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Culture shock is a term that is easily available out there. Well, it basically refers to the feeling a traveler gets when s/he visits another place or country and finds that local customs are quite different from his or her area of origin. Culture shock comes in a number of stages depending on how long a visitor decides to live in a foreign country. Most foreign visitors to China admit experiencing at least some form of culture shock. As far as I know, the best way to enjoy your travel abroad is to have a certain amount of tolerance stored somewhere in your mind prior to arriving in a foreign country. With tolerance and keeping an open mind, your experience abroad will end up being more fun and a great learning process.Most foreign visitors, especially visitors from western cultures, will be greeted by several dissimilarities in culture from day one of arriving China. Even more so if they are not visiting those highly developed and westernized cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and the Hong Kong semi-autonomous region. On this site we have provided you with basic cultural tips and life in China, to make your experience a rich and rewarding one when you visit the country, or are in the midst of Chinese. Business travelers will find this especially useful as cross-cultural communication plays an important role, more than ever in the global world of business and travel. As you probably know, China is fast replacing the west as the most popular travel and business destination of the 21st century. In 2005 China was the world's 4th place, most traveled, with over 56 million visitors. There has been a geometric increase in the number of students, businessmen, job seekers and tourists heading towards China. With the upcoming Beijing Olympic games in 2008, the number of visitors is expected to quadruple before and after the games.
Veteran China business travelers know that after a hard day of negotiations, there’s better no cure for stress and aches than a vigorous massage. There’s really nothing like sipping tea while having your joints kneaded and pulled by an old blind man or a muscular lady from Sichuan. At rates of about 10 cents per minute, a massage is a lovely, affordable way to spend an hour.
Most parlors offer standard foot massages where your feet are first soaked and then firmly pressed and massaged. According to traditional Chinese medicine, this treatment is good for your overall health. Even if you don’t believe in that sort of thing, it still feels great. If you feel lavish, an oil massage is divine. Or try “cupping,” an exotic treatment that supposedly pulls contaminants out of your body with heat-induced vacuum.
Here’s the obligatory disclaimer: media reports of Western sex tourists in Asia have given massage a slightly seedy reputation. While there are definitely some shady characters who have ulterior motives, the majority of massage parlors in China are on the up-and-up. It’s usually easy to tell which parlors are above-board. If there are a half-dozen girls crowded onto a sofa in a snug, red-lit room, just keep on walking. Before long you’ll come to a legitimate establishment.
Many expats are addicted to massage, and get one at least once a week. After you experience the comfort, relaxation, and affordability of a Chinese massage, you’ll understand why.
With a simple listen and speak communicative language approach you will learn and become confident with using simple basic survival Chinese. Download the mp3 files and take along with you. Listening repeatedly to these lessons on your ipods and multimedia players will help you learn seamlessly and effortlessly while you travel. The following are some of our survival Chinese lessons. Right click and take Save as target to download the file.
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