Back to China after 4 Years: HUGE Change Since COVID?!【Chinese Podcast E03】

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4 years away from home and my oldest friends was a long time, especially during a global pandemic. I had imagined so many scenes of returning to China, but nothing could compare to what I saw and heard when I finally stood on the ground of my city. What has always been the same? What has ultimately changed? What shocked us? Jun Laoshi and I will share everything we experienced in today's Chinese podcast!
Jun Laoshi's Instagram: / stickynote.chinese
Like always, you are more than welcome to leave a COMMENT with the questions about Chinese pronunciation that you have, or your story about Mandarin and language learning!
Hit the LIKE or SHARE with your Chinese-learning friends if you learned something from my videos! It motivates me to make all these years' experience, research, and reflection into educational videos that take so much time and effort.
Remember: with Fàn Lǎoshī, Chinese makes perfect sense!

[@RitaChinese]

Any huge changes in your city since 2020? Don't forget to get my FREE 6-Step “Mandarin Pronunciation Roadmap” - ritachinese.com/roadmap

[@eugeniogeneramirez1794]

I came back from my first trip to China 2 weeks ago. I had studied Mandarin on my own for a year before going. I was given a multiple entry Tourism visa for the next 10 years. After some guidance from a Chinese friend, I used the subway and high speed rail on my own to travel between Tianjin and Beijing. The subway signs are in English and you can buy the tickets with cash from customer service at the rail stations. If you think everything is bigger in Texas, then you haven't been to China. The subway and high speed rail systems are magnificent. The train stations are enormous and beautiful. I loved being in real cities. Most of American cities are really just clusters of suburbs without good public transportation. Right now, Tianjin and Beijing have a lot of smoggy days but just like Los Angeles, they should be able to solve their smog problem in a few years. One of the best things about China are its wonderful people. The modern architecture is dazzling from their airports, train stations, concert halls. The Forbidden City was amazing. Don't miss it.

[@katew4099]

Was this your first time applying for a tourist visa? Did you apply for a multiple entry visa for 10 years???

[@eugeniogeneramirez1794]

@@katew4099 Yes, I checked "multiple entry" on the visa application and traveled to the Washington DC China visa office. That's another requirement that keeps tourist numbers low. Find your nearest China visa office to see if there is one in a city near you.

[@makesirich-ps6zw]

路上安静了许多，是由于电车的缘故。 城市路上最繁忙的两种车辆，公交车和出租车（包含网约车）几乎100%纯电了，电车行驶释放出的噪音很小。

[@MissLizaYangonMyanmar]

This was excellent and one of the most balanced podcasts on China by two international Chinese I have ever seen. Talking with a balanced view of the issues in China. I lived in China 7 years in Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in the small by China standard cities of Ganzhou and Jiaxing. I left due to the restrictions on foreigners of the virus and many frightening things the government was doing at the time. I now live in Myanmar. I really enjoyed listening to this. Like many older foreigners I can understand a lot but don't read or write. Thank you for showing the real China that only people like us that live there really know.

[@jackuzzi5251]

You two make a good team. Heavy topics involving cultural emotions are a challenge to reconcile in one's mind. The elephant in the room doesn't make it any easier. This is becoming my go to Chinese language channel. Look forward to more of you two.

[@parsleylikyne3936]

Professionalism oozing! These podcast series always feel like they're tailored to my needs.....Thanks always!

[@RitaChinese]

Yayy we’re so happy to hear that!! 🙌😄

[@Grem305]

I Went to beijing in 2005_2009 (muxiyuan and fengtai ) , i cycled thousands of miles through the city , stopped off along the way to enjoy some snacks (baozi jiaozi) sitting by the street vendor's stall and having a good chat with them. I miss my time in Beijing big time. This was probably one of my best moments in life. I am robably a bit of a nostalgic and don't want to go back. Thank you agian for sharing exwperience. Love from France (Versailles)

[@keyboardmanyoutube3189]

为了下一代，去加拿大吃苦，结果培养出来的孩子，卷不过卷不起私校孩子，快乐教育让孩子又学不到什么。如果在国内自己过的本来很舒服，去了加拿大真劳动改造。 真心不太建议40+的朋友去加拿大 已经不是移民友好国家了。 不如国内赚钱，送孩子出去读书

[@adamleonardgibbins7613]

This content is great! So easy to follow and very very useful for Chinese learners. It's also interesting to hear you discuss China from your experiences. Thank you so much! Please keep creating podcasts like this.

[@adamleonardgibbins7613]

Will the audio be available on podcasting platforms? It would be great practice to watch the conversation here, check the subtitles, and then go away and listen again without visuals as a revision.

[@RitaChinese]

So happy to hear that! We both are really enjoying this, too😄 Will keep the podcast going for sure🙌

[@RitaChinese]

@@adamleonardgibbins7613 yes we’re working on it! Will let you all know when it’s ready😊

[@rairaidj1]

Great video, im sure discussing the HSK (new and old) would be of alot of interest to many Chinese learners

[@motorcitysmitty4]

Love it!

[@Soyokaze404-yc1dt]

omg I love your shirt!!!

[@predrag-peterilich900]

Thank you very much; this was very interesting and helpful. I visited both Beijing and Chengdu in the summer of 2019; had great experiences at both places, and would like to visit again. I wish - and believe - things will soon get better in China.

[@enriquebecerra9542]

Thanks great lesson for practicing listening

[@BigBenLB]

These sort of conversations are so useful for me! I am at a point with my learning that when listening to a random conversation I can usually understand the general topic but can miss out on specific details because I may not know a specific word. Playing these in the background while I'm working feels like a great way to improve my comprehension passively. This will not help in understanding my father-in-law's somewhat strong accent but I'll get there eventually 😅

[@SamiLamti]

Thanks

[@xiaomoogle]

I'm sad to hear the street stalls have vanished. I lived in Beijing for 4 years and I had food poisoning a few times BUT never from street stalls. It was always from restaurants.

[@waixingren4198]

The Covid China was a frightening place to be in 2020-2023. I left in 2022, went to Vietnam. I regained my mental stability here. But there are Chinese people here, I still freeze when I hear somebody speaking Chinese.

[@user-og1nu5pb8c]

膽子夠大的…還敢去反華情緒最厲害的越南。每次去越南，我早就發現大陸人在越南根本不敢大聲吵吵嚷嚷的。

[@dougwestimaging9025]

我的天呢！出色的对话呀，真的有趣的！谢谢你老师们 🙏 来自美国的你好

[@andrewbyrnes6389]

你们这里说的是非常对@11:00 差不多 我来中国的时候是很不方便做那些很基本很重要的东西比如拿手机卡上网什么的。还有如果不太会说中文 那怎么办。 好像中国不想吸引外国人。 你视频很有意思。

[@liam3284]

Sounds like a flat mobile phone could become a difficult day for a tourist in China. As to my city, Melbourne, it feels increasingly crowded, a lot more traffic on the roads and people on trains, even outside "peak" commuting times. The population increased by at least 10% since the pandemic began.

[@EnricoCirulli]

犯老师好！ 我也是从中国国内刚回来的。我最后三天是在北京度过的。到北京就不要离开了😢😢😢 这种播客很有意思，我真享用听！谢谢你！

[@RitaChinese]

太好了，很开心你也喜欢我们的播客！

[@mariamal-enezi5822]

It's one of my dreams to visit China 😍! I'd love to know: What kind of access/help can a person in a wheelchair or with disabilities have? And if there's a way to download and use the local Chinese Wechat as a foreigner? I think it would be amazing to help me improve my Chinese.

[@cantrell-bc3ft]

hello😊I am a beginner in English. If you also want to learn Mandarin , I think we can exchange contact information and learn from each other❤❤i m Chinese

[@mariamal-enezi5822]

That would be really cool. How can i contact you? ​@@cantrell-bc3ft

[@TheGretaoto]

我要听您们❤

[@RitaChinese]

欢迎👏😄

[@ethanaruse3654]

how can i watch this without English subtitles ?

[@jarekzawadzki]

SIM卡北京首都機場就可以辦好，不必去什麼營業廳啊，其他機場就不知道

[@zhangguai]

鸡蛋灌饼晚点在长虹桥底下，做炒冷面鸡汤豆腐串的长春老满太太搬到红街了，人家现在正儿八经有店面了

[@Kimmimaro86]

Interesting combo, Left is privelage side and Right is working class side.

[@whocares1848]

我就是五道口长大的但九零年就到美国了.. 现在真是不方便在中国旅行没有中国身分证手机etc😫

[@jurgenrudiger]

去年12月去的，问题不大，现金还管用。

[@user-ln4ec1hb7k]

上海也是。不允许车按喇叭了

[@mingyueliang9577]

太好了。下一个禁止的应该是大街上的高音喇叭拉客买东西的，太吵了。

[@eric9069]

真得嗎? 上次去北京，覺得喇叭吵到讓人抓狂，尤其是電動機車，有的車整路按著喇叭，真想一腳把他踹下車。

[@loop3357]

@@eric9069 不允许和偏要是有区别的，就算有法律但这更多是习惯和素质问题，需要慢慢改变的

[@dugang139]

4年里有3年是疫情期间，真正变化不就是1年吗？你指望建筑🏠外观能变化成什么样呢？

[@kofeesala23]

北京与其他地方不同，有不同的风貌和格局，特别是联想到雄安新区的建设。其他地方地摊都放开了，没人管了。

[@supahsmashbro]

China goin up

[@YeLifang-kc3ux]

因为买的房子若干年后可能还比较保值。但是都投在教育上了，孩子也不能保证一定好的成绩啊

[@loop3357]

“他”恨不得更多人离开，那他才能稳固

[@openzzf9937]

国内还要咋建设，以后就是拆迁老破小，继续改善便利性，增加环境舒适度，发展车联网、低空经济，等待立体交通了。

[@charlesmaxwelllantz1792]

中国的城市越来越更安静为什么有好多电动车

[@clintonfong1958]

在你家門口擺攤，最有生活味。滿街電動摩托車橫衝直撞，還不亂糟糟，生活味滿檔。

[@instantpotenjoyer]

Really lib takes on education. I'm sure rich kids are facing much more competition, now that their tutoring industry and superior schools were banned. What about the poor kids? Also, as a mandarin learner, on the one hand, I appreciate the pinyin and english translation, but ultimately, I find it distracting. It would be better if there were just 汉字 subtitles and the hosts tried to use basic words instead

[@maiyatang]

没想到中文视频下面有那么多非中文观众

[@snatch6011]

how a woman could be so gorgeous

[@Konamakona]

感恩吧！ 没有祖国的强大，哪有教中文的市场。听说过电动车（安静的那种）吗？

[@randomname931]

I'm surprised that you having first hand experience living in the US fail to see the writing on the wall about the bleak future of the US. inflation is worse here than in china, we have a dysfunctional government, and crime/safety is not even comparable. we're siding with your friend... we're moving to china after having given birth to our first child.

[@zellous2928]

老實說, 我是美國人但是我學中文. 我去過台灣, 如果我去中國，我覺得我可能因為一個小錯誤而被關進監獄. 所以我不去的.

[@krintqian3042]

😂😂You watched too many stupid media. No one cares what you say or think. Relax, you are nobody.

[@scottyang8487]

你太夸张了，你不去干坏事，比如杀人 放火 抢劫这些，你就不会有麻烦。台湾太小了，只有中国一个普通的省的大小。

[@user-ln4ec1hb7k]

那就不用勉强自己

[@fanxin2308]

有偏见就不要勉强自己了

[@yongjiezhao9646]

您想多了. 如果你是小人物, 没人会关注你.

[@user-bz9pi4cn8s]

中文说的挺好的

[@karino4173]

Can you please tell me, do you do individual Chinese lessons?

[@proxypylon]

点个赞

[@neicool9206]

北京不适合太大改变，尤其是三环内。

[@user-em7kp2zl9p]

危邦不入 爛邦不居 !!!

[@warren2193]

你是台湾人吧？这花岗岩般地偏见

[@user-yi1wy5dc7b]

加拿大移民相对宽松. 但是没有经济实力挺难的. 华人装修队都挺卷的. 你说的信息闭塞这个事情，是移民被坑的消息比较多. 官方也在管制这类消息. 媒体环境这个没办法. 都是照学西方. 自由派比较多. 必须受监管. 移民的大多是有些经济实力的人吧. 这些人跑了中国经济怎么办. 美国边境不设防后. 忽悠人走线去美国的比较多. 在国内待不下去了就润美. 也是一条路. 按照政策移民国外的有点小钱的，叫做净衣派. 走线的. 政庇的，那只能是污衣派了.