15 Bizarre Things That You'll Only See In China

Mark Twain said: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." One of the best things you can do for yourself is travel and get exposed to other people's way of life. It broadens our thinking and allows us to see how certain behaviors that may be unfavorable by our own standards may actually have a positive function in another cultural and environmental context. Of course, as open minded as you set off to be, culture shock is still a very real thing. It is one thing to read about something and watch it on TV and another to actually experience it. And, the version of a country you get from a guidebook can be totally different from the reality. We created this list to inform people about some lesser known practices and laws in China.

China has an ancient and fascinating history that has served to create the country it is today-one of the most interesting in the world especially for Westerners. This is not the China you think you know from the news on TV. One key rule is to never judge another culture by your own cultural standards, just take in the new experience. Here are 15 things that would shock you when travelling to China, which you absolutely should do!

15 People Live In Caves

China is a huge country and the environment and landscape changes as you travel across it. It has jungles and deserts! People living in different regions have adapted in different ways. In Shaanxi province, there are a lot of caves and millions of people living in them! These are not stone age dwellings though, while some of them do not have electricity and running water, a lot of them are outfitted like any other home would be. Chinese people have been living in caves for centuries, and it seems like a practical solution to house people. While younger generations are starting to move out in favor of city life, a lot of them claim they would like to retire in cave.

When looking from a distance, the caves seem almost unreal. They seem uninhabited, as they are tucked into the mountain sides. It makes you think about all of your belongings-maybe we all need to adopt the motto, less is more.

14 No Facebook Or Snapchat In China

In this day and age, most of us live and breath social media. It is how we express ourselves and share our lives with people. Travelling and social media is a match made in heaven because people really want everyone to see all the cool things they are doing-and why shouldn't they? So one of the biggest culture shocks for people travelling to China can be the fact that a lot of popular Western social media platforms are banned. Don't think about accessing your social media account while you are in China. All the pictures and selfies from your travels will have to wait until you get home. The Chinese government keeps a tight hold on communication avenues in the country. The sites banned include Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. We can't help but wonder: Are people more productive without access to those?

13  Rent A Boyfriend

Dating is hard, and navigating through the dating pool and finding the right person even just for a fun date and nothing more can be exhausting and disappointing. Well, China found a quick solution to those willing to pay for it. You can just rent a boyfriend and save yourself loads of grief! Renting girlfriends has been around for ages, but now women are getting in on it too. The reason for this can be multi-factorial-perhaps mainly due to China's growing economy and increasing workday. This is especially done in the spring season leading up to Chinese New Year, usually to satisfy parents. Men advertise on China's social media site Weibo. During the on season the cost is around 145 USD per day and in the off-season around 87 USD.

12 Eating Etiquette

Chinese food in the West and Chinese food in China are very different. It is still delicious, just different. You will still be eating a lot of rice though, as that is a staple in the West and east in Chinese cuisine, but there are rules and etiquette when it comes to eating that may surprise you. In the West, we are told not to chew with our mouths open and not to put our elbows on the table because it's rude. But if you make this faux pas in China, you are basically disrespecting the dead. When eating rice with chopsticks, you are never to stick them upright into the rice. This is something that is done at funerals as a ritual surrounding honoring the dead. Best to always lay them next to your bowl when not in use.

11 No Need For Police Dogs When You Have Police Geese!

Around the world, we associate dogs as the go-to animal for law enforcement. You may picture a stoic German Sheppard in a vest standing next to his handler. Now, picture a goose in that position! In China, they have police dogs too, but they also have police geese! In the Xinjiang province, this is a very common practice done by law enforcement. They say that geese are very loud, have great eyesight, and can be very aggressive and territorial. They are also very protective and loyal to the person they are bonded too. For anyone who has ever had to encounter an angry goose, this will come as no surprise, especially those of us who live in areas that Canadian Geese hang out in. Who hasn't crossed the street so they don't have to walk by those bullies?

10 Elderly Law Is Very Serious

Chinese culture is heavily rooted in Confucianism. A massive tenet of Confucianism is respect for your elders and continuing to take care of them in their old age. This is clearly evident in Chinese culture even today, but has started to decrease enough that the government has chosen to take legal action. It is illegal for anyone with parents who are over 60 years of age to not visit them. It stipulates the importance of taking care of your parents 'spiritual needs' and visiting them often, even if you live far away. Of course, this is a difficult law to enforce, but it allows parents to sue their kids for not visiting them! Yikes. We bet that gets the kids home on the weekends! Can you imagine being required by law to visit your parents?

9 Urine Eggs

Travelling to new countries will always expose you to new and exotic foods, and China is full of them. Probably one of the more unusual foods you can get there (by Western standards) are urine eggs. This is the national dish of Dongyang, Zhejiang and has been around for centuries. Urine is collected from prepubescent boys and the eggs are boiled in it. It is said to have a lot of healing properties including preventing heat stroke and even cure chronic asthma. Urine is collected from local primary schools, and in the spring there are a lot of street vendors out hocking these urine eggs. Sometimes, they leave out the egg and just use the urine from a prepubescent boy with some herbs to make a healing tonic! Is anyone curious enough to taste?

8 One Time Zone

China is about the same size as the continental United States of America, but one big difference among many is that as big as China is, it's under one time zone-Beijing Standard Time. For comparison, the U.S. has 6 time zones. Crazy, I know. This was done while Chairman Mao was in power with the intent to bring a sense of unity to the country. He wanted one Chinese culture, and apparently making everyone live under one time zone, however impractical, helped with that. If you are travelling in the West of China, for example Kashgar, this means that the sun won't rise until 10 am in the winter. While locals have adjusted, for people travelling across China, this can be difficult to mitigate and get used to.

7 Saluting Cars Law

If you travel to the Chinese province of Guizhou, you will see that all the local children stand and salute any incoming car that drives past them. Before you go assuming this is some weird Communist practice, let us explain how practical and ingenious this idea is. This is a law, and it was made by the local government to reduce traffic accidents involving children. It may seem strange, but it works, as the province has practically reduced traffic accidents involving kids to zero. Also, we imagine it's fun for the kids and it forces them to be aware of their surroundings. Not every parent has the luxury of walking their kid to and from school, so this must bring peace of mind. All in all, this is a great law. So, maybe it's something the rest of the world can pick up?

6 Robot Servers At Restaurants

For lovers of technology and innovation, and anyone else that is into super cool things, China has something you would love to experience. There are restaurants you can go to where all the servers are robots! And they don't only act as the servers bringing you your food and drinks-these guys are multi-purpose. They also cook the food, seat guests, and are the entertainment. You can find one in a restaurant in Harbin City, and when you walk in, a robot greets you right away saying, "Earth person hello, welcome to Robot Restaurant." They stand around 5 ft. tall and have about 10 different facial expressions. They work 5 hour shifts and have to charge for around 2 hours before they are ready to serve the needs of us earth people.

5 Dealing With Traffic… The Most Insane Traffic

China is one of the most populated and congested countries in the world. Horrible traffic is just a reality in the big cities there. A couple of years ago, on the Beijing-Tibet expressway, the world's longest traffic jam took place. It was 12 days long, and a column of cars that was longer than 62 miles. While this is not a common occurrence, it does give you an idea of the reality of traffic in China. But like with most things in life, if you have money, you can find a way out. If you find yourself sitting in traffic, you can actually order a motorcycle taxi to come get you and whisk you away! Granted this means you leave your driver behind, but who cares, you have money! We have all dreamed of being whisked away while stuck in horrible traffic.

4 Cheating Can Lead To Jail Time

We are taught from a very young age in school that cheating is absolutely not tolerated in any form. As we get older, the consequences become more severe. In post grad studies, there is zero tolerance towards plagiarism. If you get caught doing that, you are going to be kicked out of school, which is a very heavy price to pay. In China, the consequences for cheating in university are even more severe and life altering. Specifically, on the entrance exams, every student has to take an exam that dictates their major and where they will go to study. This obviously has a huge impact on the rest of their life and the pressure is on. If you are caught cheating, you can be sentenced to 7 years in jail!

3 Horrible Pollution

The idea of having to wear a face-mask can seem almost dystopian to the Western world, but in China, it is a reality due to the poor quality of their air. Their fast and intense development over the last two decades came with a heavy price for China's major cities. In Beijing you will see many locals wearing face-masks. This is because on really bad smog days, breathing the air in Beijing is the same as smoking cigarettes everyday. The pollution in China is so bad that when it blows over the Pacific and reaches California, it actually accounts for one-third of San Francisco's pollution. It's not all bad though. China is the largest current investor in green energy, and it is putting the wheels in motion to reduce their impact on the environment.

2 Puns Are… Illegal

There are no puns or wordplay in Chinese marketing or Chinese TV, which may come as surprise, as that is a huge cornerstone of marketing around the world. It is also a huge cornerstone of actual Chinese culture, but that seems to not have bothered the government. Just like the government controls social media and has a tight grip on communication channels, it also has a tight grip on how things are communicated to the general public. The government recently outlawed puns and wordplay because they wanted believe puns and word play to be nothing short of 'cultural and linguistic chaos.' They also feel that it threatens the integrity of the Chinese language. Additionally, the government claims that the law was brought about because of  advertising complaints from consumers, but most experts don't believe that to be case. Let the people have their wordplay!

1 Flipper Bridge… Or Flippin' Scary Bridge

If you are travelling from mainland China to Macau by car, you will experience something unusual. Macau used to be colonized by the British, and they have retained the British practice of driving on the right side of the street, in contrast to mainland China where they drive on the left. While you are crossing the bridge that connects the mainland to Macau, you will actually switch the side of the road that you drive on, and vice versa when entering the mainland from Macau. It's called the Flipper Bridge because it flips the side you are driving on and it was designed by Dutch architects. Traffic is already a trip in China, so we can just imagine what crossing this bridge is like. Sounds like a dizzying and slightly terrifying experience!