What I would bring with me back from China
I live in China, and recent news reports, articles and YouTube videos about my home away from home seem to be getting more and more negative. The Western media are behaving in a totally predictable and human fashion given how competitive China has become. Considering this trend, however inaccurate the reports can sometimes be, I can’t help but think to myself what I would do should I have to leave this place. What would I take with me? (Apart from my family of course). What products, services and habits would I miss the most? And which of these could I implement back home? Let’s dive in.
Number one on my list is a super easy choice. It’s WeChat, a thing of magic. I remember seeing a Click episode on BBC a few years back in which they were talking about the uses of WeChat, and they were talking about it as though it was some super futuristic thing. And to be honest, when I came here in 2016 I was surprised repeatedly by the things I could do with it.
First off, you can make QR code payments. That’s possible anywhere but here it’s the number one option — I haven’t carried a wallet on me in seven and a half years! Everywhere you go there’s an option to pay by QR code. Along with WeChat, another popular option is Alipay, which has recently added functionality to connect to non-Chinese bank cards. With both those Apps you can make transactions anywhere, like in convenience stores, malls and most businesses I can think of. You can make very large purchases and you can transfer quite significant amounts of money. Limits vary, but ¥20,000 — roughly £2400 or $2900 — will go through without a hitch.
You can also book rail tickets, plane tickets, holidays, cinema tickets — everything you can imagine. I know this sort of thing is getting more and more integrated back home but I feel that if one App tried to do all this there’d be some commission trying to stop them. I just don’t see it getting replicated, even though Elon has talked about his admiration of it a lot (Fortune article). Did I mention it’s the messaging App too?
Squatting
Second on the list is squatting. Squatting is something that we are really in need of in the West. I’m 30-something years old but before I came here, although I didn’t have any serious lower back problems, I would sometimes have little spasms (and the odd big one) maybe four times a year or so. I’d feel a bit of a pull on my lower back or an ache for a few days. Which is a very common occurrence for a lot of people back home. But it really didn’t have to be that way as I found out. All you need is a little squatting every day.
I started squatting when I came here, and honestly, I haven’t suffered any regular lower back pain since. My posture has improved and the old aches and pains have pretty much all gone (it’s not magic — if I sit on my computer playing Factorio for 10 hours straight, I’ll still get a sore back). But why did I need to squat in the first place?
Along with squatting being the most used way of sitting down when you’re doing stuff near the ground or waiting for something, most of the public bathrooms here, like at places of work and in the malls, are squat toilets. And trust me, at the beginning, it was just horrific. I needed to take everything off just so I could do a nice, wide squat to get down there and do my business. But now I don’t need to. (The technique by the way is to lower your trousers down to just above the knees and not all the way down — that’s a big mistake…) In any case, squatting is something I can’t bring back home with me on a grand scale. Could I convince the world to change to squat toilets? In fact, unfortunately, China is trying to “Westernise” by going on a wave of Western toilet installation — which is a big mistake.
If you decide to become a squatting convert but have a Western toilet at home, there is a solution for you. The squatty potty. It’s a small stool with a groove that fits nicely around your toilet seat so you can place your feet on top. You kinda get the best of both worlds. You can sit down when you want to, or you can do a bit more of a squat when you feel like you need the extra push. The angle is healthier. You get better performance and better follow-through, so I can’t recommend squatting, for any purpose, enough. If you don’t believe me, check out this 5-minute Science Insider video here.
MSG
Number three on the list is something that exists in the UK but it’s been ostracised. It’s the bogeyman… it’s MSG!!! Even here young people try to reduce the amount of MSG they consume. They ask takeaways not to add it to their food; they don’t give it to their children as much (ok, that’s fair enough).
But I love MSG so much. It’s one of those things that you don’t know is there until it’s not. A lot of foods contain natural MSG. In fact, it was first extracted from seaweed — probably why so many people like sushi. Apart from seaweed, tomatoes, cheese and mushrooms are great sources of natural MSG. That’s why a good mushroom pizza is just incredible. Many other foods have natural MSG but adding MSG to something like the necessary evils (lettuce, cabbage, anything that’s good for you but don’t like putting in your mouth) not only makes it tolerable; it makes it enjoyable.
There’s no reason to be proud of our restaurants or our cantinas saying they don’t add MSG in our food — especially if it’s an Asian restaurant back home. Just add the MSG! Nothing’s gonna happen to you or your customers.
The reason people think MSG is harmful is because Asian people living in America in the 50s reported feeling sickly after going to Asian restaurants. It’s true that if you eat really big quantities of MSG without much food, you will feel a little woozy. But to add insult to injury, this nonsense experiment was conducted where they gave participants a tablespoon of MSG without food and as a result, they had migraines and other side-effects. Of course they did!!! How would you feel if you had a tablespoon of salt with no food?!
So MSG is safe, add it to your diet and don’t be a baby. Incidentally one of the results of the anti-MSG campaign back in the day was to remove MSG from baby formula, which is also fair enough. But still, don’t be a baby if you’re not a baby.
Rice Cooker
The last item on my list is really important to me. You can find it back home but it’s not commonly seen. It’s the rice cooker. What a rice cooker does is it cooks perfect rice. And I mean perfect rice. But that’s not all!
A rice cooker also keeps your food warm. You can use it as a crock pot or a pressure cooker. It’s even possible to make super fluffy pancakes and other unexpected baked goods using a rice cooker. You can also make bread, reheat your food, make stews, soups, porridges and more.
I think I would honestly pick a rice cooker over an oven or a microwave if I could only choose one appliance to keep in my kitchen (sorry roast chicken). I wish I could put into words how good the rice is though. I know what you’re thinking… It’s just rice. I used to think the same way, my friend. But rice-cooker rice is simply on a whole different level. Fluffy, divine, pure, airy, with just the right amount of moisture… I wish I could give it justice with my description. All I can say is, that it’s a close second to MSG. (For a much more eloquent description of the majesty of the rice cooker, check this article).
Thanks for making it to the end of the list. If there’s anything you feel I haven’t included, I’d love to hear what it is below.
Arrivederci.
