Not a book but laowhy86/serpentza/advchina have some interesting perspectives about these topics.

no but i’ve been to china many times, i can answer questions

in general i would recommend lonely planet travel books

Dysfunctionality omgwtfbarb Thanks for the recommendations! I’m just curious to learn more about every day stuff, like tech, dating culture, school, etc. Really broad topics that I just don’t even know all the questions too lol.

I’m also watching a lot of Chinese shows and movies lately, and sometimes I feel like there are jokes or other things that go way over my head.

Consider any electronics that you take with you to be disposable and toss then upon return.

(If they're ever taken out of your sight or anyone ever plugs anything into them)

dkronfeld: ...what? why?

RealThyme: are you going to China?

omgwtfbarb: Authoritarian/totalitarian regime with one of the world's best offensive cyber-espionage capabilities and a track record of using it against western interests and leveriging it against its own people is why. Cybersecurity is what I do for a living and not a single person in the field that I know would trust a device that's been in the hands...

... of an agent of the Chinese government.

i mean sure, but that’s not what you said initially

i’ve been to China many times and no government person has ever even touched a tech device of mine

i don’t even know when or how that would occur, unless you work for the government? definitely don’t need to throw away any tech you bring with you.

unless you plan on going on Weibo or WeChat and talking shit about the government, then driving yourself to a police station. maybe then.

We've had incidents of devices being "inspected" at airports. I'm not accountable for your security though; it's your call as to how careful you want to be. This is free, more or less unsolicited advice from some random guy on the Internet, so take it for what it's worth

Perhaps reading contemporary Chinese fiction in translation will give you a feel for the society, if that's what you're looking for
12 Incredible Chinese Novels in Translation

omgwtfbarb Probably not any time soon, but I would love to one day. More just a general curiosity about another Asian country I haven't had the chance to go to yet.

dkronfeld I've seen that you're pretty much in the system as soon as you enter the country though, since that's when they take your picture.

CajsaLilliehook I'll take a look, thanks!

RealThyme: I more or less assume that too, but then my car’s picture (and mine) are taken every time I drive across the border into your country too

when entering China from Hong Kong, my photo was taken and i was also fingerprinted (which i really didn’t want to be, but essentially had no choice as we didn’t have a translator).

that’s only ever happened that one time tho. entering from the US, and from Taiwan have not been photographed (in any obvious way) or fingerprinted.

leave or enter any country, your passport is scanned and there are cameras in every airport everywhere. there are cameras on the streets in most countries as well- you're "in the system" unless you choose to live off the grid, and that's not easy. but that's very different from your devices EVER being out of your hands in a country that has a rep for

surveillance software.

right, i just meant i wasn’t like separately/purposefully photographed the same way i was when i entered via HK.