Many years ago, I was working in outback back Queensland in a very small rural community called Croydon. To get there you will need to go to Cairns then turn right and continue driving for the next 700km. I guess you could say it was ”past the black stump and beyond whoop whoop.” The population of this town is roughly 100 people.
When thinking about moving there I didn’t really know what to expect and absolutely no thought about the culture shock I was about to have.
Once there, the overwhelming feeling of culture shock from moving from a population of approximately 2 million people in Brisbane to a population of 100 people in Croydon suddenly hit me.
It was a difficult concept for my brain to completely grasp and adjust to the difference of population and culture shock.
Later that year, I moved to another Queensland rural town with a population of approximately 2,500 people. I remember stepping off the bus and all of a sudden I was surrounded by what felt like a mass of people in a street parade. It was the first time in six months that I had been surrounded by more than 20 people. My brain was in sensory overload. The feeling was very overwhelming.
I was trying to look at everything, taking it all in, but not really know where to look or watching where I was going that I almost got knocked over by a car. It took a little while to adjust to both places.
However, after going through all that, I am wondering just how much of a culture shock and sensory overload I will have in China. Going from a city with a population of about two million to a city with a population of just over twenty-six million, I suspect that it just might be a massive sensory overload to my system.
The Man In The Pink Hat 