This article comes from:Sohu knows the world , Editor: Xingchen, Wang Wuyi (intern), title picture from: interviewee
With the tension of Sino-Indian relations, China’s overseas Internet products have become the target of suppression by the Indian government. Following the ban on 59 Chinese applications such as TikTok and WeChat, the international version of TikTok, in recent weeks, India announced that another 15 Chinese applications will be included in the “blacklist.”
For the locals in India, the closure of WeChat may not matter; but for the Chinese living in India, WeChat is an indispensable link between them and China. The closure of WeChat will bring them a lot of inconvenience. Place.
As a Chinese, what kind of experience is it like to travel and settle in India? What do Indians think of Chinese and Chinese products? Are WeChat and TikTok still available in India? Has the epidemic in India entered the “herd immunity” stage? What are the impacts of Indian religion and caste system on society and individuals? In this regard, Sohu knows the world and lives in India, a Chinese documentary photographer and Shanghai blogger Mo Xizhi who has married an Indian wife. /span>Have an in-depth dialogue, hoping to observe Indian society from various perspectives from a personal local perspective, and try to present a real India to readers.
The respondent and his wife (photo provided by the respondent)
Mo Xizhi is a documentary photographer, focusing on themes of Indian society and culture, traditional Himalayan culture. Since 2012, he has gone deep into Indian society to shoot special topics, and is based in India for fieldwork. Married an Indian girl in 2018 and currently resides in South India.
Sohu Zhishi: As a photographer who has been shooting in India for 8 years, where do you like and dislike most about India? Or which photo of India you took that impressed you the most?
Mohizhi: India’s charm lies in its vibrant living atmosphere, which unites history and modernity, order and chaos, civilization and ignorance in the same social framework.
Shancheng Shimla (photo provided by interviewee)
From a travel perspective, my favorite place in India is the mountain city of Shimla. Shimla is a summer resort for British colonists in the past. It is the capital of Himachal Pradesh, located in the southern foothills of the Himalayas. The whole city is built on the hillside, and it is scattered and scattered. After a torrential rain in summer, clouds and mists are lingering, and it looks like a city in the sky from a distance. Simla is a mountain city on the one hand, and Indian-style maze alleys on the other. The combination of the two forms a three-dimensional maze, which is very exploratory. The upper layer of the city is densely covered with tall and tall Himalayan cedars, which is as peaceful as a paradise; the lower layer is composed of houses and markets, where the common people live and live, full of traffic and fireworks, and the two side by side are extremely magical. If I go to Ladakh on the Marxist-Leninist road in summer, I usually go to Simla for a few days.
A classic car on the streets of Kolkata (photo courtesy of the respondent)
From a photography point of view, Kolkata is my favorite. Calcutta was once the headquarters of the East India Company. After independence from the United Kingdom, the economy has stagnated for a long time. Therefore, a large number of colonial buildings and lifestyles have been preserved, like a breathing specimen. Some places in Kolkata look like the markets of Hong Kong, China, and some places are like the concessions of old Shanghai. The clinking trams, the rickshaws pulled by humans, and the yellow classic British-style taxis all run on the street.
Rickshaws on the streets of Kolkata (photo courtesy of the interviewee)
In addition, Kolkata originally belonged to the province of Bangladesh, and it is culturally different from the typical North India. The people are relatively kind and friendly.
Trams on the streets of Kolkata (photo courtesy of respondents)
My least favorite place is Delhi. Indians themselves generally hate this place. My friends from South India will even avoid transiting from Delhi. The dislike of Delhi from all walks of life in India belongs to a “phenomenal” issue. I wrote an article “From “Delhi Phobia” to “India Phobia”” to discuss this issue. The main problem lies in the local folk customs. In northern India, where Delhi is located, there are large areas of poor and backward rural areas.Delhi has caused a lot of social problems, fraud is extremely common, and its reputation in India is very poor.
Delhi Moonlight Market Street View (Photo courtesy of interviewees)
I have taken more than 200,000 photos in India. I must say the most impressive photo. It may only be the photo taken when I met my wife for the first time in Ladakh in 2015. I happened to pass by a local Buddha statue consecration activity in a small Buddhist hall. I stopped to watch the lively and take photos. I actually ran into a girl who spoke Chinese in traditional Ladakh clothes. In order to give her the photo, I left her Contact information, and she is now my wife. The pictures I took of her changed our lives.
The interviewee encountered a photo taken by his wife for the first time. On the left is her sister (photo provided by the interviewee)
Sohu knows the world: When you visit so many places in India, does the status of Chinese or foreigner make Indians treat you special? How do you feel?
Mo Xizhi: At least until 2020, when traveling in most places in India, Chinese identity will not be treated differently compared to other foreigners. . Not many Chinese tourists come to India, IndiansPeople of the yellow race will first guess Japan and South Korea. When you tell them China(China), many people will feel quite surprised .
Indian society treats foreigners clearly differently. Whether it is private or official, India has a de facto “foreigner tax”. Most attractions in India are divided into local tickets and foreign tickets. Taking the world cultural heritage attractions as an example, Indians only need 40 rupees(about 4 yuan RMB Citizens of Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries can also enjoy this fare, which means that as long as you have an Indian face, you are a local), the fare for foreigners is 500 rupees, which is 12.5 times worse; The Taj Mahal is 1,000 rupees, which is 25 times worse.
Chinese faces in India are often watched and asked for a group photo (photo provided by the interviewee)
However, foreigners spend a lot of money, and occasionally there are some special benefits in some places: for example, you can take a fast track in the Taj Mahal without having to line up with locals; some train stations have special Many large-scale events have reserved seats for foreigners. Locals sit on the ground and foreigners can make chairs and stands. Indian police will be more polite when they see foreigners. If it is in some countries that emphasize equality, these phenomena will definitely be criticized, but India may have been accustomed to the inequality between people in its bones, and the people have no objection to this special treatment for citizens.
At the same time, the traffickers and pawns in some popular tourist cities in India, especially the taxi drivers, will always ask for prices when they encounter foreigners. It is almost a customary practice in Indian society to slaughter foreigners.(Vaguely remember that some places in China once had it), if you are a foreigner, the asking price is directly doubled. In the past, you needed to fight with them in order to take a taxi and shop in India. Fortunately, nowadays, there are mobile applications for taxi and ticket booking, which is a great relief.
In contrast, these small cities are rarely visited by foreign tourists. The locals see foreigners as if they have seen some kind of rare birds and animals. They find it very rare and will rush to take photos with you. This freshness to foreigners is a bit like China in the 1980s and 1990s. Especially for Indian farmers in non-tourism areas, many people’s lives face the loess with their backs to the sky, and they have no chance to see living foreigners in their entire lives. They are relatively closed.
Notices restricting entry of Chinese people (photo provided by interviewees)
India has many border areas and foreigners will be restricted from going there. For example, several states bordering China and Myanmar in the northeast, Sikkim, and some border areas in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states, all need to apply for a permit to go. Foreigners from most other countries can easily apply for permits locally, but citizens of several neighboring countries in India, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Myanmar, need to apply to the Delhi Ministry of Interior, and the approval process is relatively long. I’ve heard that some Chinese people have mixed in to these places. (not very strict), but I think it may be a long time in the future. India, it is better not to take risks.
Sohu knows the world: You are living in a small city in southern India. What do you think is the pace of life in a small city in southern India? How is it different from major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai in the north?
Mohizhi: The Coimbatore I live in is a yoga city. According to legend, it is the earliest birthplace of yoga in the world. There is an Adiyogi meditation center in the area, and it is famous for hosting this place Indian Internet celebrity Sadhguru (Sadhguru), and here I am also involved in a yoga school project of a local friend.
Because I don’t have to work every day, my life here feels a bit like retirement. Coimbatore is considered to be one of the most livable cities in India. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers. There is no severe cold in winter and no scorching heat in summer. Only four or five months are relatively hot each year. Other times, it is considered to have a pleasant climate. Most people do not have air conditioners in their homes. I live in an urban-rural fringe. It will not be as crowded and noisy as the urban area, nor as remote and desolate as the countryside. Takeaway, e-commerce, online car-hailing, and fresh food delivery services can be covered. In daily life It is still very convenient.
Coimbatore is roughly classified as a third-tier city in India, and the income and consumption levels of residents are lower than those of big cities like Mumbai and Delhi. The supply of goods in big cities is definitely more abundant. For example, there are some imported food supermarkets in Delhi, but Coimbatore is hard to find. However, due to the agglomeration effect of big cities, Mumbai and Delhi have many slums, which brings about some social security problems. This situation does not exist in Coimbatore.
Mumbai’s food delivery workers (photo provided by interviewees)
Big cities will definitely have more opportunities and richer resources, but at the same time they will be more noisy and crowded. This is the same all over the world. I am not here to do business in India, so Coimbatore is a very suitable place for me.
Before the outbreak, my daily life at home might be boring in the eyes of some people: sorting out photos, writing official accounts in codes, watching American TV shows, movies, cooking, and exercising. After the closure of the city due to the outbreak of the epidemic in India, life has not changed much for me, except that the codeword time per day is longer than in the past. Over the past few years, I have been running around without interruption, and I usually stay at home for no more than a month. It is too late to organize my photos. Now I am forced to be an otaku, just to take this opportunity to sort out some of the thoughts and thoughts of the past few years.
Chinese food at Chinese restaurants in Mumbai: Per capita consumption is around RMB 150 (photo provided by the respondent)
This may have something to do with personality. Compared with most people, I don’t have very strong social needs. I don’t feel lonely or bored. Time is never enough. There are always many things to do. This lack of social life will not have any negative impact on my psychology, but it may be unbearable for many people. Of course, I don’t reject social interaction, otherwise, there is no way to deal with all kinds of people on the road for a long time. I am just more able to enjoy myself and go wherever I go.
Sohu knows the world: Influenced by Hinduism, Hindus generally do not eat beef, and are basically vegetarian. Can you get used to the Indian food style? In order to make friends with the locals, would you deliberately avoid meat such as beef and pork?
Mo Xizhi: Whether traveling or settling, the biggest problem for Chinese people in India must be diet. As long as the diet problem is solved, the joy of travel or settlement can be much higher. It’s okay to eat Indian food occasionally, but it will definitely collapse if I eat it every day. Even when traveling, I would recommend bringing a kettle(In India, there is no habit of drinking hot water, and there are no kettles in many places), yes Get some vegetable soup for yourself, Indians can’t make clear soup.
South India’s traditional meal Thali (photo provided by interviewee)
For places where foreign tourists frequent, restaurants will adjust their tastes according to tourists, so they are relatively accessible. However, in places like Coimbatore where there are no foreign tourists, the dishes cooked in restaurants will be very “loyal to the original taste”-the original taste of India is often too spicy to eat. Some Chinese cuisines are also very spicy, but China can be so spicy, spicy, spicy, sour and spicy; Indian spicy is “silly spicy”, which is spicy for the sake of spicy. For example, in the city of Hyderabad, the local lamb pilaf (Mutton Briyani) is very famous. We found the best local reputation In a very high-end restaurant, I ordered a lamb pilaf, but because it was too spicy, I couldn’t taste the taste. Of course, it is also possible that my ability to eat spicy food is not enough. I noticed that local Indians have given children very spicy food since they were young. This taste is cultivated since childhood.
South India’s daily food presentations (photo provided by interviewees)
In India, there is no need to avoid beef and pork. In Indian society, “vegetarian” is the default option, because all people in India can accept pure vegetarian food, but only some people eat meat. Vegetarians have something they can eat everywhere, but it takes a little effort to find meat. For example, if you are traveling in a chartered car in India, you must eat on the road, and carnivores have to take special care of the driver to find a “Non-veg” restaurant, and you may not be able to find it. The proportion of restaurants serving meat in India is roughly equivalent to the proportion of “halal” restaurants in China. 95% of Non-veg restaurants can provide only chicken meat. Lamb is a luxury item, and restaurants generally do not prepare dishes. The so-called Chinese food in India is 99% fake Chinese food made by Indians, but Tibetan food tastes more like the Chinese food we like to eat.
Tibetan Chinese food in India (photo provided by interviewee)
In addition, India does not have the social habit of gathering together. In the past, traditional Brahmins could only eat food at home, so modern Indians do not like to eat outside. Mumbai’s very well-known professional food delivery worker (Dabbawala) was born in response to this demand and will always be a family meal for Indians the best. After I moved to India, I once invited the old landlord’s family to eat at home. Before the landlord came, I was very upset and didn’t know what I would do for them. Because for well-known reasons, China’s “food culture” is not well-known abroad. Many foreigners have asked me “have you ever eaten dog meat?”. All I cooked that time was vegetarian Chinese food, and the landlord was relieved. In fact, the landlord’s family, young people can eat meat, only the older ones do not.
Host a vegetarian Chinese meal cooked by the host’s family (photo provided by the respondent)
Eating beef is very common in South India, and there is no big problem. But if there is something in North India, the nature of eating yellow beef is similar to that of cannibalism. It is an extremely taboo thing and cannot even be mentioned. We didn’t know when we first came here in South India. We secretly ate at home and secretly took the bones out and threw them away. Later, I found out that eating beef is not a problem here at all. China’s diverse beef practices often attract Hindu neighbors.Come to my house to beg for meat. So I think I am lucky to live in South India as a Chinese, at least there is very cheap beef to eat.
A group photo of the host’s family (photo provided by the respondent)
Sohu knows the world: As of August 17, the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in India rose to 2,647,664, and the number of confirmed cases in India exceeded 50,000 for 19 consecutive days. The number of cases of new coronary pneumonia in India rose to third in the world, and the outbreak in India has changed from a mild outbreak to an “exponential increase.” Based on your local life experience, what measures has the Indian government taken to prevent and control the spread of the new coronavirus? Do you personally think these measures are effective? Will it affect your life?
Mo Xizhi:In the case of the epidemic, India has sounded the clarion call for victory. According to my personal observations, many confirmed cases in India are serious enough to require hospitalization. Generally speaking, if they are not serious, they will not go to the hospital at all. Unless they are close contacts who are traced, they will not be diagnosed. What should these asymptomatic patients do? They were completely unaware from infection to recovery, and maybe even I had been infected myself, but I didn’t know it. I think the new crown virus is a hidden transmission in India, because India has a young population structure, and secondly the weather is relatively hot. This type of respiratory infectious disease has a relatively low chance of becoming severe.
In July, there was a report on antibody sampling tests conducted on 7,000 Mumbai residents, and it was found that 57% of the residents in the slums carried Covid-19 antibodies. If calculated based on this ratio, the number of infections may be the number of confirmed cases. Hundreds of times, so I personally estimate that the actual number of infected people in India should be one or two hundred million. As a result, the Indian government calculated that the death rate from the epidemic in India was only about 0.05-0.1%. The government was very proud of this achievement and declared victory in the fight against the epidemic.
Of course, there are still some prevention and control measures in India. For example, all stores are closed on Sundays and only open until 7 o’clock on weekdays. Schools continue to be closed….I think the only use of these measures may be to slow down the rate of infection, so that everyone can stay sick as much as possible so as not to run on medical resources. In short, India has now given up prevention and control and has taken the route of herd immunity directly.
The above are purely personal conjectures and do not represent the official opinions of India.
Indian disinfectants spray quicklime (photo provided by interviewee)
On August 16th, the neighbors across the street from my house were diagnosed with the new crown. Because it was Sunday, they took people away. The disinfection work came the next day. The disinfectants themselves did not wear protective clothing, and the method was very simple and rude—sprinkle quicklime around the house, spray some disinfectant water, and then make a fence to prevent people from entering or leaving.
Enclose the fence (photo provided by the interviewee)
India has always been a very Buddhist country. The people make do with their lives, and the government makes do with management. Therefore, even if perfect measures are introduced, these measures are completely impossible to strictly enforce. Take masks as an example. 90% of Indians wear cotton masks that can be washed repeatedly, which must be substandard according to our Chinese standards. Then, some people just wear a mask on their chin to pretend most of the time, and some people just cover their mouths and not their noses, so this is not in vain.
Pictures provided by respondents
Sohu Knows the World: On June 29, the Indian government announced the ban on 59 mobile phone applications from China. TikTok and WeChat are also on the banned list. This will prevent you from using TikTok and Does WeChat have any impact? Can your personal WeChat official account still log in and operate normally?
Mohizhi: South India’s mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and the political atmosphere is not as strong as that of North India. The Tamils are not too subdued by the central government, so after the ban, Delhi is The fastest response was that WeChat was unavailable for a time; while the response in the south was very slow, and my side has always been quite normal. In addition, this ban is for Indian users, so Tencent officially prohibits users registered with Indian mobile phone numbers from logging in in India. WeChat accounts registered with Chinese mobile phone numbers can still be used. In addition, TikTok only disabled the Indian server. The Indian TikTok server is originally separate from the Chinese Douyin server, so the use of the Chinese version of Douyin in India has no effect-my wife is a Douyin user.
The most affected should be Indian users who have business or personal contacts with China. The mainstream chat software in India is WhatsApp. Because this software is not available in China, Indians will use WeChat to contact Chinese people. Now that WeChat is banned in India, these Indians may lose contact with their Chinese suppliers, customers, and friends.
Although we can still use the various functions of WeChat and WeChat official accounts, I can obviously feel that the speed of accessing servers and websites in China during the recent period has been much slower than before. Frequent freezes are unstable. Sometimes there will be cases where you cannot log in, and you have to try several times to succeed. Fortunately, India does not strictly ban Chinese websites, and there is no need to use VPN for the time being.
Sohu knows the world: Based on your local observations, what are the Chinese products that Indians often use? They will be awareIs this a Chinese product?
Mo Xizhi: This question should be changed to what are the products used in India that are not Chinese products.
As far as I observe, most of the light industrial products that need to be assembled in India are from China. Especially if you go to an Indian supermarket, almost all the products with good quality and more exquisite look are from China, and they are made in India. The product will make you feel sour and refreshing. Moreover, many Indian brands and manufacturers will directly place orders with China in large quantities. For example, there are some beautiful cups and saucers. The design is clearly Indian. You will never find such a product in China. You can look at the place of production-Made in China. Or Made in PRC(Made in China).
Chinese products in India: wooden clothespins (photo provided by the respondent)
Indian businessmen are very sophisticated. They know that China hurts the feelings of the Indian people, so they secretly write it as PRC——People’s Republic of China(People’s Republic of China)< /span>, many Indians do not know that this is made in China. Not only the common people don’t know, but they don’t even know the shopping guide for selling goods. I once visited a brand chain electrical appliance store in India. That brand is roughly equivalent to our Suning Gome, which sells Xiaomi phones. I just wanted to see which models Xiaomi sells in India, so I chatted with the shopping guide. In the chat, the shopping guide proudly told me that Xiaomi is their Indian brand.