anything that requires a Chinese ID like life just becomes hard did you know that there's more than 1 million tunnels and bridges in China if you don't read Chinese you you're going to have a hard time to get used to it oh no I wish we had that in Belgium [Music] we living in China as a foreigner might be wonderful for some but not that good for some others in the first half of 2024 China experienced a sign ific increase in foreign entries with almost 15 million foreign Nationals entering the country marking a 53% year-
on-year rise meaning more people are visiting the country either for work tourism or even to live here for a while I talked to some of my foreign friends from 10 different nationalities and backgrounds and asked them about their experience living in China they Shar with me the bright side but also some talked about the difficult part of living [Music] here how's been your experience living here in China well it's been a crazy ride when you start to settle down Things become a little bit difficult paperwork going to the bank anything that requires a Chinese ID
like life just becomes hard it It's So Different Here in China you need a lot of adaptation so if you don't have your phone if you don't read Chinese you you go you're going to have a hard time to get used to it some of them say China is a really fun place to live in I like that you can have like a nice comfortable life I like to ride bicycles around the country all of that there's a lot to see so yeah I like that mixture so it doesn't matter how long been in China
like doesn't matter how many times I travel there is always something new to see even even in the city where I live like many when coming to China you need to go through an adaptation process so it was very different at the start just with cultural differences uh but I have really enjoyed my time in China China is certainly different technology and convenience are some of the main aspects that they highlighted when they visit China so you know the world is not not at all the same than France yeah technology like autonomous car Chinese people
also make foreign visitors feel very welcome I like it so far yeah Chinese people are very nice and food is also very nice my perception wasn't correct of China and I it's definitely been a lot more positive than I than I thought it was going to be some of my friends share a deeper perspective about why China has become what it is today and why so many foreigners want to come to the country one of the reasons why China is growing so rapidly education the education system in in in China it's a system based on
values and I think that in many countries around the world we lost values where money is everything uh as opposed to knowledge and patriotism and that's something that you see a lot life in China is certainly convenient the use a smartphones have made everything faster and more efficient super apps like wichat or alipe are powerful tools that combine messaging social media mobile payments and a vast ecosystem of mini programs making it essential for communication and daily life we chat okay I mean sure we have we have messaging apps in the US too right but WeChat
can do everything I mean it can pay your bills you can borrow money with it you can send money to your friends you can use it for work it's just like a one in all app you don't need new wallet you don't need money you can scan a QR code for basically anything I love the wishot M I know it's like it's everywhere here but not in my country all and alip now it's very very uh easy and yes we all wish we have witch head in our countries I wish the US has something like
that oh no I wish we had that in Belgium I don't know why it doesn't exist in France you don't have these kind of payments over there like code no no but the truth is no matter how many super apps you have on your phone language is definitely one of the biggest barriers while living in China I mean try to learn and understand mandering not easy my friends the language barrier but I need to learn Chinese but this just I would love to talk to them no it's not easy to be understood and to understand
people it's difficult you have to be the a good accent I often have to to translate address address is is difficult technology has made daily life in China better by making communication faster allowing mobile payments improving Transportation with Smart Systems growing online shopping and adding AI power services that help with everyday task ENT in my building it's face ID no need keys and after it's password with um fingerprint I never lost my key because in France I lost many times on you yeah definitely uh this kind of biometric payments like with face recognition and the
will be these kind of cars with no driver taking now a driverless car no driver and the car is just taking us to the other side of the city literally the other side of the city they have been using this like drone technology in multiple applications even like during covid they use this technology if they want to monitor someone in the buildings or someone temperature they they put some kind of scanners even drones have been used like to save people dring people in the sea or anywhere you must have witness they they present the show
yeah yeah that kind [Music] [Music] [Applause] of China is often considered one of the safest countries in the whole world it has a very low crime rate compared to many other nations one of the main reasons for this is is strong police presence throughout the country China also uses advanced technology to help Monitor and prevent criminal activities the best part is how safe it is you can go out with your phone my wife can go out at night by herself and and there's there's no worry so that freedom from fear is something that I value
very very highly we we feel like very safe in street but you didn't know it was like that you never heard like China was safe like this no I also asked my friends when it to convenience what is their favorite aspect of their life in China this is what they told me I would have to take the public transport like QR code so just being able to whip out your phone or whatever you have and just scan it straight away is uh is so much easier in Australia you have to buy mik make sure you
top it up and everything like that and you can just scan here the delivery system I mean you can have anything in less than 20 minutes with all those apps and I think this is fantastic the delivery is surely way more developed than my country it's very easy to order some food at home or order some packages works pretty well but for some of my friends food is actually their favorite part of living in this country it has to be the food I love the fresh hand pulled noodles I lost a lot of weight actually
living in China I I I think it just fits my body better the Chinese diet accessibility to like Chinese food right it's uh yeah it's awesome I'm getting a bit fat but no it's it's it's been awesome I really like it we also agree on something Transportation infrastructure in China is Top Notch enjoying affordable high-speed trains clean and modern Subway systems amazing airports definitely make life in China more enjoyable you seen the the highspeed rail you seen the roads did you know that there's more than 1 million tunnels and bridges in China 1% of that
in Colombia that would speed up our economy in a way that's Cannot Be Imagined at this point and so a lot of the things that now make life easier in China like the taxi the highspeed train and this other stuff it's much easier to to leave basically make like more convenient the transportation are amazing here because there's so many people living in China and the subway system is wellmaintained is new but what if we compare these Technologies with the ones in your country when I go back to Belgium I always forget to bring my wallet
or I I have to pay for a red I'm like oh I cannot pay with my [Music] phone I've seen the difference in Europe now slowly they're introducing some of the systems that they have in China already but I I think the payment system is very convenient they easy to pay to SP bills still a lot of people they like I say like 90% of people are using cash the lifestyle is different so in North America we have a car culture so cities are made to drive a car around and it's normal to drive a
long distance to To Go in different areas and contrary here in China since they've been developing in the last 40 years intensively for a lot amount of people then they really taught the urbanization in a way for public transportation rather than a car culture so would you dare to drive in China I don't drive in China cuz would you would you consider to yes I would I would drive in China but it's a different different type of driving of course the the idea of courtesy here and when driving uh you need to get used to
it yeah lots of uh uh motorcycles and going around because there's so many people personal space I feel it's smaller here yeah so if you're a Metro if the Metro is pack is really pack compared to Canada I feel and same for the car for us I think maybe a car will stop 3 or 4 M from you here they can just go much closer and everybody's so normal about it for me it make me anxious I also ask one last question what is your least favorite part of living in China I don't know sometimes
there's some people are a little bit inconsiderate for example if you're not going to pick after your dog then perhaps you shouldn't have a dog that's one thing um seeing no smoking sign some people smoking right next to it so it's it's it's little things that um hurt me that bother me I'm least interested in busy cities like Shanghai because I really need some peaceful time for my study and this research the CI is like Shanghai they have too much crowded too much noise so I cannot properly focus on my so you don't go often
to Shanghai for example yes uh as foreigners we get the attention of locals especially in small towns or rural areas so if you come to China you might need to get used to the fact that people will stare at you more often than not uh I don't like being called law every time I see somebody's but it's not that much but yeah when you hear somebody calls you law do you like correct them somehow I'm trying to just let it go but something I like to say is rahona which means uh and your point uh
it often like puts them in a situation where they have to realize why did I say he was a laai uh especially for me since I don't live in like a very big city I really stand out as a foreigner so often people like are pointing fingers or like calling me laai which means for sometimes it's fun sometimes like but after all living China is a beautiful Rich experience you hear a lot of things about China good and bad my perception wasn't correct of China I it's definitely been a lot more positive than I than
I thought it was going to be you come to China I think you'll find that it's very easy to get along with people [Music]
