We've been in China for almost a month, but until recently I still lacked real contact with the locals.
When I came here ten years ago, I often spoke with the other students on my campus in Beijing and this made me feel more immersed in the culture, as if I were really living the country and not just visiting it.
This time was different. Probably because we came with a different spirit, torn between work and the desire to explore as much as possible. At most I managed to exchange a few words with the lady at the restaurant or the taxi driver - which, by the way, is still a great exercise for my Chinese!
Then suddenly the turning point.
I was looking for information on Zhangjiajie, the place where the famous Hallelujah Mountains from Avatar are located, when I found a post on Reddit that immediately piqued my curiosity. A local boy offered to be a guide to visit the area or even just for a dinner with friends. In the post he explained that he was studying English to pass the IELTS exam and that, living in a tourist destination, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to practice the language with travelers.
A rare and unique opportunity!
When I spoke to Giuseppe about it, he immediately told me to contact him, and so we did. We added each other on WeChat – one of the most important apps in China – and, after introducing ourselves, we set up a meeting for the week in which we would be in Zhangjiajie to see the Tianmen Mountain.
The day of the visit to the Hallelujah Mountains of Avatar, seeing those mountains with my own eyes was magical: a dream come true! Giuseppe pointed out to me that, some time ago, I had told him how much I wanted to see them… and there we were, immersed in a movie-like landscape.
Returning to our guide, in the evening we met with Eric for dinner together. He told us that he was married, had two children and was tired of life in China.
He worked as a video game developer for years, but quit because the industry is extremely competitive and the working hours were grueling: the famous 996 - from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, six days a week. A practice that is still widespread in China, although this is slowly changing. He is now studying English in the hope of finding an opportunity abroad, perhaps in Canada.
Even though the weather wasn't on our side the next day - and the gray sky and fog ruined the view of Tianmen Mountain and the famous Heaven's Gate - we had a lot of fun with Eric. Between one chat and another, I asked him which social media he uses, because I have always been fascinated by the Chinese digital world.
On this trip, I decided that I want to delve deeper into this area and work more and more as a social media manager for Chinese platforms too. I'm not a newcomer to the field, in the past I have already managed the social presence of some Italian companies in China, but making it one of my main skills now is a whole other story. The first step? Get an advanced language certification and take some courses on Chinese social media.
Eric explained to me that Xiao Hong Shu (Little Red Book) is comparable to Instagram, while Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok. However, he doesn't post anything on these platforms: he prefers to share only on WeChat, which is much more private, because the content is visible only to his contacts.
At the end of the evening, he told us that we are lucky to live this lifestyle. Who can blame him? He hoped to be able to turn his own life around, and I was particularly struck when he told us about his experience during the Covid period. He lived through three years of lockdown, and among the many difficulties he made us laugh with an absurd anecdote: one day, his father decided to sneak out to have a beer in a bar... and he was arrested! He stayed two weeks in paid quarantine accommodation, at Eric's expense.
What a story!
It was a pleasure to spend time with him, to have the opportunity to look at China with different eyes and to listen to the experiences of those who live there every day. To really get to know a place, it is not enough to visit it: you also need to talk to those who live there, only in this way can you better understand its culture. In the meantime, we have decided on our next destination.
After China, the journey continues… Bali, here we come! We can’t wait to discover this new adventure too. In the meantime, I am enjoying my China and making the most of this experience, both for my Chinese and to fill my heart with new memories.
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