Some impressions of China

1. Chinese people are very polite (to foreigners anyway).
2. Chinese food is good.
3. Cities are crammed with people.
4. The fireworks China sends us are really the floor sweepings. Having been there during the end of the 2 week period they celebrate Chinese New Years, I can say they shoot off a lot of fireworks that are more impressive than even the illegal stuff here. And they do this all day long from morning until late at night. Did I say for 2 weeks?
5. Even the newer governmental buildings don't seem to have central heating and cooling. Rather, they seem to have large electric furnaces mounted on a wall. And I think they don't use them unless it becomes very cold. The employees (and visitors) wear coats while they work to keep warm.
6. Labor is cheap, so retail has a lot of counter and floor help.
7. To make a purchase, you have to take the written order to a cash register and pay for it. Then take the receipt back to the location you selected the goods to pick them back up. This was done in both Hong Kong and mainland China.
8. Almost everyone drinks bottle water.
9. Smoking is widespread among males from teenage to adult. No smoking signs are widely ignored.
10. The Chinese people in general seem to be very industrious.
11. There are only about 50 Starbucks in Beijing (not many considering the size of the city).
12. KFC is much larger in China than McDonalds. Local franchises of American fast food had different menu items. Pizza Hut offered a Black Forest cake that was popular.
13. Traffic lights, signs and pavement marks are just suggestions that most drivers ignore. There are two kinds of people, the quick and the dead.
14. Food is generally cheap. Coke Cola was very cheap.
15. Lots of construction in major cities.

UPDATE

Oh, and all buildings seem to use very low wattage fluorescent light bulbs. The hallways are sometimes very dim.