China: What I like - what I don't - (1)

What I don't like:

Being illiterate

Salt or sugar? Always a taste test.

I think it's kitchen cleaner, but, it could be mold remover, right? Can't taste this one.

Gmail login - it's all about remembering which box is for what.

T.V. controls. Same as A.C. controls, the heating units and the dvd player. It's easier to just go without somedays.

What I like:

The contrast between the old and the new.

Baby backpack

The "country people" who come to the city from the countryside have a status similar to our illegal immigrants. Only in this case their illegal status is that they've moved without government permission from where they are registered.

This means they work, rent their apartments, send their children to school and get medical care illegally.  I don't know how they send their kids to school or get medical care, as both require an I.D. that shows they are legal Chongqing residents, but as for work and renting, well, they take the menial jobs no one wants, get paid under the table, and live in crowded and below standard housing. 

They also bring their "country ways" that city people, like city people everywhere, turn their noses up at.  There's a lot of public spitting and nose picking, illegal street vendors (not all of them are from the country, like us....) open gawking at unusual sights like foreigners, (China, like the U.S., considers staring rude) and innovative but often "backwards" ways of transporting goods.  Here, this greens vendor  a simple but effective scale to weigh the produce.