Meatbreak asked “How big does China seem when you’re actually in it?
Strangely enough, not as big as I thought. I live in a city of immigrants from all over China and they all seem to return home from time to time with little fuss. Something like 95% of Chinese are from the same ethnic group – Han – and while they have many different dialects they all speak Putonghua – “common-speech”, or “Mandarin” as we know it. For these reasons society seems fairly uniform, and I feel familiar with two thirds of the country though I’ve seen virtually none of it. Not only have I not left Guangdong province while I’ve been here, I haven’t been to the capital (Guangzhou) or even the next town (Zhongshan). My view of the country is therefore a little skewed right now. Once I’ve traveled across to Beijing by train, boat and plane I hope to have a more coherent picture of what is out there.
More questions are welcome – just leave a comment here.
haonowshaokao 
festival cheer
hi james
thought i’d send a quick hello so sounds like things r goin well in china. officially this is the longest i’ve ever had a full time job almost a year and am also stayin in uk another year. just came back from the coolest festival ever. was the very first year it has run so only about 250 people! was small and intimate and even played a set with the samba band am in. saw one of the best gigs ever in a carpeted barn went absolutely crazy. the crowd went wild and band ended up doin about 5 encores. so much fun. next month is oxjam where cities all over uk will be takin part in a music marathon to raise money for oxfam with gigs happenin everyday! anyways chao for now
Lisa
Re: festival cheer
You’re in a samba band!?
Re: festival cheer
yea brazilian grooves man. no its cool. like the music from carnival but smaller scale obviously. tomoz we are playing at a classy establishment called the love apple nightclub. and guess what am meeting up with Carolina in 3 weeks in ireland!! cant wait its been 2 years since went hitch hikin round nz and i rode a mechanical bull in canada. have good day james