When you go to the beach, there’s a good chance that you’re there to top up your tan. That’s why millions of people vacation in places Spain and the Caribbean every year. However, it’s not often you’ll find a Chinese person, particularly one from Qingdao, traveling to such a place.
That’s because they have a perspective on tanning that’s different from most of the western world. They’d rather their skin be paler, and therefore take precautions to try and ensure that. One of those precautions is to wear a facekini at the beach. These colorful masks protect their faces from the sun’s UV rays and keep their skin from taking on too much color.
At first glance at this photo might confuse you. It’s hard to tell what it is you’re looking at, and the answer might surprise you. This is actually a bicycle graveyard in Xiamen. There’s been a concern in China recently that there are too many bikes, but not enough demand for them. Considering how many have ended up in this picture, we can believe that.
The lorries at the top and bottom should give you an idea of the enormous size of this graveyard. Cycling had been incredibly popular in the country thanks to its dockless bike sharing strategy. However, after one of the leading companies went bust, everything changed, and now the bikes have ended up here.
The concept of a women-only parking space has been both praised and criticised in China. These spots have cropped up all over the country, but people aren’t sure if they’re a sign of equality or an offensive stereotype.
Some people feel the large space allocated to each parking space reinforces the notion that women are supposedly bad drivers. However, others say their proximity to the exits makes them safer for women, which can’t be a bad thing. Whatever your view, we certainly never seen these anywhere else in the world.
You can buy all sorts of weird and wonderful things in China, including fresh air. Who wants a soda when you can drink up some nice, unpolluted air?
One man in China has made a fortune off of the stuff, selling eight million of them over the course of ten days back in 2013. The state of the air in the country is a source of constant speculation, and this is how some locals choose to combat the pollution around them.
Different cultures to ours have practices that we aren’t all familiar with, which includes eating animals that we might not ever consider. In other parts of the world, some things we find strange are viewed as normal, and who are we to judge.
Still, we can’t say this is something we’d ever expect to encounter in a grocery store, although we’ve seen worse. So, anyone for alligator? We’re not sure what the taste is like, but we’ll pass on finding out for now.
Usually, when you go to the bathroom, you hope for a little privacy. Sure, the urinals might stray away from that slightly, but for the most part, you don’t feel like you’re on display. Well, the same can’t be said for this bathroom in China.
Here, everything is on show. They even have a chair for someone to sit and watch, because apparently that makes for great evening entertainment. These facilities would definitely leave us holding it in until we were back at the hotel.
The relationship between dogs and the Chinese is a strained one. The animals aren’t as appreciated over there as they are in the west, which is perhaps why they’ve replaced police dogs with police geese.
Forces in Xinjiang started dispatching these feathered officers back in 2013 because they’re apparently “extremely vigilant and have excellent hearing.” If you’ve ever had an encounter with a goose, then you’ll know they can be pretty vicious when they want to. We certainly wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of these winged officers.
It turns out you can farm more than just cows and chickens these days. Hundreds of farms in China have turned their attention to something somewhat surprising – cockroaches.
The biggest of these has taken to breeding 6 billion of these creatures a year to help with the production of medicine. It might disturb you to imagine so many cockroaches in one space, but breeding these insects is an increasingly popular industry in China. Who knew that they served so many purposes aside from being a nuisance?
Have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam? They’re the worst, especially when you just want to get home on a Friday evening. They never get quite as bad as they do in China, though.
The country holds the record for the longest ever traffic jam which lasted a whole 12 days in Beijing. Imagine being stuck on the road for that long – you’d lose your mind. The holdup covered a distance of 62 miles and caused a huge disruption to the lives of millions.
Flash mobs pop up all over the world, and they usually become a viral sensation when they happen. While these instances may be organized for special events, the people of China do them on a regular basis.
They’re a favorite activity among the older women who use it as an opportunity to keep mobile while enjoying the music of their time. These flash mobs are such a common occurrence that other locals have actually fought back against them, especially because of the loud volume the music is usually played at.
