China - cultural revelations

In my first week in China, I noticed many things that would be out of place in England. The one thing that continued to amuse and bemuse us throughout the trip, was the fascination of Chinese people with us! Now, Dalian is not a tourist city and it would be fair to say we were pretty much the only white people there. But we didn't just get stares in the street - people would come up to us and ask us for a photo! With them, with their child or sometimes they stood behind someone taking a group photo of us! It was like a taste of being famous, for three weeks. On our beach trip people tried to 'subtly' take photos on their mobile phones, others posed with us and we were told what a pleasure it was for them to meet us. Even in Beijing and at the terracotta warriors, I was asked for photos, as many tourists were Chinese, rather than European.

Having my photo taken for some local ladies

I was also amused by the fashion for couples to wear matching outfits. This included boyfriends and girlfriends wearing the same t-shirt or complimentary t-shirts that joined together to make a phrase. There were even special shops to buy matching t-shirts or shops that sold the same t-shirts in girls' and boys' sizes. All the girls also had parasols to keep the sun off. Some looked like umbrellas and, in fact, doubled as umbrellas, but others were very lacy and pretty. I wanted to bring one back but I knew I wouldn't use it in England!
Another habit of Dalian inhabitants is spitting. All ages and classes tend to spit in the street - I even saw it done in a restaurant. I've heard it may be because Chinese medicine considers swallowing phlegm to be unhealthy but I can't tell for sure.
I was surprised at the dumpling-making house to learn how much schoolwork the 15-year-old girl was given. She showed us a study full of music and instruments but said she no longer had time to play. She was going into school in her summer holidays for extra tuition as she was considered very bright. She told us that she went to school at 8 o'clock every morning and sometimes stayed until 10 at night to finish her work. She didn't meet up with her friends outside school because she didn't have time. I can't imagine working so hard when I was her age! But it sounded like this was the norm, not that she was exceptionally conscientious.
It also became apparent in lessons that there is a large cultural gap between the older and the younger generations. Our culture teacher would say one thing and the students tended to disagree with her. For example, we were told the Chinese don't like public affection, but we saw plenty of couples holding hands etc. She also claimed that the Chinese would never say 'I love you', for example, to their parents but the students claimed they would.