More Questions from Kindergarten

2. Do people decorate for Christmas?

Not usually in their homes, but many businesses (restaurants, malls and hotels) will have Christmas trees and (cheap) decorations. Lots of Christmas decorations are made at factories in China, but those are usually for export... meaning they go to other countries like the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. The stuff made in China for use/purchase in China is typically cheaply made.

Most Chinese people don't understand the real meaning of Christmas.

3. What kind of toys do the kids have there?

Again, toys for the Chinese market are typically flimsy. We think its interesting that we've never seen an Asian looking baby doll in the toy selections in China. Our youngest daughter has an Asian Bitty Baby from American Girl, and our Chinese friends think that it was an interesting choice!

4. Do you go to school? What is school like?

Our daughters attend an International school, which is a school for children who are not Chinese, but live in China. They study a lot of the same things they would study if we lived in the United States, but they also study Chinese language every day, and have a special Chinese culture class twice a week.

Our girls school is based in Hong Kong, and follows a British curriculum. They wear uniforms, and ride a school bus.

Chinese kids go to Chinese schools. Public Chinese schools usually have very large classrooms (up to 50 students, even in lower grades.) Chinese students begin school when they turn six, but most are enrolled in an all-day "Kindergarten," when they turn three. Chinese schools are very strict, and because their language is not phonetic, they need to memorize thousands of pictographs or characters. Each of these characters are created in a special order. (You need to recognize about 3500 characters to read a Chinese newspaper!) There schools are often not heated, so children wear many layers of clothes to keep warm inside their schools.

5. What kind of clothes/shoes do you wear?

We mostly wear clothes and shoes we buy when we return to the United States for our home leave.

Chinese people's clothes are very Western (similar to what we wear in North America.) However, to purchase Western brands in China is very expensive because they have to be imported. So, a pair of running shoes you might be able to buy at Kohls for $30, would be more like $60 here.

6. What language do they speak there?

Mandarin Chinese is the official language in China. But in Chinese, the word for Chinese is pu tong hua (which means common language.) There are still many dialects and different ways of pronouncing words throughout China. But, in order to keep things organized, Mandarin is the official language. In Southern China, they often speak Cantonese (in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.) Often Chinese people who live in the US now, speak Cantonese because their families originally lived in China's southern regions.