I visited China for ten days on a business trip in 2005, with stops in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo, and Shanghai. Ten days in China does not begin to scratch a molecule’s surface.

Privacy in China is mental rather than physical. You make yourself unaware of who’s right next to you, whether it’s someone shelling beans or having an argument or brushing his teeth in his underwear.

I guess it’s a defense mechanism employed to protect one’s psyche from the crushing weight of a hugenormous population. People do not acknowledge your presence unless they have to. Opening doors for someone is almost unheard of. There is a lot of pushing and shoving and queuing, but all done in an almost detached and non-aggressive way.

And then there’s the pollution.

I’d love to go back and spend more time there. Visiting China profoundly changed my view of the world, and gave me some insight into what other people’s expectations from life are.

I don’t think I have the courage and depth to actually live there, though. Maybe Hong Kong.