Information Overload and Modern Nature

    First impressions are often given the majority of credit for someone’s assessment of a person, a region, or a people. However, it is with prolonged exposure that one may gain a broader assessment of such a thing. I have been in Xi’an for nearly a week now, and I feel that I have a better understanding of the society than my first impressions endowed me. Specifically, there are a few little observations that I find intriguingly different from the US. To begin, there is a stark visual contrast in Xi’an compared to much of the US. In Xi’an, the first thing to notice is that signage is much more prevalent. From street signs to hundreds of shop signs, there is never a lack of visual information. The most interesting thing I noticed about the signs is that they are most often in at least two languages. These languages are primarily Chinese and English, however many signs also contain a Japanese, Korean, or French translation as well. And although most places have signs in both Chinese and English, I am often hard-pressed to find a shopkeeper who speaks both languages. Most shops in the city are incredibly small, allowing for many more than I’ve ever seen in the US packed onto one street. Due to their size, they are all fighting over signage real estate, so day or night every street is garishly lit up. Parallel to the streets, the wide sidewalks are usually made thin by street vendors and haphazardly parked cars, the vendors who, of course, must also find space for their own signs.

    The second little observation offering a stark contrast from Xi’an to the US is the amount of vegetation. By this I do not so much mean natural vegetation, but instead the pervasive amount of potted and household plants. That is not to say that there is not very much vegetation in Xi’an, conversely, the humidity and climate allow for ubiquitous greenery throughout the city. Every shop, every house, even the interior of restaurants and bars have various potted plants clustered on shelves and on the porch. I believe this has a deep rooted connection to Daoism in Chinese society, especially the Daoist ideal of naturalism, blending the natural environment with the modern environment. I also enjoy the amount of beauty that all the plants bring to the region, contrasting gray and brown of modern architecture. These are a couple small observations that I have noticed differ quite a bit from the US, and in a small way, create a unique society in Xi’an.