China is a country with very different habits and lifestyle, and that is true. But we never expected them to be so different. Probably you heard about the gruesome dog-meat festival held in Yulin, which makes every dog owner tremble in disgust. Amazingly, that is not the only shocking fact about China, as there are some that will blow your mind away.
#1 China is using all of its forests to make disposable chopsticks
Yes, China has the smallest territory covered in forests, which is only about 20%. This is because they used the 80% to make 80 billion pairs of chopsticks every year, which are disposed of after the meal is done. You can imagine the high number of trees that suffer because of that.
#2 Rich people send their look-alikes in prison for them
The wealthy people in China found an ingenious way to serve time in jail. They hire a look-alike person to serve the imprisonment time in their place. You never thought that is possible, did you? Well, it is true, and it is a very widespread phenomenon also.
#3 Chinese are large cat meat consumers
If you though the Yulin dog eating festival is the only one of this kind, you are wrong. It seems that the Chinese people enjoy consuming animals that are considered to be pets in the rest of the world. Every single day, about 10,000 cats end up in the plates of the people in the Guangdong province. Of course, this phenomenon raises protests as well, so it may be banned soon, hopefully.
#4 They paint their pets’ coats to make them look like other animals
Well, the Chinese that don’t consume pets, but keep the around the houses, seem to appreciate spending money on them in a bizarre way. For instance, they paint the fur of their dogs to make them look like a tiger or a panda bear. What an extreme!
#5 If you visit a Chinese restaurant, you might be served by a robot
Yes, it is a fact that some Chinese restaurants have robots, very similar to Wall-E, that serve, cook, deliver and take orders, and anything that needs to be done in the restaurant. It may seem fun, but such restaurants, operating with robots, are unauthorized restaurants.
#6 They don’t consume dairy products
What seem so ordinary for us to eat, looks barbaric for the Chinese. And mainly because the dairy products are considered to come from the savage tribes that resided near the Chinese borders. It is true that the consumption of these products increased in the past year, but it’s a pass still for many Chinese.
#7 The pandas you see outside China are there only as a loan
As weird as it may sound, but China offered pandas in a loan system, as a sign of peace after the cold war. According to the agreement, when a panda cub is born, it will need to be shipped back to China. How? In a very usual way, and that is by FedEx.
#8 Very many Chinese people still live in caves
Perhaps this sounds like a joke, but every bit of it is true. You can find these awkward settlements in the Shaanxi province. The caves are usually at a mountain’s entrance and are long and high enough to house quite a significant number of people. Still, if you though they live here in poor conditions, you might be amazed that you can find luxury in some of them.
#9 A Chinese Christian cult believe Jesus is a woman that still lives in China
A theory that most Christian followers are not acquainted with is promoted by a Christian cult in China. They believe that a female, who goes by the name “Almighty God”, live in China, and it is the impersonation of Jesus.
#10 Unmarried women that pass the age of 20 are considered to be “leftovers.”
If this isn’t awkward, then it is at least rude. “Leftover women” is the term used in China to describe the women that are well over the age of 20, which are not married yet.
#11 Soldiers wear pins pointed to their chin in the shirt’s collar
We all know army service is not easy, but having pins in the neck collar is a bit too much. In China, soldiers wear pins, with the pointy end towards their chin, for training. It is meant to keep their head up and stop them from falling asleep.
#12 China is the place where the longest traffic jam ever happened
If you think a half a day jam is a scene took from a horror movie, how about being stuck in traffic for 12 days? It happened in China, where a 62 miles long jam formed, and cars used to advance only about a mile every day. That can really be a bummer.
#13 Gutter oil and sheep urine were used in making food
Sorry for this gruesome picture, but some Chinese companies that make food were caught using debris oil, like the ones you find in the sewers, to prepare tofu. Also, some used goat or sheep urine, to marinate duck meat. Bon appetite!
#14 The air in Beijing is so polluted that it is safer to be a smoker in a clean country
If you think smoking is bad, try living in Beijing. One day spent in the city is similar to smoking 21 cigarettes. So don’t be surprised seeing people wearing surgical masks over there.
#15 Eggs boiled in urine coming from young boys are considered to be a delicacy
Another weird recipe highly appreciated by Chinese people. These types of eggs are usually prepared in the spring, and they are deemed to bring a set of benefits to the health, and as well to taste exceptional.