The concepts of manners and personal hygiene are viewed very differently in China. In my two years in the country, I saw people clipping their toenails at their restaurant table, grown men defecating by the side of the road, a pretty violent brawl between two old men on a bus and virtually everybody smoking everywhere all the time. Luckily, it’s always possible to retreat to your apartment for a break from the ceaseless assault on the senses. Unless, of course, you invite China into your home.
My second apartment in Shanghai
When I was looking for my second apartment in Shanghai, I was getting a lot of similar advice. Everyone I talked to recommended I find a place that was a few years old—if it’s much older than that, everything will be broken, but if the place is brand-new, nothing will work either.
Thanks to the generally shoddy construction work, new buildings are riddled with little screw-ups and whoever moves in first, will have to repair the numerous mistakes made by the migrant construction crews. If you move in after a few years, everything in the apartment should work more or less as it’s supposed to. Wait too long, though and the poorly executed repairs quickly give in to the extreme abuse and things once again begin to malfunction.
I was not privileged to any of this information when I got my first apartment. It was ancient and, while everything worked, none of it worked correctly—everything was slightly off. None of the windows closed completely, the toilet only flushed after the correct (and complicated) combination of jiggles, the sink leaked, and on and on and on. I’m guessing nothing in the kitchen worked either, but I barely even set foot in that room. Eating out is so cheap in China, that I didn’t cook a single meal in two years in the country.
I don’t have any pictures from inside my first apartment, so here’s the alley behind it.
Most of the issues in the apartment weren’t a big deal, but the leak in the sink kept getting worse by the day. Eventually I gave in and called a repairman. We made an appointment and he surprised me by actually showing up on the correct day. Naturally, it was nowhere near the agreed-upon time. He rang the doorbell, I opened the door and he barged in. Not a word was said.
Obviously, he didn’t for a second consider taking off his shoes either. Not that that would have made a difference—his feet were every bit as filthy and beat up as his plastic flip-flops. At least he wasn’t leaving footprints on my floor. Not on the way in anyway; he did leave a pretty good set on his way out.
I showed him where the sink was leaking and he seemed to understand—he got right to work. I went into my bedroom and left him to it. Less than a minute later I started smelling cigarette smoke. I went to check up on him and, sure enough, he was happily puffing away and ashing directly on my floor.
A view out the front on a “mostly sunny day with a light fog,” according to the government weather service
Considerate as he was, he soon took care of those ashes…by covering them with dust and some kind of black stuff that exploded from my wall the second he drilled into it. Then he added some more cigarette ash on top of that. He turned the whole mixture into a black paste when he tested the work he had performed on the sink so far—work that included removing the leaky portion of pipe, but did not include replacing it with anything. To his credit, he didn’t look surprised at all when the water drained through the open hole and ended up all over the floor. Instead he gave me a satisfied look that said, “yup, that’s what I was expecting would happen….”
I left him alone again. Even if I had wanted to say something, I knew he wouldn’t even understand what I was trying to get at. Not only did he not consider what he was doing rude at all, I bet he was thinking to himself how rude it was of me to not have offered him a cigarette.
At some point during the repairs, he got a phone call. While talking, I could hear him pacing around in the hallway outside the bathroom. When I checked up on him again, I saw that he had taken off his flip-flops after all and was pacing around my hallway in his bare feet. Since those feet had just been in the bathroom, soaking in my new black floor covering, I now had black footprints all over my hallway.
After a few more cigarettes, he finally called me over to show me his handiwork. As I was examining the new section of pipe he had installed, he wiped it clean with a dirty rag to make sure it sparkled. Never mind the black floor, hundreds of black fingerprints all over the bathroom and the footprints in my hallway—I could see myself in the pipe!
Clearly happy with his work, he said goodbye and left—left my apartment and left the mess. As I was cleaning up the black paste on my floor, I noticed he had left something else: a bloody, infected toenail. And not just a piece of a toenail, but the whole thing, colored black and dark red and a brownish yellow. On a positive note, my bright, shiny new pipe didn’t leak again…for almost a full two weeks.
You mean to say this fellow didn’t become your best friend? Fun post.
The post was getting a little long, so I left that part out. Obviously I invited him back on a weekly basis.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Lake Toba: The Day I Traded my Hammock for a Motorbike
This is a false representation of China -but you were only there two years!! If you had stayed longer you may have come to love and embrace everything that is China. My son let China into his heart and was there 4 years sadly dying there suddenly in July of this year of heart disease – a fit and healthy young man of 36 years. His ‘forever’ plan was to remain there. Go out there and try it folks – the people are very welcoming – don’t expect Westernised culture but you will find it if you try. Regards Annie
First of all, I’m sorry to hear about your son. Heat disease at 36? That’s terrible…and scary…
I don’t think this post is a false representation of China—this man exists and what he did to my apartment was very real—but it is certainly an incomplete representation. This repairman was doing nothing wrong and his actions are only rude by western standards. I knew that, which is why I didn’t get angry and just accepted it (although the toenail was a bit much). I also knew that it would make for a good story in the end; the cultural misunderstandings and various other misadventures always make for good tales, while the times everything works out well (which is most of the time) don’t. If I were to focus on those, I’d have to rebrand my blog “Boring Travel Stories.”
On a personal level, I actually really enjoyed my time in China; that doesn’t come across in this post, but I like to think it does in some of the other stories on this site. Like your son, I felt very welcome most of the time in the country, but definitely not always. I also know that I would heave felt far less welcome if I were black or South Asian and I would have faced blind hatred on a daily basis if I were Japanese.
Overall I try to portray a realistic view of the places I visit and I do so knowing full well that this will sometimes be interpreted as negativity. The truth is, I’ve enjoyed every single country I’ve been to and would return to any of them in a second.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Bagan by Horse Cart: The Best of Three Bad Options
wow, i had no idea!
I like to educate the public…
Hahahaha so true. I agree, Chinese are such dirty people and that really disgusts me sometimes. They never clean and they smack, pick their noses in public places and pee in the middle of the street!!!!! One of my Chinese friends takes a shower every 3 -4 days in summer and every 7 days in winter 🙂
Agness recently contributed to world literature by posting..A Beginner’s Guide To Traditional Chinese Mooncake
The Chinese theory that you only need to shower once a week in the winter because you don’t sweat and thus don’t stink goes out the window the first time you get packed into a subway car during rush hour.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Hurry Up and Eat Your Squid Before it Dies!
Lovely! You got a nice present. My apartment is my sanctuary away from all that is China. Definitely letting the dirty side of China into my church would be fucking awful.
My co-worker in Korea had a leak in his bathtub and the landlord came in to examine what was happening. After turning on the tub the landlord came to a realization that there was no leak happening. He then switched on the shower head to maximum blast and got cold water EVERYWHERE. He immediately dried his face on my co-workers towel (the one that he wipes his butt with after a shower) and proceeded with “Oh, very cold! Very cold!”
Natalia | Always Trekking recently contributed to world literature by posting..How Not To See The Leshan Giant Buddha – Sichuan, China
I had problems with my shower-head in Korea, too, but by then I had learned my lesson. I just bought a new one and installed it myself.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Tal to Chame: Falling into a Trekking Routine
Oh man, the toe-nail part at the end had me cringe. That is just foul.
And you’re super spot on about findnig a semi-old apartment. I found a crazy old apartment (thought having the French Concession charm would make up for it being a million years old), but was given a welcoming present of fleas and bedbugs intead. Probably the worst experience of my life–ever.
Anyway just stumbled upon your blog and it’s mighty interesting. Keep it up!
Shanghai Ronin recently contributed to world literature by posting..It’s true–women like a-holes
Sounds like you had it a lot worse than I did. My ancient French concession apartment was moldy and nothing really functioned quite the way it should, but apart from the mold and the occasional cockroach, I was the only living thing in it. I definitely didn’t have to share with fleas and bedbugs. How long did you live there?
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Forget Vang Vieng—Go Tubing in the Mekong at Si Phan Don
Wow sorry my response is pretty much a month late! I lived in that damp, dark, and cozy little French Concession cottage for about 4 months until I finally told the landlord off. I had to buy 10 packets of barusan, this Japanese fumigation stuff that is only sold at Hisamitsu (the jiuguang near jingan). It was really bad but luckily I had friends who took me in, so I wasn’t forced to live with the fleas (for too long anyway)
I’m still in Shanghai, but I learned my lesson and now I live in a newer building that’s on the 10th floor, so no bug problems thus far! I grew up in the desert of Utah so bugs weren’t a big problem, but man, once you move to Asia (especially Japan) you start seeing bugs that you thought only existed in sci-fi movies….
Shanghai Ronin recently contributed to world literature by posting..Bali Part Two: Bikes, Beaches and Monkeys
Tell me about it…until I got to Asia, I didn’t know cockroaches could fly. I learned they can when one of them came sailing toward me and landed on my head. Not my favorite way to learn something new; I prefer Wikipedia.
I think I know Hisamitsu…I sometimes stopped to get a bento on the way home at a store that sold a lot of Japanese products at Jingan Station. I remember there was a bar there too. And a takoyaki stand manned by a Chinese guy who’d spent several years in Osaka learning to make them. Apparently something got lost in translation, though…they tasted a little off.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..A Good Day in Hsipaw Spent With Kids, Cows and Trash