What is China like? The strange questions people ask about China

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In recent years, China’s presence on the global stage has noticeably grown.  

With increasing economic engagement, increasing global cooperation, together with taking an active part in tackling climate change, China has gradually become the focus of more of the world’s attention.

This has sparked the curiosity of people abroad. 

How is China viewed through a foreigner's eye? Here we collected some of the more bizarre questions posed on Quora, a knowledge sharing website like Zhihu in China, and check the responses about China. 

Does China have highways?

Though proposed anonymously, this question reveals a poor degree of familiarity with the country. 

Some took the opportunity to give some creative answers.☟

@Scott Lam:

No, China does not have any highways because there is not a need to build them. You know, the main means of transportation in China, as you can see in their movies, is aviation by propelling volatile sulfuric compounds (Qi, in Chinese).

It is usually slower than driving a car on a highway but it gets them to where they want to go.

Others replied seriously.

@Anna Bomby:

You are talking about China, a country that will reach 2 billion persons in the next 10 years. Also the second wealthiest country in the world.

Do you think China is like in 1900? This is modern China:

Shanghai:

Guangzhou: 

Wuhan: 

Actually, China is overturning the outdated perceptions held by many foreigners.

Other quirky questions also stirred up heated discussion, some of which we can only laugh at. 

The following are some of the amusing questions on Quora, all of which reveal a growing curiosity about this mysterious nation.

How safe is China?

Not to mention the fascinating Chinese cuisine!

How do you feel about Chinese food?

We also found these hilarious questions: 

On logistics:

On culture:

Fun aside, for expats living in China, almost all marvel at the rapid advancement of technology within the nation, most notably the high-speed railways. That's likely to be followed by amazement at the sharing economy, most notably bike sharing. 

Clearly, the most efficient way to satisfy one's curiosity about China is to come and have a look. As the old saying goes, better to see once than to hear a hundred times.

Editors: Jiao Jie, Zheng Peihan(intern)

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