A Story of Cici – China's Supermarket

I’m Cici, one of the teachers of NCM.

To me, each Mandarin class is an incredible experience. Not only do we do language learning but also cultural exchange. Joanne and I have been together for around 3 months and we talk about lots of things.

One time she asked about the phenomenon in China’s supermarket: In my opinion, shopping in supermarket should be like people grabbing things they need and leaving as soon as they could. But here in China, I’ve seen people wander, read books even watch their children play around… Why do people seem so much leisure while shopping?

This is an interesting topic to talk about. People in China would rather consider places like supermarket as a recreation place especially for those who have been retired. They have much time to spend in such public places for multiple reasons like buying the discounted, seeing more people to relieve their loneliness and enjoy more convenient air-conditioner during hard weather.

Joanne might found it stunning as people in her country would find far more pastimes for their spare time. Anyway, that’s one way Chinese people are using to live their life. As an expat living in China, Joanne has been used to lots of unique phenomenon with some of them she doesn’t know why. And I’d be happy to explain those things for her to have a better life in China.