China – a Country Different from Your Imagination

By She Congge

China – a Country Different from Your Imagination

By She Congge

W hen you set foot on this ancient land, you will realize that everything you see is utterly and totally different from your previous knowledge about China.

After landing at the airport, the first thing you should do is not to find a cab at the airport terminal, or buy a tourist map, or exchange currencies from a bank.

What you should do is to download a chatting app on your mobile phone.

Welcome to a brand new world that you’ve never been exposed to! In this world, cash or credit card is not a must, as you’ll find out that all kinds of payments can be made via your phone.

No matter whether you are taking a cab, checking in to a hotel, enjoying delicacies or buying goods, the QR code on your phone will complete all the transactions. Nowadays, QR codes have entered into Chinese life in all aspects. Just grab a cell phone, and you can enjoy such a life!

Ok, now you can begin your journey in China.

Afterwards, you’ll find yourself traveling on a train across the vast land at a speed no less than an airplane. The highspeed railroads have bound the entire country together, stretching from the snowy northern lands to the scorching southern beaches, from thriving coastal cities in the east to majestic plateaus in the west, from inland to borderland, and from seashores to deserts. Along the rail line, there are numerous fields, patches of lakes, and lofty mountain ranges fleeting by, right in front of your eyes.

Moreover, you can have a bowl of plain noodle soup for breakfast in Shanghai, and at noon, you can enjoy roasted duck in Beijing, and, if you like, you can also have dinner in any city a thousand miles away at night.

By means of the massive high-speed railway network, you can reach any place in China you’d like to go within 24 hours.

Basically, all cities in China have been closely interlinked due to the fast and efficient public transit network, and hence the country itself has been turned in to a diversified urban circle. When you take a city trip in China, particularly when you stroll along the streets, you will see that people around you are riding similar bikes with an identical colour. Without fixed parking spaces and complicated formalities, all you need to ride one of the bikes is merely your phone and the ubiquitous QR code. You can ride on any vacant bike parked on the curbside, and pass through the streets and lanes of the city to see the real life of Chinese people. When reaching the destination, you can simply park the bike on the roadside.

This is the contemporary China. Apart from Peking Opera, giant pandas, the Great Wall, modern cities, and beautiful villages, there is also the convenient digital life that you’ve never experienced.

Once again, welcome to the world depicted in the science fiction of many years ago!

(Translated: Zhu Yaguang)

當您踏上這片古老的土地時，您會發現，您眼前看到的一切，跟您之前了解的中國，完全、完全的不同。

從您在機場的那一刻開始，您首先需要做的事情，并非是在機場出口去找一輛出租車，不是去買一張旅游地圖，也不是去銀行兌換您的旅游費用。

您需要做的只是在您的手機上下載一個聊天軟件。

歡迎您，來到了一個您還沒有接觸過的嶄新世界，一個不需要隨身攜帶現金和信用卡的世界。

您會發現，在手機上，您能夠安排所有消費支付。從打出租車到進住酒店，從品嘗美食到購買商品，手機上的二維碼會完成所有的交易。二維碼滲透到生活各個細節，如果您愿意感受這種生活，您只需要一部手機。

好了，您可以開始中國的旅程了。

接著你會發現，您坐在火車上，也能在這個廣袤的國土上以不遜于飛機的速度移動。高鐵網遍布了整個國家。從白雪皚皚的北國，到盛夏炎炎的南海沙灘；從繁華的東部沿海城市，到風光壯美的西部高原；從腹地到邊陲，從海邊到戈壁，路上的田野，星羅棋布的湖泊，連綿的崇山，都會從您的視野里一一掠過。

您可以早餐的時候在上海吃一碗陽春面。中午的時候，就坐在北京品嘗烤鴨。如果你愿意，還可以去往一千公里外的任何一個城市享受晚餐。

在這個龐大的高鐵網絡里，你可以在二十四小時內去往任何一個您想到達的角落。

高效快速的公共運輸網絡已經將整個中國，拉近成一個緊密的多元化城市圈。

當您在中國城市里旅游，行走在街道上的時候，你會看見身邊的人，都騎著統一顏色的自行車。每一輛單車，都沒有固定的存取點，沒有復雜的手續，仍舊只需要的只是你手中的手機，還有在你生活中無處不在的二維碼。您可以隨意在街道的旁邊，騎上一輛單車，穿行在城市里的街道上、小巷里，看著最真實的中國人的生活。到達目的地后，只需要停在路邊的角落即可。

這里就是中國，這里不僅有京劇、大熊貓、長城、現代的城市和美麗的鄉村，還有你沒有體驗過的數字化便利生活。

再次歡迎您到達多年前科幻小說里描繪的世界。

蛇從革 She Congge

She Congge, formerly named as Xu Yufeng, a native in Yichang City of Hubei Province. Mr. She is a well-known writer on Tianya BBS, who has started to post a mystery novel – Yichang Ghost Stories on Tianya BBS since 2010. The single post of the novel has got over 40 million hits within half a year, and the overall page views reached over 100 million times. His science fiction – Abnormal Sea, written in 2011, has won the Silver Medal of the 4th Xingyun Award for Global Chinese Science Fiction. In 2015, he wrote a full-length mystery novel called the Great Master, and in 2016, iQIYI spent 10 million RMB in the film and television copyright of the Great Master.

原名徐玉峰，宜昌人。天涯論壇著名作家。2010年開始在天涯論壇發表懸疑小說《宜昌鬼事》，單帖閱讀數量在半年內達到了四千萬，《宜昌鬼事》全網閱讀量過億。2011年創作科幻小說《異海》，獲得“第四屆全球華人科幻星云獎銀獎”。2015年創作長篇懸疑小說《大宗師》，2016年愛奇藝以一千萬元買下《大宗師》的影視版權。

中國跟您想的不一樣

文|蛇從革