China is getting better. I would not focus to much on the 'less developed' aspect. Some areas are nice. Last time I was in Shekou whch BTW is in Guangdong, I was delighted to see that a large number of people got around on electric bikes as opposed to motorcycles which are common in a lot of countries including Taiwan. That made things a lot more quiet and made for better air in the immediate area as well.Jackal wrote:I hate to state the obvious, but the first concern should be communicating with the women there. How many of them speak English? And are you planning to learn to learn whatever Chinese dialect they speak there? In many places in the world, it's simply not possible to date women if you only speak English.
My main piece of advice: Bring pocket kleenexes everywhere you go! There is usually no toilet paper in the bathrooms of less-developed countries.
As for learning the language, I think its enough just to learn Mandarin these days. About all young people speak it very fluently now. And the more refined types are probably going to prefer it over Canto. And don't forget, its a piece of cake for someone like Winston if he invests some effort. He already speaks Taiwanese (a related dialect/language), has been exposed to Mandarin much of his life, and is pretty good with languages.
BTW, overall, Guangdong is not a poor province. It has been one of the hot-spots for re-export activity via SEZs since China opened up. Huge amounts of money have been invested there and workers from all over the country have flocked down there for jobs. Also, Shenzhen area has benefited immensely from bordering Hong Kong.
As for native Cantonese, overall, they are probably not my favorite Chinese by far. This has been mentioned in another thread about Hong Kong. But Cantonese are considered more provincial and closed. They are also shorter on average than Chinese from a lot of northern provinces. But, these days, provincial differences count for less than they once did. Because locals travel all over and Shenzhen and Guagzhou attract people from all over the country. Winters are much more mild there too than most parts of China. Given its relatively close proximity Hong Kong, Macau, and even Taiwan, it may be a good starting point for some including Winston.
(by the way,plz don't just send me hi or you're beautiful these kind of words ,you can be my real friends or my students but don't waste both of our time to be passers-by . ) And as well, no Philippines ! Thanks!
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