[FINAL POST of 2015 Exchange] Making Our Way Downtown

(Abby)

Last week, we four travelers decided to take a day off from school and venture back to Hefang Street. Because we went at a bright and early 8 am, the road was void of shoppers and most of the stores were still closed. It was nice to get this perspective of the usually bustling shopping mecca because we got to see the magic of the shopkeepers walking past us in the morning sunlight and step up to their storefronts to open their doors to another day of big sales. I did enjoy seeing the gradual escalation of people and movement during the first hour we were there. Every time you turned your head, more people would appear in every direction.

Halfway through our adventures down the street, a mass of lime green and white uniforms that turned out to be a group of school children surged the crowds and soon made up half the population on Hefang Street. I was not only shocked at the fact that a school would take a group of middle schoolers to this street, but also that these kids were all walking around unsupervised. These kids were also not the most courteous beings on this earth and I had to push my way through several packs of them because they were unresponsive to my various pleas of “excuse me”.

For lunch we settled down for some good ol’ McDonalds burgers. I did not expect to be eating McDonalds on this trip, but there have been several occasions where we have had to eat at the establishment. I was a little hesitant at our first venture there, but there’s only so much you can do when it’s 9 pm after a day of traveling and there’re no English speaking restaurants around. I will say though that McDonalds is expensive in China compared at the other food that you can get at other small establishments. A meal at McDonalds consisting of a cheeseburger, medium fries, and a small coke is 38 yuan ($6.20) whereas a huge bowl of wanton soup and a huge helping of noodles at a small shop is 8 yuan ($1.30). This comparison was shocking to me since McDonalds is one of the cheapest places you can eat at in America. Despite having many cheaper options at their fingertips though, a lot of people here in China frequent McDonalds very much.

Another thing that’s popular here in China is plastic surgery. On my way to Hangzhou High School, I pass around 10 different clinics that claim to make you the most beautiful woman or man in all of China. I later discovered that the rise in plastic surgery in China came from South Korea’s plastic surgery influx. Ivy, Ola’s host sister, told Ola a joke about a businessman from China that visited South Korea for a conference. On his way to his hotel, he saw a very beautiful woman. He passed her and saw the same beautiful woman walking by, and another, and another, etc… Of course, not everyone in either China or South Korea gets plastic surgery, but it’s not an uncommon occurrence. The culture surrounding the whole operation is also very open. People don’t really try and hide the surgeries. Nik, Ola, and I have seen many a citizen walking down the sidewalk with fresh noses or eyelids (the two most popular surgeries). There are also advertisements everywhere you look for clinics. Many subway stations, busses, and buildings display smiling photo-shopped women claiming that you need work done. With all these ads and clinics on every corner, I’m not surprised these surgeries have become so popular but I’m still sad that so many people here feel the need to go to such drastic measures to make themselves feel beautiful when what they naturally have is perfect.

~Zaijian for now!

.