Feeling Nostalgic and Astonished

Wow! I cannot believe five years have already passed since the last time I traveled to GuangZhou - ZhongShan, China. If I did not get the opportunity to study abroad in Hong Kong, I wouldn't even know when will be the next time I travel back here again. I felt so happy to see my relatives and living with them again before school starts.

During my stay at ZhongShan, I felt nostalgia and astonished at the same time. The first thing I noticed was that the villages within this city have not changed at all. It is still smothered with old buildings and some graffiti from the revolution. As I was visiting the villages, I remembered the times I visited the house they grew up in and light up incense to pray for my ancestors. Besides visiting the villages, I was surprised that I still remembered some roads and places in ZhongShan. However, if I were to explore the city myself, I would not be able to do that. Although some places have continued to remain the same, this city has changed drastically, such as newer buildings, implementation of the social credit system, street food, and mobile reliance.

Newer Buildings

Compared to five years ago, more skyscrapers, modern houses, and architectures have been built.

Social Credit System

In recent years, China is moving to use electronic mining to assign a social credit ranking to every citizen. The social credit system rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior. Examples of bad behavior include smoking in non-smoking zones or driving unsafely. Such actions will lower a citizen’s score, making it more challenging to use the internet at full speed, buy train tickets, get a job, and even send your kids to a good school. The system has already been rolled out on a wide scale and reactions to it are polarized.

Street Food

One aspect of China that I liked when I was young was the street food because the foods are cheap, delicious, and a great place to hang out. Returning to China, I was looking forward to experiencing the vibrant street food scene. Unfortunately, many street foods have closed down as the government is serious about food safety. It is still possible to find street food in many places, but whole streets that were once filled with cart after cart of delicious food are now lined with real estate offices and clothing stores.

Mobile Reliance

Mobile reliance has reached an all-time high in China, with society going cashless in favor of mobile payment methods and certain apps like WeChat or Alipay to live a "normal" life in the cities. Honestly, it's not shocking to see people paying with their phone because there are people in the US using apple pay to purchase things. However, in China, everyone relies on mobile payment. Everywhere I go, I rarely see people paying with cash. Instead, they just whipped out their phone to scan the QR code and pay. It's quick and easy.