Tag: china

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Ni Hao

Having had very limited exposure to China or Chinese culture, I regrettably admit that I only knew China through my Chinese friends and Chinese food. I was also aware that Chinese food in California is not what I might find in China. It was probably a highly Americanized version of Chinese food, which although still delicious, it lacks some authenticity.

Recently, the cliché that has come to surround China is that China is the future. Its economy, its language and its international influence continue to grow every year. When thinking of studying a new language, many people told me that I should consider Mandarin because it is the language of the future. With well over a billion residents, the Chinese have the first ingredient to propagating any language, a large Mandarin-speaking population.

China also has its long and storied past, which can start as far back as Homo erectus more than a million years ago if we choose to start there. Closer to 2100 BC is when the dynasties begin with the Xia, Shang, and Zhou. Coming from a country that has limited recorded history before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1942 and really before the Plymouth Colony started in 1620, going all the way back to 2100 BC produces such significance and grandeur that I am unaccustomed to. Through its five millennia of existence, China’s history is filled with wars, emperors, invasions, rebellions, revolutions, invention, art, natural disasters, foreign rule, and modernization.

I look forward to leaning about a small piece of that throughout my visit.

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Visas – “Check Everywhere You Want To Be”

As the USA has become stricter and stricter letting in foreign visitors, the reverse has also become true.  This is probably due to a combination of countries being frustrated with US stricter policies as well as just taking greater security precautions.  That said, as a traveler, it hasn’t always been an advantage being from the US when applying for travel visas.

To make this point very clear, China asks for a fee along with its tourist visa application.  When reading the chart for how much I owed, there were three columns.  The first column was to designate the number of times I wanted to enter the country and for how long.  The second column was how much Americans would have to pay, and the third column was how much citizens of other countries would have to pay.  As a citizen from the US, I would’ve had to pay $130 regardless of how long or how many times I entered the country.  Citizens of other countries would have to pay only $30 if they wanted a single-entry visa.  China is also one of those places that require you to have a travel visa before arrival.  In most places, I will be able to purchase a travel visa for a minimal fee and a couple passport photos of myself while making my way through customs.  Of all the places I plan to visit, only China and Vietnam required an advance visa.  In the end, I don’t blame these other countries for getting frustrated at the USA’s visa policies because it ends up causing people like me who need to apply for those visas to learn how tough the US really is on foreigners and to subsequently question if that’s right.