Indians who have lived in China, is it that bad?

印度人在中国生活，有那么糟糕吗?

So I have been accepted to one of the top universities in China for my Master's and am considering accepting the offer. The only thing stop me is how quality of life is for a foreigner in China. The socio-political environment is horrible if news is to be believed and there is supposed to be a lot of discrimination. I want to get information from people who have actually been there, lived there or know people who have lived there as to what is the actual ground truth and what kind of challenges I will face there. Is there a lot of discrimination? Will the political environment affect me as a student?

我已经被中国一所顶尖大学录取攻读硕士学位，正在考虑是否去读。唯一让我怯步的是外国人在中国的生活质量如何。如果真如新闻报道的，那么那里的社会环境是可怕的，而且应该有很多歧视。有没有真正去过中国、住在那里或者认识在那里生活过的人，我想从你们这里了解真相，我在中国会面临什么样的挑战。歧视严重吗？政治环境会影响我的学业生涯吗？

以下是reddit网民的评论：

jormicol

have a friend who’s doing his medical in China and he says that other than strict covid restrictions during and after lockdown he’s having a lot of fun

我有一个朋友在中国学医，他说之前除了封锁期间和封锁后严格的限制外，他玩得很开心。

4d ag

I spent some time studying in Beiing before Covid. And honestly, there was no real discrimination on a personal basis. There were minor things, which can get annoying, like people asking me how to say things in "Indian". Or assuming that different languages were "dialects" of an "Indian" language. Or asking me if I had seen the major tourist landmarks, when I had already been there for a while. Or effectively asking me for a lesson on Indian history. Or asking me which other Chinese cities I had been to.

But most of that comes down to ignorance rather than prejudice. Once you make friends, this won't be an issue anymore.

新冠疫情之前，我曾在北京学习过一段时间。老实说，个人没有受到歧视。有一些小事情，可能会让人恼火，比如有人问我某些东西用“印度语”是怎么说的。

或者用是“印度”语的一种“方言”来说。或者问我是否去了主要的旅游地标，而我已经在那里待了一段时间。

或者向我讨教印度历史。或者问我还去过哪些中国城市。

但这主要是因为无知，而不是偏见。一

旦你交了朋友，这就不再是问题了。

haseo2222

I would second this as per my own 20 days spent in Shanghai in 2019. People there are really nice, some go way out of their way to help you out despite the language barrier. Didn't encounter any racism, but I am sure there is a small minority of racist people in every country. Thing about vegetarian food is also true. Most restaurants won't even understand the concept of vegetarian food and will try to keep offering you different thing because they don't know what you want. 2 of my friends were veg and they didn't have a fun time with food there. I eat everything so i had a blast.

2019年我在上海待了20天，那里的人真的很好，有些人不顾语言障碍，不顾一切地帮助你。

我没有遇到种族主义歧视，我相信每个国家都有一小部分种族主义者。关于素食的问题。大多数餐馆不是素食的，他们会不断地为你提供不同的食物，因为他们不知道你想要什么。我的两个朋友是素食主义者，他们在那里没有享受美食的乐趣。但我什么都吃，所以我玩得很开心。

RmG3376

like you said most reactions come mostly either out of ignorance or that’s just how things are done)

The whole language/dialect thing I’m not surprised about, because this is how the chinese teaches Chinese language (mandarin is the “true” Chinese language and the rest are dialects), so they apply the same logic to other countries too. For instance, they seem to assume that English is the true language of white people and other European languages are dialects of English — similarly they seem to assume that “Europe” is the country, and “France”, “Germany” etc are pretty much similar in concept to Chinese provinces. They’re not entirely wrong from a pragmatic perspective, but it’s still odd to hear

就像你说的，大多数反应要么是出于无知，要么就是事情就是这样。

关于语言/方言的事情我并不惊讶，在中国，普通话是“真正的”汉语，其他都是方言，所以他们以为其他国家也是有类似语言的区分。例如，他们似乎认为英语是白人的语言，其他欧洲语言是英语的方言——同样地，他们似乎认为“欧洲”就是一个国家，“法国”、“德国”等在概念上与中国的省份非常相似。从实用主义的角度来看，他们并不完全错误，但听起来仍然很奇怪

Numaan68

Didn’t know that halal food is available in china.

不知道中国也有清真食品啊。

Flying0885

Chinese here. If you come to Beiing I can show u around some. College time in China is generally a peaceful experience.

我是中国人。如果你来北京，我可以带你参观一些地方。在中国，大学时光通常是一段平静的经历。

No_Influence_4828

my buddy stayed in china for six month and then he got scholarship for his bachelors over there.

he is an afghan and he liked china. it is a safe place

我的朋友在中国呆了六个月，然后他在那里拿到了学士学位的奖学金。

他是阿富汗人，喜欢中国。那是一个安全的地方

NCT of Delhi

Where are you headed to? Peking or Tsinghua? Either way the politics shouldn’t concern you. Indian food options are available in the big cities easily

你要去哪个学校？北大还是清华？无论如何，政治与你无关。大城市里有印度菜餐馆

pacp

I lived in Shanghai with my parents and it’s an absolute pleasure to have lived there. You will probably end up in Beiing or Shanghai and weather wise it sucks but all the other things make up for it. Food is great especially non Chinese food as chefs from around the globe have opened up restaurants there. You will be introduced to cheap quirky gadgets that you never knew you needed.

Racism wise I would say abit such as entering clubs but nothing that is a hinderance to your daily life. A lot of westerners in the universities so you can always go to clubs with them and be treated like royalty.

Overall a good experience for a couple of years with a lot of see and do.

我和我的父母住在上海，在那里生活绝对幸福。你应该是去北京或上海读书吧，天气很糟糕，但其他一切不错。食物很棒，尤其是非中国食物，来自世界各地的厨师在那里开餐馆。你会被介绍一些你从来不知道自己需要的便宜古怪的小玩意。

种族主义方面，我会说有点，比如进入社团，但不会妨碍你的日常生活。大学里有很多西方人，所以你可以和他们一起去社团，会受到贵族般的待遇。

总的来说，这是一个很好的体验，在接下来的几年里，你会看到很多，体验很多。

4d ag

Lived in Shanghai for few months. Been to Beiing once. I absolutely loved Shanghai.Probably my most favourite city in the world.The food is good But like someone said the food culture in Shanghai is legit.I personally did like authentic Chinese food. My most favourite would be Peking duck and xao long baos.

If said a major university I’m guessing it’s either Tshingua or any of the C9.

Anyways learn their culture.They love it when you show interest.It’s respectful.

在上海住了几个月，去过北京一次。我非常喜欢上海，可能是我最喜欢的城市了。但就像有人说的，上海的饮食文化很棒。我个人很喜欢正宗的中国菜。我最喜欢的是北京烤鸭和小笼包。如果说是一所重点大学，我猜它要么是清华，要么是C9中的一所。

无论如何，学习他们的文化。他们喜欢你表现出兴趣。这是尊重。

Rare_Excitement1698

I lived in china when I was 10(2013-2014), my dad used to work at a tech company near Tianin. It was a fun experience, the locals were friend but they do stare a lot.

We were from South-india, We are darker and people used to take pictures with my dad wherever we go. We were one of the first families in that area. So all the tax driver knew where our house is and what my dad does for living. It was kind of creepy but fun.

Once when my dad had to go to his friend's house. He was telling the tax driver his address but the driver dropped him at our house only.

And my mom taught the people in wet market how to cut a fish and she used tell them the whole cleaning process. Almost everyone in our neighborhood knows us.

We had fun but there was this prejudice.

我10岁的时候住在中国(2013-2014)，我爸爸曾经在天津附近的一家科技公司工作。这是一次有趣的经历，当地人友好，但他们确实经常盯着你看。

我们来自印度南方，肤色较深，无论我们走到哪里，人们都想和我爸爸合影。我们是最早去那个地区的家庭之一。所以所有的出租车司机都知道我们家在哪里，也知道我爸爸是做什么的。有点吓人，但很有趣。

我妈妈在菜市场教人们如何切鱼，教他们整个清洁过程。我们附近几乎每个人都认识我们。我们玩得很开心，但有一点点偏见。

lucifer47745875

Hey op, can you tell about how much your entire masters in China is going to cost?

I too would be pursuing masters in a few years so it might help me. Thanks

嘿，你能告诉我你在中国读硕士要花多少钱吗? 我也会在几年后攻读硕士学位，所以这可能对我有帮助，谢谢

Le_Bishhh

Going by the information on the it’s Beiing I think.

Busy city, locals don’t give an F about you, in fact it’s almost close to how Middle East treats Indians. Chinese folks are smart and cunning at the same time. Hell a lot of scams. Food will be a major issue as well.

On the good side, you will learn quick, tech is good, hard working people….you will learn some of these good qualities. However you can learn the same in Bangalore/Japan/Germany.

根据地图上的信息，我猜是北京。一个繁忙的城市，这里的人怎么对待你，类似中东人对印度人的态度。中国人既聪明又狡猾。一不小心就会被忽悠。食品安全也是一个主要问题。

好的方面，你会学得很快，技术很好，那里的人努力工作，.你会学到这些好的品质。然而，你也可以在班加罗尔、日本和德国学到同样的东西。

its_nzr

My sister studies at Wuhan university and some of my friends are there too. They pretty much like it there and haven’t heard any complaints regarding discrimination. Only thing they had to say was about the strict covid 19 protocols

我姐姐在武汉大学学习，我的一些朋友也在那里。他们非常喜欢那里，也没有听到他们抱怨被歧视。他们以前唯一抱怨的就是严格的防疫规定

destinyworks

20% of my office employees are indians. They’re really enjoying.

我办公室20%的员工是印度人，他们真的很享受在这里的生活。

Foreign_Law3727

I’m an NRI and I lived in China for five years. I had a great time for my entire duration once you get used to the language.

我是海外印度裔，在中国生活了五年。一旦你习惯了这门语言，就能过得很愉快，我在整个学习过程中都过得很愉快。

Latter-Yam-2115

Have a cousin who moved to Shanghai 10 years back and has repeatedly rejected equally good or better offers in India/ some SEA nations

你有一个表弟，10年前搬到上海的，之前多次拒绝了在印度、一些东南亚国家的同等待遇或者更好的工作机会

corpsebridegroom

So a lot of what you hear about China comes from West and most of what comes from West is propaganda. So yeah, generally it is a good idea to keep lower trust on anything coming from West. I have Chinese friends and they are actually quite happy and highly nationalistic people. All that "Chinese people will rebel soon" is western garbage. They only complain about the lock-downs but govt have set all arrangements for their ease.

At the same time, remember the geo-political sourness and Ukraine foreign minister was going salty on Indian students? That is not even an adversary, in this case we are talking about a hostile country to India.

So yes, if everything is fine, you will be fine in Afghanistan too. But in trouble, don't expect humanity first brotherhood shit from an adversary. You will, in fact, be on your own.

你听到的很多关于中国的消息都来自西方，而来自西方的大部分消息都是抹黑中国。所以，一般来说，对来自西方的东西最好别太信。我有一些中国朋友，他们实际上是非常快乐、高度民族主义。

所谓的“中国人很快就会造反”的说法都是西方乱讲的。他们只是抱怨封锁，但政府已经为他们做好了一切妥善安排。

与此同时，还记得地缘政治上的酸楚吗？乌克兰外交部长对印度学生多粗鲁？双方甚至不是对手，这次我们谈论的是一个对印度怀有敌意的国家。

所以，是的，如果一切都好，你在阿富汗也会过得很好。但遇到麻烦的时候，别指望对手会说人道第一，大家都是兄弟。事实上，你要靠自己。

aussiegreenie

Not Indian but Aussie who loves both China and India.

The Chinese are even more racist than the Indians. No Chinese degree is worth the paper it is written with the possible exceptions of Peking or Tsinghua.

The only good bits is if you study there you should have a few useful contacts.

China is dying. China got rich by slowly becoming freer and more open. That stopped about 10 yr ago and now Uncle X(President) has reversed decades of openness.

Without knowing your goals and financial position, I can not advise you.

But I suggest there are better options in Europe.

Bad bits: Racist shithole (and I love China) with a poor education system

Good bits: Learn Mandarin and good contacts for business

我不是印度人，而是喜欢中国和印度的澳大利亚人。中国人甚至比印度人更种族主义。除了北京大学和清华大学以外，没有哪个中国学位值得去读。

唯一的好处是，如果你在那里学习，你应该能积累一些有用的人脉。

中国正在没落。中国通过自由和开放而变得富有。这种情况大约10年前就停止了，现在扭转了几十年的开放趋势。

在不了解你的目标和经济状况的情况下，我不能给你建议。但我认为去欧洲读书是更好的选择。

缺点：一个种族主义的鬼地方(但我喜欢中国)，还有教育系统糟糕

优点：学习普通话，积累商业人脉

Maharashtra

I guess it would be fine as far as your are Student. But it intrigues me why someone would want to go to a country with Authoritarian regime. India even though a flawed Democracy, is still a de ocracy.

我想只要你是去那留学的学生，就没啥问题。但这引起了我的兴趣，为什么有人想去一个专 制国家留学。印度虽然是有缺陷的民 主国家，但仍然是民 主国家。

Southern_Change9193

You might enjoy it if you know Chinese language:

如果你懂中文，你可能会喜欢上中国

Negative_Sell2871

I lived in china for a few months, there was no discrimination,stereotype or anything else such as that. The only problem you face is sometimes the language they speak or their currency but it does not relate to topic so overall you can live in china without discrimination

我在中国住了几个月，没有发现被歧视、刻板印象之类的。你面临的唯一问题有时是他们说的语言或货币，但这与话题无关，所以总的来说，你可以在中国生活，不受歧视

One_Direction7969

One of my friend studying mbbs in china.. it ain't that bad there

我的一个朋友在中国学MBBS，那里并没那么糟

voheke9860

Instead of asking people for their opinion (who knows whether these people have even been to China), why not look at videos of Indians who are actually living in China.

与其询问人们的意见(谁知道这些人是否去过中国)，不如看看真正生活在中国的印度人的视频。

guy_fawkes6

I mean politics aside, you cannot deny that China is years ahead of us in terms of technology. The level of research and tech development there is just on another level and I hope it also translates well into College education

撇开政治不谈，你不能否认中国技术领先我们很多年。那里的研究和技术发展水平是更高一层，我希望这个也能更好地转化为大学教育

floushie

(Know an Indian who has been working as a journalist in China for over 2 decades)

Racism isn't very overt, but it won't hurt to learn basic Mandarin. I'm pretty sure you'll have non-Chinese people in your uni.

The younger population can speak English but not quite fluently. Most Chinese people aren't accustomed to seeing foreigners in their country so you'll get a lot of stares on streets and in public transport. Just ignore.

When it comes to food, you're gonna have a terrible time so I hope you can cook. Even if you aren't vegetarian, you'll have a hard time adjusting to their diet because as Indians, we really can't process so much meat like them. You'll hardly find vegetarian food anywhere except for a few Indian restaurants in Beiing.

(我认识一个在中国做了20多年记者的印度人)

种族歧视不是很明显，但学习基本的普通话也无妨。我很确定你的大学里会有其他外国同学

年轻人会说英语，但不太流利。大多数中国人不习惯在自己的国家看到外国人，所以你在街上和公共交通工具上会受到很多人投来的目光，忽略就行。

说到食物，很糟糕，所以我希望你会做饭。即使你不是素食主义者，你也很难适应他们的饮食，因为作为印度人，我们真的不能像他们那样做那么多肉。在北京，除了几家印度餐馆，你几乎找不到素食。

iVarun

These are Indians who are married to Chinese with kids, students, travelers, working professionals across industries (IT, Pharma, logistics, etc), restaurant owners, general vloggers, etc. There's also Pakistani's having such channels speaking in urdu/hindi (most North Indians will understand nearly all of it, though they aren't in above list)

Some of these are less active than others, some have moved back to India and some are active on other social media like Instagram or Facebook. Many also share contact details in About section of their channel, though even without that Youtube already also provides Inquiry through email feature.

These are just a tiny proportion of the larger South Asian/Indians in China and there exsts local Indian groups (wechat/whatsapp & offline) which you can leverage when there.

There were around 30,000 Indian students pre-Covid in China, total Indians around 50K, which proportionally is basically nothing on India-China scale. Indians are novelties in China, mainly due to Language, easier for Indians to migrate to English friendly places (Anglo sphere or the Middle East). Though this will change in coming decades, Indians moving to China is entirely driven by word of mouth which is bottom-up dynamic & very powerful but lacking scale currently since not even a generation has passed when China became what it did hence not enough Indians grasp the actual Degree of development China has.
Places like Beiing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, etc are OECD level now, those moving for career & good living will take risks to move there (this being a statistical effect, I suspect there will be nearly ~1 Million Indians in China in few decades).

People ultimately care about their personal & family welfare and whichsoever place can accommodate that readily is where people move

有一些印度人嫁给了中国人，结婚生子各行各业的工作人员（IT、制药、物流等）、餐馆老板、一般的视频播主等。还有巴基斯坦人说乌尔都语/印地语（大多数印度北方人几乎都能听懂）。

其中一些人不如其他人活跃，一些人已经搬回印度，一些人在其他社交媒体如Instagram或Facebook上活跃。

这些只是中国规模较大的南亚裔/印度人中的一小部分，并且有当地的印度群体，你可以加入这些群体。

在疫情之前，中国大约有3万名印度留学生，在华印度人总数约为5万人，按比例来说，这规模上基本算不上什么。印度人在中国很新奇，主要是因为语言，印度人宜居英语国家比较方便（英语圈或中东）。这在未来几十年内会发生变化，但印度人移居中国完全是由口碑推动的，这种口碑是自下而上的动态，非常强大，但目前缺乏规模，中国崛起还没有跨过一代人，因此印度人没有摸清中国的实际发展程度。

像北京、上海、浙江、江苏等地现在已经发展到经合组织的水平，那些为了追求更好职业和良好生活而前往中国的人，是在冒着风险（我怀疑几十年后中国会生活着近100万印度人）。

人们最终关心的是他们的个人和家庭福利，而任何一个地方都可能给你这些福利