A Foreign Girl Explains What China Should Be Proud of

 

Lanlan, whose real name Negar Kordi, is of Iranian and Canadian descent. She came to China five years ago and is now in her senior year at Ningbo University as a Business Mandarin major. Ten days ago, She signed up on "Zhihu," a Chinese question-and-answer website, with the screen name "吃货国的外国小公举," which translates to "foreign girl in a foodie country." Now her fans have exceeded 120,000, and the number is still growing.

Lanlan's charm comes from her fluent Chinese. Not only can she can understand and use Chinese online slang, some netizens say that her Chinese is truly top-level.

Lanlan loves China, which is the second reason she is so well received among Chinese netizens. She can easily go on about China’s many merits without even thinking. In her quest to experience Chinese food culture, she has even gained ten kilograms. So in her eyes, what China should be proud of?

“First, it is the easiest country in which to find a job. If you are not too lazy, it is really very simple to find a job in China. In fact, many people who fail to find a satisfying job do so only because they are lazy. I believe there are more job opportunities here than in any other country in the world.”

“Second, express delivery is very fast. China is so big, but the delivery of goods can normally be done within three days. In my country, it usually takes one week.”

 

 

“Third, the speed of Chinese trains is fast. From Ningbo to Beijing, the train runs 1,365 kilometers for seven hours and the ticket fare is only 595 yuan.”

 

 

“Fourth, airplanes are safe. I believe that China has the fewest plane crashes out of any country in the world. Some people may say the government just conceals the accidents, but I can only say you should use your brain before speaking.”

 

 

“Fifth, there is a fast pace for construction. Chinese people construct buildings and roads very quickly. An online video showing a building in Changsha being finished within 72 hours was very popular in foreign countries. I know many people would say the building is bad quality, but I think that China's construction is actually very good. I learned this in my World History textbook in high school.”

 

 

“Sixth, the foreign language level is impressive. About 400 million Chinese are studying English. If they can speak good English in the future, China will have the most English speakers of any non-English speaking country. Of course, this requires the efforts of foreign teachers like me.”

“Seventh is commercial activity. When I came to China five years ago, the thing that most surprised me was that there are so many shops still open after 9 p.m., even on weekends. In Canada, it is totally different.”

“Eighth is public security. This country of 1.4 billion people makes me feel safe. I have travelled in many countries, and I think China really is very safe.”

 

 

“Ninth is the status of women. Although Chinese women's status may not be the highest in the world, I think it’s still pretty high. I feel that most people show respect for Chinese women.”

“I have discovered an interesting phenomenon recently. Many Chinese people constantly criticize China. At first, I believed that they didn’t like China or that they loved western countries. But later, I realized that they just set a very high standard for China. They believe that it’s not enough to be number one in the world. China must be much better than other countries.”