Recent chatter on the sinoblogosphere has brought to my attention a rivalry of which I’d previously been unaware. Now living in Shanghai, I am all to familiar with the idea that there are two parts of China, namely Shanghai and then the countryside.
And I also know there’s much talk about whether Beijing or Shanghai is the better city, at least among expats in Shanghai. But what I hadn’t previously had was a sense that there was a rivalry between the waiguoren in the interior and those in the cushy costal towns. Little did I know that the Chengdu/Kunming crowd saw this division.
I’d like to break things down further and introduce a new category of regional laowai. I call them the delta rats, and I proudly consider myself among their ranks. We’re the forgotten few in the lower reaches of the Changjiang. We’re the Zhou-dwellers.
