Chinese people and travelling in China

China is a heavily populated country. Getting on and off the subways is a nightmare. Unlike Japan, people push and shove. They love to take photos with white people. I've even had middle-age women sneak photos of me. Some just ask. Chinese people don't tend to speak very much English, but love to say HELLO when I pass them in the streets. Especially the children. Bikes and mopeds are everywhere. I often see the mother, father, and single child riding on a moped on the weekend. One time I saw two guys on a bike and one guy holding was holding a kitten in a wicker bird cage about four inches off the pavement while they sped through the intersection.
There is no shame in blowing huge snot rockets, or coughing without covering one's mouth. In fact this is commonplace. The children that are diaper age often don't wear diapers, but rather pants with a built-in split through the seam of the croch so their parents can hold them while they go potty in the streets.
There is no facebook unless you re-route throught another country, and blogs seem few and far between. One time James was talking about traveling outside of China, and said something about freedom in reference to the amout of things available to him when he leaves his country. I had to think for a second before I realilzed that freedom is a foreign concept to him. It's strange to hear somebody talk about freedom as if it does not belong to them.
All in all the Chinese seem to be a pretty happy bunch of people. They can be boisterous, and have strange cultural differences, but it's really quite interesting and unique. No, I do not see myself living there in the near future.