A Friend's Raw Take 😵💫
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Back in 2014, Hangzhou was the first stop on a multi-city tour. Out of the ten cities I visited, it was the only place where a roadside stall tried to rip me off.
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It's true that people in Shanghai and Hangzhou would rather marry a Japanese person than someone from Henan.
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It's not so much about being exclusionary; it's more a sense of superiority, though I don't know where they get it from.
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So true! My university professor once asked us (students from the Northwest) if the Northwest was as developed as 'here' (Hangzhou) and if transportation was inconvenient there...
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In Hangzhou, I tried to get a taxi for a short 3-4 km trip from West Lake. I was refused by over ten taxi drivers; none would take me. I finally got a ride-share, and the driver told me it was because the trip was too short for them. So frustrating!
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But many of those taxi drivers are actually from Henan or Anhui.
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I'm a local, and to be honest, it's the really old generation that gives Hangzhou a bad name. They turn nasty and sharp-tongued the moment they hear someone speaking Mandarin. Once they're 'gone,' Hangzhou will be a much better place. Middle-aged and younger Hangzhou locals are generally quite polite and well-mannered.
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I can't help but chuckle at the 'once they're all gone' part.
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I'm not really sure what 'being exclusionary' truly entails. Other than a reluctance to choose non-locals in the marriage market, I don't think there's much of that feeling in everyday life, right?
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Exactly, I don't feel it at work at all. In fact, I felt a much stronger sense of being an outsider when I worked in Chengdu, where most people are Sichuan locals.
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The 'exclusionary' people you're referring to are likely those from the 'urban villages'—the ones whose properties are slated for demolition or have already been redeveloped. They've become rich from compensation, act all high and mighty, and look down on everyone.
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Yes, that happens. I'm from Sichuan, and my boyfriend is from Xiaoshan, from one of those families who benefited from demolition and redevelopment. His father passed away, and his mother isn't really involved in his life. However, his grandmother and aunt are strongly against him dating an 'outsider' girlfriend like me. We genuinely love each other, and I'm an only child from a well-off family, so I don't need his money. It's all incredibly frustrating right now.
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The local population is already down to nearly 20% of the total, and they're still being exclusionary?
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Hangzhou's public buses and subways don't even have announcements in the Hangzhou dialect. How can you still call that exclusionary...?