Chris Ebbert
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Lived in ChinaJan 11
What are mainland Chinese people like?
Oh my, this won’t be easy to answer.

Mainland China is about the size of the United States or Australia, about the age of Egypt, about as populated as India, as economically stratified as Latin America, and almost as diverse as Europe.

So it is impossible to distill it down to something universal, but based on my experiences in China, I would say the following is probably pretty true about most Mainland Chinese:

assertive; they know what they want, and they will get it.
sharp; they understand even complicated options and situations more quickly than most.
diplomatic when required; they really are good at turning on the charms with the right people at the right time, and what’s probably more interesting is that they tend to be very quick to know which these people are.
capable of a wide range of emotions within a short time; it never ceases to amaze me how quickly Chinese people can go from one strong emotion into a completely different one.
in love with food; to eat well may well be top priority for anyone from China. And they will suffer when the food is not up to expectations.
clean to a fault; it’s no coincidence that the typical, Chinese owned business in old Wild West movies is a steam laundry. I’ve come down with just about everything on this planet on my travels, but never had any hygiene related issues at all in China.
romantic about nature, but not in touch with its realities. I’ve lost track of how often people have told me cats are vegetarian in China.
good networkers; and I mean in an efficient manner. Before you know it, you have been networked.
easy to get on with; with Chinese in-laws, you’ll have the easiest time ever. Sit down, get comfy, pour something strong, light a cigarette… everybody laughs and just gets on.
… speaking of which, you will see a lot of smokers.