A Fat Girl's Guide to Surviving China

I've been living and working in China for the past five and a half years. Whenever I get the chance, I travel. When I'm not traveling or working, I'll go on different facebook groups geared towards fat women and travel. I've talked to a lot of women that want to go to China, but they're afraid China isn't fat-friendly. That the people will make fun of them. They won't find the clothes they like, and they won't like the food.

Being a fat girl myself, I can say with confidence that China's a more fat-friendly place than people give it credit for. Anyone can live comfortably in China, regardless of their size. These are some skills I've learned to survive China.

It's getting easier to navigate the country without knowing the language

I came to China already knowing a good chunk of the language, but a majority of people that come don't know Chinese at all. Major cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, make it pretty easy to navigate by having bilingual signs everywhere. In Shanghai, most people will see a foreign face and automatically speak English. In smaller cities, like Chengdu, Nanjing, or Tianjin, you have to work a little harder to live if you can't hire a Chinese teacher right away.

Many apps used in China have both a Chinese and English version. If you have a good translator app on your phone, you can easily find your way around the cities. If you can't take Chinese classes right away, apps like DuoLingo are a good place to start.

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn the language. You definitely should. It's common courtesy as a guest in another country. But if you can't get in a classroom right away, you won't be struggling to survive.

Buy a Smart Phone before you come to China

This is especially true if you're a die-hard Apple fan. China really likes their iPhones, but they're more expensive in China than in other countries. When you buy the phone, ask to get it unlocked so that you can use it in China.

Because of heavy censorship in this country, Facebook, Twitter, Google, sometimes Whatsapp, and YouTube are some of the things blocked on Chinese internet. Before you come to China, get yourself a good VPN, virtual private network. In 2018, the government banned all VPNs from being downloaded in China. Apple was forced to take all VPN services off their App store if they were going to stay in business in China.

Life in China means being constantly glued to your phone. Whether you need to buy plane tickets, buy food, or go shopping in the mall, people will whip out their phones to pay through different apps. You can put your subway card on Apple Wallet now!

While it's super convenient to have all of these things on your phone, make sure you have some cash on you in case your phone dies.

WeChat and Alipay are your friends

If there are two apps that you absolutely can't survive without, it's WeChat and Alipay. Everyone in China has either one or both of these apps. What's the difference between the two?

WeChat is one of the most important apps to have. All your friends have it. All your coworkers have it, even your boss. Even the homeless people on the streets have WeChat. Everybody has it.

But why? Is it just for sending messages to your friends and telling your boss you might be late? No. You can join different WeChat groups to help you navigate life. For example, if you're vegan, there's a WeChat group for vegans in every city. You can create a group for your family, too, so they can keep in touch with you on days your VPN doesn't work.

WeChat and Alipay are both fantastic for shopping as well. There's a supermarket in China called HeMa, that you cannot buy anything unless you have Alipay. Any apps where you're buy food, clothes, or any services, are automatically linked to WeChat or Alipay so that when you go to buy things from them, you pay through these two apps.

Some cities do prefer one over the other. I've noticed in the smaller cities, the people tend to prefer Alipay over WeChat for shopping. Even cab drivers will have a bar code for Alipay for you to scan. If you don't have Alipay on your phone, remember to bring cash with you when you go to a smaller city.

It's easier to shop for clothes than you think

It doesn't matter what country you come from. Shopping for clothes sucks. It sucks walking into a store and shuffling through their stock to find something that looks your size. Then you have to go try it on to make sure it actually fits. More times than not, the clothes that fit aren't your style.

In the plus-size spectrum, I'm on the smaller end. I range anywhere from a 14–22 depending on the brand making the clothes. (And that's how readers realize how bullshit sizing really is.) It's rare, but sometimes I can go into a Chinese clothing store and find a shirt or a dress that looks nice. I've never gotten that lucky with pants.

So if it's super rare to find clothes in a store, how do people do it? How are people able to dress themselves in a skinny country?

I found a WeChat group dedicated to finding plus-sized clothes for women. They post pictures of their stock all the time. When I see something I like, I message one of the women that runs the group and send her my measurements. Once I've paid them, I send them my address. A few days later I've got a nice new outfit.

Other people will use a website called Taobao. You search for the piece of clothing you need, and you look at different pictures to decide what you want. Once you've picked what you want, you find your size, pay, and in a few days, they'll send out your clothes. Taobao isn't just for clothes. You can find anything, even air purifiers.

Get a good pair of walking shoes. You'll be doing that a lot

One of the things I wished I did before I came to China was buy a good pair of walking shoes. I showed up in a pair of boots that had terrible support. One day, my friends and I decided to walk around the Forbidden City. My feet have never hurt so bad in my life. From that point on, I stopped wearing shoes for fashion and made sure my shoes were comfortable and good for walking.

Now there are occasions I'm required to wear heels to wherever I need to go. I just stuff those in my bag until I get to where I need to be then change my shoes. As far as I know, my boss still doesn't know I do that.

The air's steadily improving

When I came to Beijing in 2013, the air was complete crap. The winters were the worst because of public heating. They used coal to heat up the buildings. Some of the days were bad enough that you could go outside and smell the coal in the air.

Fast forward to winter of 2017, and the air wasn't so bad anymore. At that time, China started to make a push to get away from coal and start heating places with natural gas. With every year since, more and more blue skies show up every day.

Does this mean the pollution is gone forever? Not at all. This doesn't mean you don't have to buy an air filter or masks anymore. You still should. Some days just aren't so great. But it is way better than it was five and a half years ago.

Understanding the culture helps

Despite spending years here, I still get the occasional stares. I still get people running to me to sell me their beauty products or a gym membership. I'll still get that little old lady that tells me a bag of chips is bad for me. As much as I want to say, "Just ignore it," that's terrible advice. How you react to that is up to you.

When people stare at you, it's not always because of your size. A lot of people living in bigger cities come from rural areas where they don't have access to things we take for granted. When they stare, you're probably the first foreigner they've ever seen. They may want a picture with you but are too shy to ask.

People have the bluntness of a kid here. If you're not used to that, it will stress you out. They don't mean what they say to be mean. They're just stating things as a fact.

When you talk to them about it, do it in private. China is all about saving face, so if you lecture them in public, they will lose face and be embarrassed. They might end up more mad at you than anything else.

For me, China was a life-changing experience. It gave me the confidence to go after things I really want and show me that I really can do anything. Don't let something like the size of your jeans determine whether or not China is right for you. If you want to go, go. The only person stopping you is you.