China - Common Things

Clap-on lights

These seem to primarily be in residential buildings, such as apartments in their hallways and stairwells. I guess they don’t want to leave the lights on at all time. So, the solution is to have these noise detectors that only go off to certain frequencies. It seems the higher the frequency the better, like a shallow, quick clap, or banging your keys off of something metal. In the hallway outside of my apartment, a young, overweight boy was forced to skip rope. My roommate discovered him because he kept making a high-pitched “Bop!” noise whenever the light went off. The lights are on what feels like a 30s timer, usually. I have yet to find the actual sensors, though.

All-purpose bathrooms

The one-room-serves-all bathrooms are common. They’re a space saver, I guess. So in one room there’ll be a toilet, a shower head on a long hose attached to a holster, the sink, possibly shower curtains to protect the stuff around the shower, and a washing machine. The name of the game is conservation of space, not so much comfort. I have yet to see a bathtub, though I know that shower cells exist in some apartments. Read more HERE.

Heater Lights

I’m not sure if there are always 4, but we have 4 large bulbs in box formation above our shower region of the bathroom. There is also a single small bulb in the center of the grouping for lighting purposes. The large bulbs also light up, and brighter than the small one, but with that comes a lot of heat. There’s a reason they only have one bulb of the four working. In the winter I may request it to be bumped up to 2, maybe 3, but 1 is plenty hot.

Plastic curtains


Think of a meat locker. If you can’t think of that, try to remember the meat department in your local grocery store. See those wide strips of 1/4” thick plastic spread across the door? Those are on most doors that are left ajar throughout the day. My best guess is that their purpose serves a similar one to those on your meat locker: to stop the movement of air. For the meat, they want to keep the cold air in. For Beijingers, they want to keep the smoggy air out.

Boxes and drawers of money

If you’re at a really small shop, they often won’t have cash registers. Instead, they’ll just have a drawer or box full of paper money that they’ll sift through to find your change. Seriously, there’s no ordering system, it’s not bundled with elastic bands or anything like that, just like.. a sweaty handful of money just shoved into a dark drawer of box.

Shops

Concession stands

These shops are small, about 8-10ft x 6-8ft. They are a tad bit more organized than the random street (food) vendors, meaning that they’ll actually have a cash register. Between you and the vendors will typically be a big wall of glass, with a small window through which they will pass you change or items you requested. 

They are like fold out shops that carry all sorts of magazines, drinks, newspapers, and random assortments of food. Like, big flats of bread. Imagine like, 8x6 loaves (8”x6”, themselves) stuck together in a big, clear plastic bag, all of which is sitting on whatever random stacking of things can keep it about waist-height. This is somewhat normal to find.

Other common things they have will be an assortment of ~8-12 different bottled drinks, ranging from soft drinks to coffee and tea.

I often wonder who owns the property that these shops are sitting on, because they seem to be in the middle of parking lots, on sidewalks, and other random places with lots of foot traffic. Imagine a real-life version of the item shops you’d find in video games. There everywhere and have some nice pick-me-ups.

Concession stands

These shops are small, about 8-10ft x 6-8ft. They are a tad bit more organized than the random street (food) vendors, meaning that they’ll actually have a cash register. Between you and the vendors will typically be a big wall of glass, with a small window through which they will pass you change or items you requested. 

They are like fold out shops that carry all sorts of magazines, drinks, newspapers, and random assortments of food. Like, big flats of bread. Imagine like, 8x6 loaves (8”x6”, themselves) stuck together in a big, clear plastic bag, all of which is sitting on whatever random stacking of things can keep it about waist-height. This is somewhat normal to find.

Other common things they have will be an assortment of ~8-12 different bottled drinks, ranging from soft drinks to coffee and tea.


I often wonder who owns the property that these shops are sitting on, because they seem to be in the middle of parking lots, on sidewalks, and other random places with lots of foot traffic. Imagine a real-life version of the item shops you’d find in video games. There everywhere and have some nice pick-me-ups.

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