Friendly Chinese children!

Chinese children are very friendly and VERY VERY curious.

That is particularly true where they have not been greatly exposed to Westerners.

Children have stared at me so much sometimes I have felt like a Martian who had just landed on earth.

At first I felt embarrassed but they meant no harm - they were just curious.

A friendly smile, a wave or a "hello" often broke the ice.

Often the whole family would join in trying to make conversation. I got used to it.

Young Chinese children are cute.

Sometimes they know just a few English words but are keen to try them out.

I found them to be very polite. Chinese children are often brought up in strict households and learn to be respectful towards their elders.

Often they are looked after by grandparents as their parents are at work much of the time.

I saw a lot of younger children on the streets and in shopping centers - but not older children, say from 12 to 16. This is because they are living at school.

I went to many schools - both city and rural.

Every school had huge dormitories where the student population lived. Even if the family lived close by - the child would board. This meant they could be taught many things about the Chinese way.

A feature of schools in Sichuan was the military exercises.

The first two weeks of each year were devoted to precision marching military style.

Both boys and girls would be instructed in marching by special instructors.

Actually the students seemed to like it and after a few days, their marching looked pretty good.

Even though they were away from their families, I still found the young people in the schools very friendly.

Try interacting with a Chinese family through their children.

Show interest in a child, stop and talk. Soon the whole family (relatives included) will be joining in and taking photographs.

Adoption of Western styles and fashions

Youth and young people have adopted (or should I say copied) Western styles and fashions in a big way.

For us, we had a period of change - the 60s (eg the Beatles!), 70s (the disco scene) and so on. For us it was a generational change.

For the Chinese, it has been a giant leap - slam bang straight into modern Western culture.

I can imagine the parents of young Chinese living in an era (say 70s) wearing Mao suits, reading and being taught a lot of Chinese propaganda and not having a clue of what's happening in the West.

Now suddenly their children are exposed to everything - through TV (including cable TV), Internet and DVDs. It makes for interesting results.

Fashions can be very loud and colourful - clothing, jewelry, hairstyles and make up. Western music can vary from old stuff (60s and 70s) to today's music - but it is all new to them.

Try talking about popular Western films you want to engage a Chinese young person in conversation.

Most likely they would know about it or want to know about it. After all - there are many DVDs available in China. They particularly worship the stars of the films.

It is all very interesting and endearing!