Sharing - Life of People

Hi Blog,

Staying in China at different provinces or towns like (I made a jumplink) An Hui 安徽, Tai An 泰安 and Nan Tong 南通, I observed many things which captured my attention like their transportation, and currency. So the sharing here will be a summary of my experience on this China Trip.

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An Hui 安徽

It is 6am, the sky was bright like as if Singapore 8am. Interesting thing was that you could hear people chatting under ZQ's block at that hour.

can you believe this? It was 6am! It looked like 730am!

Okay! Let's go down and check out their street market. The residents/farmers simply set up their stalls like flu markets in Singapore - selling their vegetables and dumplings or pancakes (we can even call it pizza.).

everyone just gathered around	laying their goods on the ground
Here were some neat arrangements	Some part of their wet market were sheltered
Like a decent SG wet market	there were people selling their hand-made products
Selling some Chinese Pizza	did you see the spinning fan? guess what were those for?

But I walked to one part of the markets which I don't feel any joy of viewing such sights.... they were selling livestock - chickens, ducks, fishes etc...

The feeling was heavy watching it... let's move toward another side of the markets.

They were selling live animals...

Tied up ducks :(	Chickens which will be gone by now...
Killing live fishes on the spot :(	If I have the money, I will buy and free them but... it won't help at all...

ZQ brought us to another different face of the street.

you will see ponding of dirty water and residents just use the water to clean their mops. Pity the fishes though...

Check out the structure of the houses - build by cement. You will also find some wooden structure at some of the houses too, that is ancient!

Narrow alley

Silent street

Check out this ground dogs, they were everywhere but... they won't be around after CNY...

The old ancient part of the building fused with the present like memory

People just sat outside their home, waiting for time and friends to visit

They simply set up their houses by selling some random products or goods to earn some earning

Selling their service and hang out with friends	Visited by regular customers

Past and Present

abandoned houses are everywhere

Time slowed down when you walked along the street. The residents just sat outside waiting for a customer to visit them - leading a simple life. Their concept of money is contented as their principle of living, they don't ask or expect much. Simple and slow.

Do you see the path? The residents will make full use of grassy patch

to farm some vegetables!

Check out the BIG cabbages!

Some beautiful plants which grow along the path

Some farmers will sell their fruits along the road too.

They grow watermelons and sell them cheap :)

Selling their fresh melons 🍉 to the drivers.

The unique thing about the people living here, they will gather for mass workout daily 6:30 - 7:30pm and other different timing for different places, to do a mass workout or dance in front of the opening space of government building.

In front of their government building

Mass workout

The kid was "taking charge" of the mass workout

Looked interesting

So cute

Due to no playgorund around, there was an inflatable playground for kids daily.

They also have some night street here but quiet as usual.

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Tai An 泰安

Great to see a different wet market.

Their marketplace is different from An Hui, the presentation style is like Singapore "PanSanMalam". They sell standard things like vegetables, fruits, and livestock; even clothing, but they pack them nicely and neatly. Let's Check them out!

Bright and sunny, but yet not hot weather at northern zone

The people just simply layout their goods	There is no borderline
It was used to be a wide road	check out the size of their vegetables!
Everything arranged neatly	Preserved Fishes
They setup a tent to provide shelter	Easy Set up
Shelter net was used too	Everything was a fresh purchase if you need any
Just simply make a small earning from their goods	Clothes too
ONIONS!!!!!!!!! NO NO!	Cheap cherry! :D

new green honey melon only in China and they tasted GREAT!

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Nan Tong 南通

Compare the other two markets, the market here is just a typical one, with a proper roof to provide shelter.

They have a building than setting up their stores along the road.

Quite dark in the day due to bright sun outside

Rather cleaner place to handle meaty stuff than under an open space

Chit chat with the people like friends

Not joke, their vegetables were Super-sized! I should place my hand in the pictures to let you understand the size of these.

Fishy part of the market

traditional weighing machine

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Transportation

On this trip, I experienced and witnessed their transport modes like car, bus motorbike, boat, ferry, speedboat, speed train, train and airport, but in this post I will cover some interesting features about mostly cars, and some about bicycles and motorcycles.

They ride on electrical vehicle in town

Two people shared a small electric bike - looked like kid riding on a toy vehicle

Their vehicle is left-drive seat, different from Singapore. So when we, Singaporean cross the road, we tend to check our right traffic first but that is dangerous as the vehicles flow from the left. Take some time to get used to it.

For the whole trip, I noticed that their car plates have some unique characters which based on provinces in short form to categorize its location of the owner.

Here is an example, and the list of the character and where it belongs/ is registered

Beside the car plate, for those who just started learning how to drive, they will paste a sticker to notify other drivers, How cute it is!

And also there are some kind of ropes hang behind their vehicles like a tail - according to the locals, it is a form of blessing, a charm to symbolize "Safety on Road/Good Wish" for new car/driver.

They will need such charm as their driving style are insane, they drive like they are having some racing game! (I took some videos of the moment below)

But there are some obvious habits they do, they will press the horn to alert other drivers their approaching or speeding. Just like how Chinese people bring out hot dish/soup will call "Siong, Siong." (Hot hot)

In the province or city, the people will take Obike to ride around the area, like Singapore. People just scanned the code and started using it. There are many Colour and types of bicycles available for the users in China.

You will find Obike in the city and one good thing about Chinese, they won't leave the oBike anywhere they want, they will still place it at certain location.

Oh! Music 🎶 signal can be heard! In the province or city, there is this water lorry which spreads water onto both side of the road.

Purpose is to keep the road cool and less dust. Interesting though.

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Currency 💴

Here is the set of Chinese dollar notes, I wonder will there any note without a person

their coins currency - it comes as a flower: 1¢ is 水仙花 water lily, 5¢ is 荷花 lotus, $1 is 菊花 chrysanthemum, Which are useful at the market but at shopping area, they will prefer notes.

Bonus: ZQ's mother brought out the previous coin design which is 5¢ of cherry flower

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Overall

Whatever I had shared above, were a summary of the overall trip at China. Please free to ask me if you want to know more about China, if there are anyone bothers reading it. Haha 😂

Jeff