- The Guardian
- Issue #2198
Photo: triin – flickr.com (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
I live in a room with a few other people for free as part of my scholarship. This university is being rocked by AI just like everywhere else in the world, but on the social side of things it is very different to Australian unis, much closer-knit. The campus is basically a gated community.
Most restaurants don’t specifically cater to vegans but it is not that hard to find basic vegan food. Noodles, rice, tofu, seitan, red bean paste buns, sesame balls, fruit, peanuts are all easy to get.
Mandarin oranges are the default oranges here, which makes sense. On campus there are dining halls which belong to the university itself and are presumably subsidised. It’s easy to get a good meal for about $2.00. The cafeteria in my university is self-serve and you are automatically charged by weight. There’s no knives and forks, just chopsticks and spoons.
The subway in Beijing is really nice. I was a bit surprised that you have to go through a metal detector and put your bag on a conveyor belt when you enter the subway. You can buy a single-use ticket with cash which works much like Australian travel cards except that when you are done, you leave it in a slot in the gate, and then it is reused. The trains are always on time and very frequent. There are gates on the platform that align with the train doors and prevent people from going onto the tracks. It’s less common than in Naarm for someone to be making noise with their phone.
WeChat is China’s “everything app.” Besides chatting with people you can also use it to order at restaurants, rent e-bikes, pay at shops, etc. by scanning QR codes. Alipay is a competitor that is mostly interchangable with WeChat, but you can’t chat on it.
Developers can create “mini-apps” which you can use immediately by scanning a QR code – very convenient. Elon Musk was directly inspired by WeChat in his very unsuccessful effort to make Twitter/X into the West’s “everything app.” This makes me think about how disastrous it would be if Elon Musk could meddle with WeChat like he does with Twitter/X.
I have ADHD, and getting medication was difficult for a while. I’ve resolved the problem now, but had some surreal experiences on the way. At one stage I was told I could only get the medication I needed by going to a children’s hospital, only to be told I couldn’t use the children’s hospital because I’m not a child!
The notorious ‘Great Firewall’ can be annoying, but ultimately I am glad China is not dominated by American/Western tech like the rest of the world. The internet service is really good, with fast 5G everywhere. There are fast publicly owned Linux mirrors in China, meaning that it’s easy to download and use open-source accessible software.
China seems not so much “developing” as “developing differently.” I have a few years to go on my course and I’m enjoying the ride!
