Crazy Things That Only Exist in China

James Loftus - January 17, 2023

China is famous for many things; they have an incredibly large population, they make food that is both inexpensive and fabulous, and they are fond of poking the bear when it comes to foreign relations. But the land of the dragon is full of quirks that many outside of this massive landmass are unaware of. Keep reading to find out all of the crazy things in China.

Three Happy Wise Men

Some may see this as being a bit over the top, but in reality, it is incredibly creative and brings a colorful facade to what would be considered a generic apartment building. The architecture is such a wonderful tribute to the traditional colors and culture of historic China. The men’s expressions exude a sense of happiness and hope for the future, and their manicured beards are a proud representation of class and uniformity. They also appear as if they are on a pilgrimage to new lands, bringing with them their culture and language to share.

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Not happy with your dog; turn it into a tiger

It’s not unusual for people around the world to own tigers. Everyone from Mike Tyson to the Tiger King have owned them, so why is this any different? But take a closer look at the tiger in this photo. Notice anything? Yep, it’s not a tiger whatsoever; it’s a dog! And you guessed it, the three fuzzy and cuddly panda bears are not exactly panda bears, they too are three canines trimmed and styled to look like pandas. Lucky for these dogs, they do not have the ability to recognize themselves in the mirror.

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If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

At first glance, you’d swear you were looking at a nicely equipped, BMW X5 SUV, but take a closer look at the one on the left, specifically the badge on the back hatch (SCEO). BMW, the company from Munich Germany, famous for making some of the most successful sports cars and SUVs in history, does not make a model named the SCEO, but China does. Other notable copies include the British Range Rover which has been renamed the “Landwin” in China, and the Ora R1, a spitting image of another famous British car, the “Mini Cooper.”

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No, not your typical bank or gas station robber, it’s a grave robber

It’s not uncommon to turn on the 5:00 o’clock news and hear of yet another bank or gas station robbery, but when was the last time you heard of a “grave” robbery? If you’ve lived in China for any period of time, chances are good because of a 3000-year-old tradition known as “ghost marriages.” A ghost marriage involves an unfortunate young man or woman who has passed away prior to tying the knot. The family will then pay grave robbers to steal a corpse from a graveyard, and they will marry the corpse to their deceased son or daughter as a way to honor them.

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The man wanted his own villa so…

So, you’re the head of one of the most powerful medicine businesses in China, and you’re politically connected in the Chinese government, why not flaunt the rules and build and entire villa on top of an apartment building? That’s what this gentleman did and he did so while facing the ire of the community who feared that it could topple the entire building at any moment. It didn’t take long before photos of this monstrosity began to make their way around the media, making it too difficult to ignore, so the government ordered it to be demolished.

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The smog is so bad it can be seen from space

Pre-pandemic, if you live in a major city in the United States with a large Chinese population, you will have seen many of them making their way through the streets wearing hospital masks, much like the ones worn in the beginning of the COVID pandemic. These people are coming from a country that produces smog levels dense enough to be seen from outer space with carbon dioxide emissions that reach almost 11.5 billion, yes billion with a “B”, metric tons. That ranks China as the number one polluter on planet earth, kicking out 30 percent of all global emissions.

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Ghost cities

You would think that a nation the size of China with a population of over one billion people would be all full up, making it difficult to find a vacant home or apartment, but this is China after all so there is not a housing shortage, there is a housing overload. At present there are a staggering 50 million apartments available all because local politicians looking to prove their worth to the nation’s leadership, contracted builders to construct these domiciles without concern as to how they will be filled. Building them is enough to keep them in the good graces with the communist government.

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Air In a Can

The whole thing started out as a way to mock the communist government for letting the air quality deteriorate in recent years, and while this may seem as one of the more far-fetched gimmicks out there, it turns out that the fresh air in a can is not only a real thing, it is in high demand in some Chinese cities. Often called the factory of the world, China has enjoyed prosperous economic growth and with that comes the addition of new factories, and with that comes the addition of new smog. A company named “Vanity Air” took to bottling fresh air from the mountainous regions of Canada, and has been shipping it to China ever since!

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China Has a Bike Problem

No, you are not looking at a colorful piece of artwork from the local gallery; you are looking at bicycles; rows upon rows of bicycles, the result of an aggressive ride-sharing system led by start-up companies that allow you to leave the bike wherever you end your trip. This could be on the sidewalk, in the street, or on someone’s front lawn. There are entire towns covered in discarded bicycles. One company in particular, Mobike, which was founded by the former boss at Uber Shanghai, has a deal to put a staggering 10 million more bikes on the road in the coming year alone!

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Lip Syncing controversy

Back in 2008, China was chosen as the host country for the Olympics. a great honor for this communist nation, and one that they would take very seriously. They had a decision to make when it came to their chosen singer of the Chinese national anthem, a young girl who was as cute as a button, and would represent the country well. Unfortunately, her cuteness did not translate to singing talent and, as far as the government’s hierarchy was concerned, she just wasn’t cutting it, so they found another little girl who did have the singing talent and the attractive girl lip-synced the entire song.

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Don’t worry; it will all work out!

Chinese truck drivers have come up with creative ways to cut costs, and maybe one of the most obvious examples is a practice known as “truck stacking.” This is where the drivers stack up trucks on top of each other for transport. Why pay five different drivers to deliver trucks to their destination when they can employ one? However, while this is an ingenious idea, it’s not the safest and it is frowned upon by the government. In response, these drivers are often pulled off the road and given citations for their efforts.

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Something is a bit off here…

Progress must go on, but not everyone is on board. The city decided that it wanted to build a road through a neighborhood of old houses, but the owner of this particular house had another idea; he wasn’t going to sell and nobody could force him to. This particular city, in all its wisdom had begun construction of the new roads anyway with the thinking that the old guy was going to sell eventually. Turns out they were wrong and, now rather than having a new highway for people to travel on, you have biggest speed bump known to mankind!

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Sometimes you just feel like your life is upside down

There are days when you just feel like your life is a bit upside down, but for the owner of this house, that is every day. Located in Fengjing Ancient Town, this home was built in 2014 as a way to attract tourists to the small province located just south of Shanghai. Interestingly enough, it’s not just the exterior that has been flipped on its head, the interior also features furniture nailed upside down on the ceiling, giving you vertigo for days on end.

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China’s “Red Beach”

At first glance, you may find this image to be a bit deceiving. While this area is named “China’s Red Beach,” it is not covered with red sand. As a matter of fact, there is no sand at all. The red that you see is actually a type of seaweed that transforms to this vibrant red color during certain periods of the year. In addition, this government protected red wonderland is home to a wide variety of birds and other wild life that add to the splendor of the area. It is without a doubt that China’s “Red Beach” may be one of the most unique and interesting spots to visit in all of China.

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Giant thermoses

I’ve seen big, burly construction workers carrying their large thermoses on the work site, but even those are half the size of what these young Chinese women are hauling along. Like everything, there is a backstory. This is not about vanity as much as it is health, and that’s because the Chinese people love to drink warm water as in doing so, they believe they will live a longer, healthier life. And this is not something that happens from time to time, the men and woman of the People’s Republic of China lug these things around every day.

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Getting into character

It’s important to be dedicated to your job and to do what is necessary to get it done right; that is exactly what these panda keepers are about. The world of a baby panda can be a very stressful one, especially if they have been abandoned by their mother. In order not to confuse the little furry creature, these panda keepers wear their own panda costume. Some keepers are so committed that they will spray panda urine on themselves! The most successful panda rearings make it so that, by the time they are released into the wild, an adult panda will have never seen a human face.

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The glass bridge

The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, along with its magnificent waterfalls and dense trees, is a stunning example of the power of mother nature. As a way to bring greater appreciation to the site, the People’s Republic of China commissioned a bridge that spans 1,400 feet across the canyon. But this isn’t just any bridge, this is a glass bridge. Rather than walking on stable concrete and peering over the side of the railings, you are walking on clear glass that provides a terrifying view and the sensation that you could fall the 980 feet to the water below at any moment.

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Some call this the bridge to nowhere

The 8-lane Qingdao Bridge is an astonishing piece of engineering. Spanning 16.6 miles long, it is the longest bridge over water in the world and has earned the nickname, “Bridge to nowhere” as it appears to go on and on without an end in sight. The idea was to connect three different provinces, but as was the same issue with the 50 million empty apartments due to over-building, the bridge is seeing a fraction of the traffic that it was designed to hold. With this said, the Peoples Republic of China still views this as a great success for the nation.

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Talk about getting the job done!

If you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself, no matter what the circumstances. That’s the thought process of this engineering man who found that he could move an entire showroom of chairs on a single cart. While this might seem extreme, it is quite normal in China as the combination of poverty, along with the ever-increasing industrial and economic growth, make it necessary for those without a truck to find a way to do business and earn a living. On any given day, you’ll see furniture and packages stacked on carts and bicycles to heights that are beyond belief.

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Traffic is a mess

And you thought traffic was bad in Los Angeles! There are a variety of reasons for the terrible traffic jams in China. To begin, the country has experienced a massive increase in car ownership in just the last twenty years. For example. in the year 2000, there were roughly 2 million cars on the road, a number that has since ballooned to over 300 million. In addition, the quality of driver training is poor at best. And lastly, these 298 million people are new to the driving game which means that they will not have developed the skill necessary to navigate the roads without issue.

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Now isn’t that special?

The air in China is in such dire straights due to all of the industrial growth that it is almost impossible for the Chinese to leave their homes, and if they do so, they must surely be masked up. They can put on one of those bland and sterile surgical masks, but many have become a bit creative and chosen to mask up in style. And China, being the “factory of the world,” has come up with some pretty creative ways to keep those harmful toxins out and to do so with a bit of swagger. You can find just about any kind of colorful and vibrant mask you like.

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No, not Starbucks, Teabucks…

There is nothing wrong with a little promotion to attract new customers, and one of the best ways to do that is through brand recognition. However, if your particular brand is unrecognizable, find a way to make it recognizable which is exactly what these enterprising tea makers have done by coopting the biggest name in the world of hot drinks, Starbucks. Of course, seeing as how tea is the most important hot drink in China, and if people are not familiar with your brand of tea, the name “Teabucks” in the green font should be enough to get you noticed.

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No, it’s not Halloween

Nothing says a day at the beach more than sun, sand, and ski masks. Unlike many Western cultures where an olive skin tone is considered to be the most attractive, Chinese culture stresses that the lighter, the better. As far as the Chinese are concerned, keeping the skin away from the sun so that it may remain as light as possible is most desired. And the Chinese take this so seriously that they do not dare risk a trip to the beach without donning a full-coverage mask to ensure that their skin will be immune from any possibility of an olive glow.

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Ping Pong anyone?

It is no secret that the Chinese people have a special connection with the sport of ping pong. This goes back to the mid 1950’s when the big man in charge, Mao Zedong, anointed ping pong, or table tennis if you like, as the national sport. This was done in part to change the perception of the nation as one of weak and feeble men with no athletic prowess. And the cost to participate was very inexpensive. Even though sports like martial arts have taken prominence, ping pong is still an important part of Chinese history, hence the ping pong hotel.

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Everybody into the pool!

In 2022, China experienced a monumental heat wave that swept across a whopping 84 different cities in the nation. Things got so bad that the government was forced to order a “red alert,” which means that temperatures in the area were expected to climb well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit within the next days’ time. With large chunks of the country living without the comforts of quality air conditioning, many were forced to take cover in public fountains with some even cooling of in air shelters. Those that were lucky enough, flocked to their local pools, leading to incredible photos like this.

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This is taking the concept of customer service to a whole new level

If you need a loan for your new construction project and are just tired of human interaction, head on over to the China Construction Bank in Shanghai for all your banking needs. Once there, you will be met by a lovely AI robot who has the ability to handle 90 percent of your customer service needs. However, if you find that you are longing for that human touch after all, you can slip into one of the provided private rooms where you will be able to use a video link to speak with a real life, customer service representative.

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No fireworks please!

Up until the last twenty years, smoking was a prevalent activity in the West; people smoked in bars, they smoked in restaurants, and they smoked in cars, so it wasn’t uncommon that if you lived in a Western country like the United States, you would often see signs at the gas pump that warned against smoking of any kind. However, things are a bit different with the Chinese. There love of all things fireworks is common knowledge around the world, and they never miss an opportunity to light off a few firecrackers here and there, which is probably why they have signs at the gas pump warning against doing so.

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Can you say, quirky art?

China’s Quirky Art
There is the age-old argument about what constitutes art. Some may like the great sculptures of ancient Rome, while others prefer paintings by Van Gogh and Salvador Dali. But the Chinese like what they like, and in this case, they like the art installation of a giant rubber ducky. The ducky stood a whopping 59 feet tall and is the work of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending as the giant rubber ducky was swept away by flooding a month after it first appeared on the Nanming River in China’s south-west Guizhou Province.

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Drink anyone?

The Chinese love their customs, their food, and their drink which brings us to the nation’s favorite and most popular spirit, Baijiu. This drink is enjoyed by 300 million people annually and makes up as much as 30 percent of all alcohol sales, not only in China, but worldwide. This spirit is so loved that, when it came time to build a new building in the Sichuan province, they constructed it to resemble a bottle of Baijiu.

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Parking for the ladies!

Women-Only Parking
Now at first glance, you might be thinking that China is making progress when it comes to equality for woman, something that the country’s leadership has been criticized for for many years. This is a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because these spaces are being placed close to the front doors of shopping centers, which is great for both young mothers who are getting their new babies out of the car, and for being safer at night. And no because they are almost twice as big as standard parking spots leading many to go after the government as being sexist by insinuating that women cannot drive.

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Have a lot of money and don’t feel like going to your trial in person? Hire a body double!

In China, if you are wealthy and have committed a crime, no need to fear, you can get a body double to stand trial or even do your prison time for you, a practice known as Ding zui. In recent years, there have been a few notable trials where things seemed just a bit off. The person who was to be standing trial seemed to have changed her appearance. Was it a wig or plastic surgery? No, it was a different person all together who was being paid to sit in the trial as the accused. In one extreme example, a wealthy person was convicted and sent to prison, but in reality, the person sitting in the jail cell was someone completely different, and the Chinese authorities were none the wiser.

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On the hunt for love…

China has a problem. Due to its one child policy, there is a shortage of marriage age women in the country which has led to a new industry, “love hunters.” A love hunter is a young man who wealthy people will use to search malls for potential women to marry. This “love hunter” will hang around, spying a particular type of woman that his wealthy boss will find suitable for marriage. This woman must not be too thin or overweight. She must possess very white and smooth skin and have what is considered a “normal walk.” The average love hunter might spend all day approaching women with the sales pitch, “are you looking for love”? But he only needs three and he has met his quota.

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Yes, cricket fighting is a thing

Why would anyone waste their time on sports like boxing or MMA when they could make their way to any of the many smoky backrooms in China to watch the millennium old sport of cricket fighting? Before you mock, know that this sport is incredibly popular and works as a way for Chinese men to gather together and enjoy a sense of kinship. Also know that, while this may seem a bit barbaric, the crickets are not allowed to fight to the death and that it is a rare occurrence when one even incurs an injury.

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Dentistry on the sidewalk

The Chinese market is full of wonderful and interesting things. You can get fresh vegetables and breads, or if you’re looking for clothes, you can get a cool hat and scarf. But little did you know that you can visit a dentist? This is not a new practice actually. “Sidewalk dentists” have been around for decades and they do very good business because their overhead is so low. And the patient saves as well. All for a few dollars and a few minutes of your time, you can get a tooth pulled or even a nice cleaning.

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Buildings that fall over

On June 7th, 2009, a new, high-rise building under construction in the Shanghai province suddenly fell over on its side, resulting in the death of a construction worker. The building, 13 floors in height and near completion, did not collapse into a million pieces the way that you might expect; rather, it simply fell over and remained in-tact. There was a report that an “anti-flood” bank close to the building had begun to develop cracks which may have been an indication as to what was to come. The government ceased all further construction until a reason for the collapse could be determined.

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Taxis

Today’s China is a hustling, bustling metropolis packed with millions of new cars and trucks, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the land known as the People’s Republic of China was dominated by these small, frail looking, three-wheel motorcycles. While they might not look like much, don’t be fooled. Powered by a powerful cylinder engine, these “trikes” have been the backbone of Chinese transportation for millions of Chinese around the many towns and provinces that cover the country. Even in the face of resounding industrial and economic growth and the influx of modern autos, these motorcycles remain relevant.

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