"Living In The Future": Indian Woman After Visiting China's Lesser-Known City Of Shantou

An Indian woman recently took to social media to share her surprising experience of visiting a small town in China that completely changed her perception about urban development. In a LinkedIn Post, Dania Faruqui, an IIM graduate who is based in Bengaluru, shared that she had been researching innovations in wearable electric technology when she discovered that China was leading the way in the field. What began as simple research quickly turned into an international trip to a small town in China, which completely blew her mind away. "My mind got totally blown away in China!" she captioned the post. 

Ms Faruqui revealed she visited a small town in China called Shantou. "My expectation was that it would be like a small town in India - maybe less roads, dependence on personal vehicles, less places for entertainment - basically, low-key. But quite honestly, this town was by no standards similar to a small town (but the local Chinese people kept calling it that)," she wrote. 

The IIM graduate went on to list the facilities available in the so-called "small town". She shared that in Shantou, she noticed that it had wide, clean roads with separate lanes for pedestrians, electric two-wheelers and cars. 

Ms Faruqui was also surprised to find that luxury hotels like Sheraton were very affordable, around Rs 5,000 per night. "High-risers wherever I looked, Flyovers, Clean environment - no loose scraps in sight, let alone garbage, Super-fancy cars as cabs - mostly EV, all made in China, some Chinese automotives which we don't see in India," she wrote. 

Apart from all this, Ms Faruqui was also blown away by the city's "urban planning". "There are heaps of trees wherever you looked; Despite being an industrial town, the AQI was 5," she said. 

"The flights within China are super-cheap. How do you get a flight within 2 popular cities for INR 5K by booking 2 days prior? How is air-travel so affordable?" she continued. 

Lastly, Ms Faruqui said that she was surprised to see the "mindful inclusion of children's engagement activities everywhere". "Almost every shop in malls had an activity table for kids to build Legos, play with dough, catch real fish and put them back in water etc. I noticed most kids were not glued to any kind of screens when out in public! Such a thing is only possible when it is either a mandate from government/strict policy for children's engagement while making commercial building," she said. 

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"In the cities I went to, I felt safe everywhere. I didn't feel like I was at a threat anywhere - A woman, who didn't speak Mandarin and who looked easily different from the locals - I didn't feel like someone tried to fleece me or put me at risk. People were welcoming and helpful. I went to China with the impression that it would have infra similar to India - but I got to say this, China is living in the future. We just don't know it yet," she concluded. 

The post quickly caught the attention of social media users. "Eye opening post! Enjoyed reading it! For sure we are not living in the future in Bangalore, we are way behind it," one user wrote. 

"Absolutely eye opening post! No doubt China's internal development is way ahead in many areas, especially in infrastructure, tech, and urban planning," commented another.