Becoming a Beijinger

Hard to believe, but it has already been a month since I left Montreal to navigate through the encounters of the exciting Beijing. It has already been a month that I have been discovering its areas, its language, its workplace culture, its people and its historical monuments. Well, at first, with all of that sightseeing, I looked way more like a tourist than an intern. Now that I have experienced a lot of what Beijing has to offer to its visitors, I have made a list of tips of (trying to) become a true Beijinger:

Cross the street as if it bore your father’s last name

When you first step out in Beijing, a daily situation as simple as crossing the street can be terrifying and confusing. In Montreal, for safety purposes, cars cannot turn right on the red light. Well, in Beijing, for traffic jam-avoidance purposes, it is totally tolerated. And forget about making the pedestrian a priority! After having spent the first few weeks patiently waiting for my turn on the sidewalk, naively thinking that the honk-loving Beijing drivers would let me pass after a few lights (my dear friends know that I am absolutely not a jaywalker!), I realized that you actually need to gain the drivers’ respect so they could let you pass. In other words, in order to cross the street you have to own the street! First, look at the driver straight in the eyes. Then, walk boldly in front of his car while he is stuck in the traffic, which means not too fast as if you did not trust him after this strong eye contact, but not too slowly which could be really annoying and misplace his trust for you. You will get bonus points if you proceed with this complex task in an even more authoritarian way by making a stop sign with your hand while crossing. And, finally and most importantly, NEVER DISPLAY FEAR! The driver might feel it in your eyes. That will result in him speeding all of sudden while you are halfway there, knowing that you are flaking.

However, I understand the drivers in this city. Here, driving is really a privilege. Even if you dutifully pass your driving lessons, are the proud owner of a licence, and save the required amount of money to be able to buy a car in Beijing, you still need to be chosen. You are literally submitted to a lottery. My co-worker has been trying to buy a car for the past five years and her name has never been picked up! As well, depending on your car’s licence plate ending (ie, whether the last number is even or odd), your licence plates only allow you as the vehicle’s owner to enter the city on certain days of the week. Therefore, to compensate, there are tons of bicycles and motorcycles that you also have to watch out for! The severe congestion is quite something here. The true Beijinger definitely knows how to handle it like a pro.

Guess the air quality just by looking at the sky

When I just arrived, like a disciplined and cautious foreigner, I checked every morning before leaving for work the air quality level on an application from the American Embassy in Beijing I had downloaded. Thankfully, this app helps the ignorant foreigners with the cryptic messaging (for whom “PM2.5: 222,1 ug/m3” does not mean anything) with indications like: “RED: VERY UNHEALTHY”. This means… mask day!

Now, however, I carry my mask in my bag every day. Just in case. These days, my morning routine does not involve surfing the Internet to figure out the weather; rather, I simply raise my head and look up at the sky to guess the level of smog! Some days, I make a game out of it: I guess and compare my amateur skills to those of the experienced and highly qualified American Embassy scientists. There is proof that I am indeed becoming a true Beijinger: I am not doing so badly!

Become an e-Beijinger

In China, since Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are prohibited, other platforms have been developed to satisfy the Chinese millennials’ desire to interact with each other online. For example, everybody has a WeChat account. If you meet other foreigners in the city and want to stay in touch, it will be the norm to scan their QR Code or to ask for their WeChat account number. On WeChat, you can share pictures and statutes, and even perform online transactions from your favourite retailers or restaurants! Even if WeChat’s interface looks more like our Whatsapp and enables direct communication just like Whatsapp does, it reminds me a bit more of Facebook due to its widespread use among Chinese millennials.

At the office, I learnt to replace my beloved Google by baidu.com when I want to perform a search. And when I cannot access YouTube, Baidu Music contains your entire favourite repertoire! While such censorship might at first be shocking for our Western eyes, by immersing ourselves in the culture without questioning the policy (something that would not last a day in our countries according to our charters, bills of rights, and other societal and juridical consensus), we realize that it all somehow manages to work here because China is virtually – among other things – self-sufficient. This is truly fascinating.

Well, those are just a few amusing examples of how it is possible to rapidly adopt Beijing habits when getting an in-depth experience is your goal. Since we can never know where life will take us, it is pretty reassuring to discover how human beings can adapt themselves anywhere… even when this somewhere is sixteen hours away from home!

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