter time.
The biggest surprise was persistent smog but it took me couple of hours to figure out that I was looking at Smog and not Fog. It was still there when I left Beijing and got off the train in Binhai, a distance of 170 km.
我第一次去中国旅行是冬天的北京
这个巨大的惊喜就是非常大的雾霾。花了我两个小时去了解倒底是雾霾还是雾。直到我离开北京去滨海还有雾霾。离北京170公里
The first thing that surprised me was that I was unable to use my foreign credit card at the central train station. I was shocked because this was the central station in Beijing. It was entirely unexpected. Credit Cart/ATM machines are ubiquitous in Beijing! All major stores, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops accept credit cards but not the central station!
It was all more surprising that there no other comfort that was denied to any visitor that they couldn’t have in their own country. I had just purchased a ticket to high speed train super tech train that traveled at speed of 250 km/hr.
第一件离我惊讶的就是不能使用我国外的信用卡，虽然北京有无处不在的ATM。大多数商店，酒店，宾馆，咖啡馆接受信用卡，但是火车站不接受。
还有更让人惊讶的在他们自己的国家里没有其他游客无法感到安慰。我购买了一张高速列车票250千米每小时
网友4：Sonja Sorrick, Automotive Validation Engineer
Answered Nov 5
I went in 2006: Hong Kong for vacation before 2 monthlong stints in Shanghai for business (also flew up to Beijing for one weekend). Surprises were:
我2006年去香港度假前2个月去上海2周在北京一个周末。
1 traffic - someone else already mentioned it but every taxi ride felt like I was putting my life in some strangers hands.
交通，其他人已经提到了，但是每辆出租车都感觉我把生命交到陌生人手上。
2 people going to the bathroom in public (saw a taxi driver park in the middle lane of a large parkway and walk to the bushes to go the bathroom- mind blown).
民众去公共卫生间，也看到一个出租车伺机在路中间方便
3. Negotiations - everything is negotiable and if you don’t negotiate they won’t respect you. I think the most respect I got was in Beijing when I spent 40 minutes dickering over the cost of some scarves (I even left and the merchant chased me down the aisle); in the end I think I saved a buck, but I was looked at with approval - however, that was after weeks of getting used to negotiating. When I was first in China , I only negotiated for 5 minutes at a different market and had a guy chase me down just to tell me that I was robbed and could have gotten a much better deal (I only spent $5, but he was appalled and embarrassed for me).
谈判，什么都可以谈，如果你不谈他们不会尊重你，我想我得到最尊重的时刻就是我花了40分钟为围巾的成本砍价，我甚至想离开，商人一直在走道追着不走。最后我想我省了一些钱，很满意。然尔后面几个星期有个商人只谈了5分钟他告诉我我被人宰了，他还可以出价更低的价格做一个好生意，最后我只花了5美元，他也很震惊我也很尴尬
4 squat toilets - avoided like the plague
蹲厕-避免传染病
5 the way they saved energy - ie the office would be nice and then you go out into the hallway and it was hot and humid - they didn’t waste energy keeping hallways etc temp controlled (Shanghai is similar to New Orleans in that it is at the end of a river delta - and really hot and humid in July).
他们的节能方式-举个例子，他们的办公室很好，然后你出去到走廊非常的热和潮湿。他们不会浪费能源通过温度控制保持走廊温度。上海与新奥尔良相似，因为它位于一个三角洲的尽头而且七月真的又热又潮湿
6 more of a note or maybe a pleasant surprise but the great wall and forbidden palace are worth it. Don’t care how “touristy” it is- wouldn’t miss those for the world. Oh and the science museum in Shanghai is world class.
更多的惊喜就是长城和紫金城非常值得一去，不在乎怎样旅行，就不会错过世界的那些地方。还有上海科技馆真是世界顶级
网友5：Elena Bulavkina, Clinical Trials Coordinator (2013-present)
Answered Oct 30
I have been to China (went to Beijing, Xian and Luoyang) from the end of December 2015 till the beginning of January 2016. There are severeal things that surprised me:
我去过中国北京，西安和洛阳在15年12月底到16年1月初。下面有这几个让我惊喜
1.The passport control staff spoke Chinese to me upon my arrival to the Beijing airport. I could not say any and it turned out she thought I could speak Chinese because I wrote Saint Petersburg in Chinese in the customs papers.
当到到达北京机场时海关官员对我说中文，我不会说任何中文，她以为我会中文因为我用中文写了Saint Petersburg 在海关入境表。
2.I was stared at everywhere though it was winter and I had a lot of clothes on. I have never been looked at by strangers so much in my whole life. I felt uncomfortable.
我在哪里都被很多人盯着，那是冬天我穿了很多衣服，我从来没有被这么多陌生注视过，我感觉不舒服
3.People do not care about anything or at least it looked like that. What I mean is, for example, people never waited for others to get off the train in the subway. When train doors opened those standing on the platform just tried to get in no matter how many people were coming out. Another example of it: whenever I was in a line to get tickets there was at least one person who tried to get in front of me all of a sudden. It was not his/her turn, by the way, they just did not care…
看起来好像民众不关心任何事情，例如在地铁他们从来来等其他人下车。当车门开时他们站在那就尝试进去，不管有多少人要出来。另外一个就是无论何时当我排对买票时总有至少一个有试着在我前面插对。也是是他们不在乎。
4.People do not care about New Year. Well, this is just not a big holiday for the Chinese but for me as a Russian it is the biggest holiday of the year so not being able to celebrate it while in China made me very homesick.
人们不关心阳历新年，这不仅是一个比较大的假日对中国人来说，但是对我们俄罗斯人来说这就是一年中最大的节日。不能够庆祝所以我很想家
5.I got to eat strawberries in winter. It is the first time for me, I was super happy.
我在冬天吃到了草莓，对我来说这是第一次非常开心
6.Absence of coffee mostly. If I managed to find any like Starbucks it was extremely expensive.
通常缺少缺咖啡，如果我去星巴克买会非常贵
7.Almost everything I tried was delicious
基本上我尝的所有东西都非常好吃
8.Somehow I felt almost like at home, the atmosphere was somehow similar to Russia
有时感觉像在家，这里的气氛和俄罗斯有点像
网友5：Waitai West Rakete, Likes Chinese history, culture, food, people, and shopping.
Answered Jan 6
The first time I traveled to China, I arrived in Hong Kong. Immediately I left the airport to catch a taxi, I was struck by the smell of, well, poop. There was a pervading smell like sewerage. I was quite shocked.
我第一次去中国当我到了香港我立马离开机场就打了一辆出租车，烟味呛得厉害，有些像下道的味道，我十分震惊
The second time I traveled to China, I arrived at Baiyun airport in Guangzhou. We exited the plane via steps to a bus. I was hit by the smell of poop yet again. I mean, I know heaps of people live there, but I wasn’t ready for the smell.
第二次去中国，当我到了广州白云机场，我下出飞机走上了一辆公共汽车，我又一次感觉有屎一样的味道。我意思是我知道那里很多人但我真的没想到有这种味道。
The third time was better, I wasn’t greeted by the smell of poop. But walking around the streets, I still got the odd whiff every now and again. By then I had a daughter, and she confirmed what I smelt.
第三次去好多了，没有那些气味，但是我走到街上，我又闻到一些味道，我带着女儿她也闻到了
Maybe I am just unfortunate, and at inopportune moments people choose to pass wind when I was about. I can’t compare with any other great centers of civilisation, maybe Europe or the Middle East has the same problem.
也许我很不幸，不巧时刻通风。我不能把他和其它很伟大的城市中心比较。也许欧洲和中东有这一样的问题。
Apart from that there were mostly pleasant surprises.
除这些外其它大部分都是愉快的惊喜
I do remember, I first traveled to Singapore. The day after I arrived I left the hotel to have a walk around. I was in Geylang, a rather colourful district. It had been raining, and it was relatively cool. It too smelled like poop. I eyed the drains suspiciously. In the end I regarded it was a mixture of Durian, and Roast Chestnuts, that caused the offending smell. Perhaps that was also the case in China. That there are some less obvious causes to the occasional bad smell.
我还记得，我第一次去新加坡，我到的第二天我离开酒店散步，在Geylang 一个非常有多彩的区。一直在下雨，天气相当的凉爽，闻起来像屎一样，我看到了下水道。最后我认为是榴莲和烤栗子的混合物引起了臭味。也许这也是在中国这种情况。偶尔的臭味有一些不太明显的原因。
网友6：John Pearl, former traveler for a bit
Answered Nov 7
The absolute first thing that surprised me was that foreigners were banned from staying in the lowest-budget motels.
这绝对是第一件事当我震惊的是，外国人被禁止住低价酒店
I visited China for the first time as a budget traveler around the north-central regions (Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, others), in 2013. I landed first in Lanzhou at about 2am. I figured I would slip into the cheapest place I could find for the night and then wake up early for a bus the next morning, but this was much more difficult than anticipated.
我2013年第一次去中国的北中部地区甘肃青海四川和其它地方。我凌晨2点降落在兰州。我打住一个非常便宜的地方过夜，然后第二天早上去坐公交。但是这个比相像的困难的多
There are plenty of tiny motels that cater to (male) Chinese travelers for the equivalent of $10 per night, if I remember correctly. However, the government has strict rules about accepting foreign guests. Providers of accommodation are required to have authorization from the government to accept foreign guests, and are further required to keep strict logs of the passport numbers numbers of foreigners and other assorted paperwork.
那儿有很多小的旅店，为中国男性旅行者提供的大约10美元一晚。如果我没记错的话。然后政府严令禁止接受外国旅客。需要提各种证明和护照等文件
The ultimate consequence of this is that the cheapest places don’t want to worry about this, and will simply refuse all foreign travelers. The cheapest hotels/motels that accept foreigners are business hotels that charge upwards of $50 per night. Of course in many cities there are hostels that cater to foreign travelers and will charge cheaper rates, but at the time I don’t think Lanzhou had any.
I ended up spending my first night in a booth at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
这样导致的结果就是，很便宜的地方不想这问这个，会直接拒绝国外旅客。最便宜的酒店能够接受国外旅客的价格要50美元以上。。当然很多城市都有接受国外旅客的酒店能够便宜点，但是那时我不认为兰州有。
我最后在kentucky 炸鸡摊渡过了一晚。
网友7：Ken Graham, Hotel Co-owner Southern Mexico
Answered Oct 31
We were being checked in to a 4 star hotel which had some delay, anyway we were treated to a bevarage, a glass of hot water. That was a common thing, but my 1st surprise..
We were aware of the squat toilets so they were not a surprise,
I must have seen a old National Geographic film so had avoided train travel, when in fact they are running about 180 miles an hour, When leaving via Shanghai to airport we used the levitating monorail 430 kilometers per hour peak speed.
我们住进一个4星级酒店有点费时，然后免费送了我们一杯热水。这些最常见的东西我很惊讶
我们注意到很多蹲厕所以也不意外。
我看到一个比较旧的的国家地理电影所以错过了火车旅行。然后它以180英里每小时的速度。当我们离开上海去机场时坐的磁悬浮最高每小时430千米。
网友8：Syed Irfan, studied at Dawood University of Engineering and Technology
Answered Nov 17
I arrived in China in September 2017 and lived in Sichuan chengdu. I find Chinese people very helpful besides having the language barrier almost all the people with whom I interracted try their level best to help me in finding locations shop etc. This is the most pleasant and surprising thing I observed while living in China.
我到中国是2017年9月，住在四川成都。我发现中国人非常乐于助人。几乎所有的人和我们有语言障碍，但他们尝试尽量帮我找到商店等等。这是最愉快与惊喜的事情我在中国观察到的。
网友9: Sarah Maceda, Travel Enthusiast | Travel Blogger | www.myquirkysoul.com
Answered Dec 3
Too many people!
Everywhere’s crowded, really. I recently went to Shanghai during the Chinese New Year - work-related. It’s a common knowledge, I know, that China has the biggest population but it never dawned on me until I personally experienced it.
It’s actually insane!
人太多了。
哪里都是一帮人。真的我最近在上海快要到中国新年了，因为工作关系，大家都知道，中国是人口最多国家从来没有出现，直到我亲身经历过
真的疯狂
网友9：Raymond McAneny, Have traveled and worked in Europe, Asia, Africa and New Zealand.
Answered Oct 20
This was shortly after the Nixon thaw when I was on a business trip to Shanghai and the surrounding country. Having grown up in a traditional Republican conservative family and survived my tour in Viet Nam my preconceptions of the Chinese were not good.
These people taught me a valuable lesson that has stuck with me. Preconceptions are baseless and stupid. The Chinese people I talked to from the mayor of Shanghai to the girls working at a small country dairy were charming, honest and ready to smile. I loved talking to them and sharing a bit of their enthusiasm for knowledge and new technological developments.
在尼克松访问中国关系解冻后不久，我去上海和周边国家出差。我在传统的共和党保守家庭长大，在越战后幸存下来，我对中国人的成见并不好。
这些人教会了我一个宝贵的经验教训。成见是没有根据和愚蠢的。我和上海市长谈过的中国人对在一个小国家的乳品厂工作的女孩都很有魅力，很诚实，愿意微笑。我喜欢和他们交谈，分享他们对知识和新技术发展的热情。