China Travel 2.0

From several channels, I heard of a beautiful world traveler’s stories. She travels a lot, can speak beautiful Chinese, even several dialects, expert in tourism and language learning, well known in the expats circle, based in Shanghai, doing some business in china, working for expo now. Who is SHE? It is my honor to introduce you our hero this time-Toffler Ann Niemuth. You can see the following questions are composed by a non-English speaker, even for the language expert, she can not understand all of them. But nobody can stop you enjoy her great answers.

Toffler Ann Niemuth

1) Before we are going to read your about page, please tell us some basic info about you, and what are you doing now?

Originally from Arizona, I’ve been in China for nearly 4 years now, doing a variety of things, including running my own shopping tours business (Shop My Shanghai).  I just recently left the internet startup I worked at for two years to work for an event services company on the Shanghai World Expo.  We have contracts with a number of Country and Regional Pavilions to provide human capital for the duration of the Expo and I’m part of the team that is recruiting, training, and managing the staff who will work on-site at the Expo, over 600 people.

2) You Travel a lot, tell me the top 3 reasons why do you move to China after traveling over 50 countires please. of course you can tell us more

Well actually, when I moved to China, I’d probably only traveled to about 35-40 countries, the others I’ve visited within the last 4 years.  I came to China primarily for the opportunities, largely tied to China’s economy.  I wanted to learn about business in one of the world’s fastest growing economies, absorb the entrepreneurial wild-west spirit, witness firsthand the transformation to a global economic powerhouse, and of course, to learn Chinese.

Toffler ’s sister in front of the ExpoMascot’s Statue

3) You used to work in Beijing, now you are working in Shanghai, the 2 very important cities of China, even in the world, can you give us some introduction in your words? any interesting experiences in both cities? do you think Shanghai is ready for the expo? is there any cool places/bars for recommendation?

Shanghai and Beijing have very different feelings, and the cities each have unique sense of self.  This is evident in both the local populations and the expats in those cities.  Beijing tends to be more reflective, politically-minded, historically-grounded, gritty, and down-to-earth.  Shanghai is always looking forward and outward, holds money and the status awarded to those who have it above all else, is hyper-competitive, and runs at a breakneck pace.

Shanghai will definitely be ready for the Expo, already the expanded subways lines are fantastic, and the new hotels are gorgeous.  Nonetheless, Shanghai will have similar issues as the Beijing Olympics, such as (English) communication barriers for travelers and questionable service standards.  There are so many wonderful places to go in Shanghai, try the Hyatt on the Bund for views over the Huangpu, Cool Docks for a lesser known (and therefore less crowded) alternative to Xintiandi, and Taikang Lu for boutiques, bars, and restaurants hidden down small alleys.

Feeding a yak in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

4)  Still about Shanghai and Expo. I think you are lucky that you can experience it! For those who are going to visit it and didnt goto the city before,whats your suggestions, is there any places must to see? why?

From May-October, obviously the Expo is a must-see.  The Bund is, of course, a must in Shanghai and since the pedestrian area has recently been redone it’ll be even more attractive now.  For contrasting experiences of life in Shanghai, take the metro during morning rush hour to get a sense of the energy and drive of this city, then visit the Longhua Pagoda and Monastery during a weekday afternoon for a relaxed, quiet, almost sublime feeling.  If you can, get outside of the city for a day to see just how far the city expands while driving to one of the nearby Canal Towns and see local craftsmanship and try the region’s delicacies.

5) I know you can speak beautiful Chinese, for how many years of learning, then you can speak the fluent Mandarin, even you can speak several dialect of Chinese, what about your writing skills? can you write the blog in Chinese? what is the best process of learning Chinese? listening,speaking,reading,writing? or what else?

You’re far too generous in your compliments of my Chinese; I really only know Mandarin and a handful of words in Cantonese and Shanghainese.  I started learning Mandarin Chinese in 2002 at my university.  At university, I primarily learned characters, sentence structure, and grammar, which was a good base to build on.  My listening and speaking skills were initially very poor and I didn’t really reach conversational level until after moving to China.  Now I don’t write in Chinese much because I’m very slow, but I do make good use of my reading skills.

If I knew then what I know now about language acquisition, I’d have taken a different approach to learning Chinese.  For those wanting to learn Chinese, first you need to decide whether you’re satisfied with only oral communication or you also want to learn to read and write—that will really drive your approach.  Listen to Chinese podcasts like Popup Chinese, watch Chinese movies with both English & Chinese subtitles, and find a teacher or someone to speak with (if none in your local area, then look online at italki.com).  The important thing is you must force yourself to speak, even if you only know ‘nee how’ or ‘wo shi meiguo ren’—everyone must start somewhere!

An Akar(a Tibetan Buddhist monk) lighting oil lamps

6) Besides the 2 metro cities. where did you travel in China? do you like the cities better or someplaces of more nature resources?

I’ve been to about 16 or 17 provinces in China, including Hainan Island, Taiwan, and Ningxia.  Yunnan is amazing, from the northern border regions reflecting the Tibetan minorities, snow covered peaks, yaks, and pine forests to the lowlands in Xishuangbanna reflecting the peoples, landscapes, and climate of Southeast Asia.  China is a huge, diverse country and it’s good to balance city living with natural escapes and slower, more traditional ways of living.  All of it can be found in China.

Meet/follow Toffler Ann
Her own Business
Her Website
Skype/Twitter/Flickr: TofflerAnn

Tags: Beijing, China travel, expo, Shanghai, Toffler, world traveler