I haven't had much time this week, so this was just put together quickly. A few thoughts about day to day life for the people of China.
Since the moment I landed in China I have been looking for and pointing out all the differences between life in China and life back home. Some differences are incredible and inspiring, others rather shocking and concerning. One concerning issue is the way that the local hospital is run, after going there for a blood test (something all teachers at the school have to do), I hope I never have to return to the hospital. From the moment I walked into the hospital I was haunted by what I saw, and I was very close to refusing to have the blood test done. So the first thing I saw was what I suspect was supposed to be a service assistant, he was wearing ordinary everyday clothes and flip flops, and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was pushing a very old and dirty mop along the floor, cleaning up a pool of blood. Further into the hospital I saw the same scene, a person in ordinary clothes, and either flip-flops or sandals, yielding a dirty old mop, effectively just pushing the dirt around rather than cleaning. In the Doctors rooms, there were sinks, but I doubt if they have ever been used to wash hands. The sinks were dirty and rusty/mouldy, and some had litter in them. There was no privacy for patients, while one patient sat with the doctor, everyone else queued right behind their chair, with the queue going right out the door, and everyone pushing and rushing to get in front. The Doctor did not was their hands in-between touching patients or wear gloves at any point. I saw one doctor eating whilst examining a patient. The same was so for the nurse’s, when it came to have blood taken everyone queued one behind another, as soon as the blood sample had been taken you had to get straight up and move, as the next person sat in your place the moment your bottom leaves the seat. The nurse’s waste no time in washing hands or wearing gloves, they take one blood sample after another like clock-work, this made me very nervous, and I ensured to keep watching them in order to make sure that they do not reuse needles. Thankfully, I watched as she took a fresh sterile needle out of a packet before injecting me, and if my Chinese language skills were developed enough, I would have asked her to wash her hands or put on gloves.
Since the moment I landed in China I have been looking for and pointing out all the differences between life in China and life back home. Some differences are incredible and inspiring, others rather shocking and concerning. One concerning issue is the way that the local hospital is run, after going there for a blood test (something all teachers at the school have to do), I hope I never have to return to the hospital. From the moment I walked into the hospital I was haunted by what I saw, and I was very close to refusing to have the blood test done. So the first thing I saw was what I suspect was supposed to be a service assistant, he was wearing ordinary everyday clothes and flip flops, and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was pushing a very old and dirty mop along the floor, cleaning up a pool of blood. Further into the hospital I saw the same scene, a person in ordinary clothes, and either flip-flops or sandals, yielding a dirty old mop, effectively just pushing the dirt around rather than cleaning. In the Doctors rooms, there were sinks, but I doubt if they have ever been used to wash hands. The sinks were dirty and rusty/mouldy, and some had litter in them. There was no privacy for patients, while one patient sat with the doctor, everyone else queued right behind their chair, with the queue going right out the door, and everyone pushing and rushing to get in front. The Doctor did not was their hands in-between touching patients or wear gloves at any point. I saw one doctor eating whilst examining a patient. The same was so for the nurse’s, when it came to have blood taken everyone queued one behind another, as soon as the blood sample had been taken you had to get straight up and move, as the next person sat in your place the moment your bottom leaves the seat. The nurse’s waste no time in washing hands or wearing gloves, they take one blood sample after another like clock-work, this made me very nervous, and I ensured to keep watching them in order to make sure that they do not reuse needles. Thankfully, I watched as she took a fresh sterile needle out of a packet before injecting me, and if my Chinese language skills were developed enough, I would have asked her to wash her hands or put on gloves.
Before someone else actually
said it out loud, I thought that China was worlds different to England. Someone
said to me this week; “China is completely
different to Western countries.” It was then that I thought, well actually
that’s not true, and I began to look at the similarities that are among the differences.
The first things I noticed were the morning and evening rush hours. Although
these roads are filled with children on the back of electric bikes (with no
helmet or protection of any kind I might add), many people drive electric
powered carts, and not to mention the dangerous lack of road organisation, the
fact remains the same; everyone is simply going to work and school. The way
they do it is different, but just like people in the west, they take their kids
to school in the morning, go to work, and back again at the end of the day.
What is more incredible about their way, is that they work much longer days,
the roads start to get busy at 6.30am, and most people work right up until
11pm, with the school day starting around 7.30 and ending at 6.30pm. And
although the cost of living is so very cheap compared to England (Bottle of
Cola; 30p; Meal at a restaurant; £2; pack of Toilet Roll; £40p), wages are
indeed very low. The Chinese teachers at my school are paid the equivalent of
£6 per day, and they work for 10-12 hours each day.
A few random observations:
- No-one wears a seatbelt, like ever. The majority of cars I have been in or seen have actually had the seats belts cut out.
- Litter; it is the common procedure for rubbish to be thrown on the floor, there are very few litter bins, and even if there is a bin nearby, rubbish will still be thrown to the floor. There are then workers, usually women, who go around all day collecting the rubbish. They cycle around for about 17hours a day, pulling a cart attached the bike to place the rubbish on.
- A lot of things that would be considered rude in western society is commonplace here, things like playing music very loud and talking loudly in the middle of the night. Also spitting; I knew before I came here that spitting was the norm, but I didn't realise just how much. Everywhere and anywhere people spit, including indoors and mid-conversation!
- Health and safety DOES NOT exist in the slightest. There is a lot of construction work taking place in this little town, as a subway system is being installed, along with many other amenities to expand the town. I have yet to see a construction worker wearing anything that resembles safety clothing; no helmet, no high-visibility clothing, sandals instead of work boots, and they often work shirtless, wearing just shorts - even when working with power tools and blow torches! There are also no fences or anything to keep people away from the construction sites.
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