The happiness of small things in China

Maple leaves make the park beautiful. There are several trees and ponds around park, which is basically a center of software companies in Wuxi. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

For me, happiness comes from small things, the small ones which have a big impact in our lives. And I have noticed that Chinese are particular about taking care of small things. Since I landed in this country almost seven months back, I noticed the Chinese love for cleanliness in day to day life.

Even after having such a huge population, one does not find garbage or littering in the open. People like to keep clean areas around themselves, not only most of the parks, areas around offices, houses are clean but roads too. No doubt the government too has contributed a lot and has provided a large number of dustbins at every nook and cranny to help the citizens dispose of their litter.

And even after major development across China, one can still find greenery all around. There are trees, plants and flowers on roadsides,which not only makes every city look beautiful but also helps the environment a lot.

Shahnawaz Akhtar comes from India and comes to China in May 2015. Now he works as an editor in the Wuxi office of China Daily Website.

So the natural beauty of the colorful flowers, the maple leaves, the tall trees make my day.

I come from a country which is next to China in terms of population, but we have yet to catch the habit of keeping our cities and areas around us, clean and green.

Then the second pleasing thing is to watch beautiful ladies of China because they have complete freedom and independence. They are free to wear whatever they want, move anywhere they wish to go at any given time. Their participation in large numbers in the workforce is surely helping China's GDP.

India's society is not so tolerant to give such freedom to its women, and neither has western culture, despite all its freedom, accommodated such a large number of women in their workforce.

Wait, if you think that I have not mentioned much about development then let me tell you that I have traveled on China's high speed train at least thrice and nothing can give you better experience about the development China than the feeling of travelling at a speed of over 300 kilometers per hour.

The airport like stations, plane-like facilities inside high speed trains amazed me when I first traveled on it. My journey from Beijing to Wuxi was completed in 5 hours, while it can take 15 hours in other countries.

I also liked the helpful nature of the locals. At least thrice when I asked the addresses of my destinations, I have been left at my destinations by the strangers, twice by scooters and once by car.

But there are two things, a Chinese should think seriously to improve- about leftover children and wasting of food.

People should try to keep their child as well as parents with them wherever they work. It is more about adjustment than keeping children and parents away citing personal space.

And because several people still do not get a square meal every day, we should not waste our food, which is a common sight in almost every restaurant and hotel in China.

The author is an editor in the Wuxi office of China Daily Website and has come to China in May 2015.

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The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.