China with Children

First, nearly everyone we talked to thought we were nuts for taking our children to China. Even the guidebooks have stern warnings that it just isn't a good idea. After travelling for a few weeks in China with our children, I just can't figure out where they are coming from. We and our children had a great time! Perhaps it is because we have so many children, but we found folks went out of their way to be kind and helpful to us. As Peter told us would happen, the waiters/waitresses in the restaurants gathered around our table and waited on no one else until we left. I'm sure the other diners were not as appreciative as we were. :-)

The Chinese we encountered seem absolutely delighted with our family. Whenever we stopped walking, people of all ages would gather around and ask about the children. They would say, "Are you all one family?" I'd crank out my paltry Mandarin and tell them "Yes, we have six sons and one daughter." (Anticipating the next question...) They would invariably say things like, "Lucky family!" "Happy family!" "Hero mother!" "Fortunate family" and "Hero father!" Then they each wanted an individual picture of us. This got a little old... my brother called my five year old "Hollywood", since everyone wanted a picture of his blue eyes and tow head. Poor Seth would be dozing in the stroller, we'd rouse him and say, "Seth, somebody else wants your picture." He'd sit up, smile sweetly, then go right back to sleep!

In high traffic tourist spots, we had to keep moving, or we were mobbed by the curious, but very sweet and friendly people. One guide said, "Who are you? I didn't know I was guide for movie stars!" It was interesting that when the crowd thinned out, someone would nearly always ask, "Your country lets you have seven children?" and be very thoughtful when we
explained how things are in America.

We discovered a few things about travelling with children in China: Carseats and seat belts are non-existent. High chairs are universal, but they usually look like a small regular chair on tall legs and are often called "baby chairs". If they don't have a high chair, they will go to great lengths to make a child comfortable in a big chair with extra pads and things to sit on. Child discounts go by height and the heights are absurdly short for westerners. My 8 year old was way over the height!