by Sandra Shih
Can you imagine getting more than a ninety percent discount or eating more than twenty dishes for just NT 140? Or surfing the internet for the equivalent of only NT 8 per hour? No kidding. Believe it or not, this was our life at Chong Qing University. Walking in their huge campus, I was very curious about student dorms, so some friends took us inside to have a look. Similar to NTU, four to six people on bunk beds share one room, and in the center of the room is a big wooden table for studying. Each room has a small balcony and a bathroom. Compared with our dormitories, Chong Qing’s are wider and more spacious, but ours seem to be cleaner. Students there usually have their meals in a cafeteria, but unlike students in Taiwan, mainland students bring their own lunch boxes and bowls. There are a variety of extracurricular activities, such as going to internet cafés, reading novels, shopping, singing in KTVs, etc. People often chat on ICQ, just like the BBS in Taiwan. But instead of calling them cyber cafés (網咖), they call them cyber bars (網吧), even though they do not really drink beer inside. Reading novels is another recreation, and it is more popular than going shopping or to a KTV. This phenomenon is just the opposite of Taiwan. Students here usually go to the movies or to a KTV with friends in their free time, and only a few students would rather stay at home reading books. However, novels seem to be attractive to Mainland students. Many students know Taiwan by means of these novels. For example, some authors mention T-da, which means Taida, in their stories. This is the only way that NTU can be mentioned, since for political reasons you can’t use any official term like “national.” Students there also like shopping and KTVs, although the clothes sold in department stores are very expensive, so most students buy things in local stores. Usually you have to bargain with the owner. In Taiwan, people get about twenty percent off at most, but in China, there is no fixed price. It usually depends on the owner’s mood. If he wants to sell the product, sometimes you can get more than ninety percent discount. Mainland students also taught us how to get a good price because we had to bargain even at the fruit stand. For example, you have to learn their dialect, imitate their accent and avoid showing too much eagerness to buy. When we were invited to a KTV, the room was public so we had to share the space with other customers. While we could enjoy other people’s voices, we also had to wait patiently. But all the latest popular songs from Taiwan or Hong Kong are available. Had I not been to Chong Qing, I could not have imagined the interesting life overseas. Besides the spectacular scenery, I was impressed by the people’s hospitality and passion, and many of us became good friends. With this precious chance, I experienced something different from Taiwan and the textbooks. Although it may be difficult to come to an agreement on national identity, such cultural interactions contribute to mutual understanding and harmony. #Volume 7 Issue 1 a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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