The lights glittered upon arrival into Quzhou’s downtown。It was my first true glimpse of the city I would spend the next five months living and teaching English in。The city square was like many in me-dium sized cities across Zhejiang province。A symbol of China’s race to prosperity；corporate advertising and ostentatious slogans wrap-ping the exterior of tower blocks，neon，department stores luring customers，the odd littering of fast food outlets，shimmering steal struc-tures and so on。。。
This is initially why I chose China as a place to live，and teach in，during my year before university，over other countries。Not because of its new-found commercialism or tacky Western imitations，but because of the dramatic changes that are taking place。China has become a fas-cinating cocktail of Eastern culture，meets the West。Everything from foreign movies，music，festivals，fashion，food，art and sport has been enthusiastically embraced，and has crept into the Chinese way of life。
“Do you think this is a good thing？”I ask my students and fellow English teachers，and my students and fellow teachers ask me。“Yes and NO！”I reply。
On a brief visit to Shanghai，I cringed at the sight of more Mc Donald’s restaurants than I could keep count of，and fully grown adults wearing Mickey Mouse printed t-shirts，and jackets。Shanghai was like one big，false，and overblown“America land”。An orgy of colored lights，and consumerism。A place that’s neither preserving the past，nor contemplating its future。Shanghai，like its many young party-goers，and shop-o-holics，only concern is for the present，the now，the impressive instants of modern life。
At the same time I enjoyed Shanghai for its superficial frills，and theme park-like thrills。But it made me consider that maybe Western influence in China isn’t such a great thing。Like every situation though，there are good points，and bad，and I believe it’s just a part of life，to take the good with the bad；as an integral whole。