I worked in PR China for 6 weeks, a few years ago. Not long enough to get much more then a flavor of the culture, from a traveller's p[oint of view - but I did find it fascinating, and would love to go back.

The music I heard over PA systems in public places intrigued me. It was very common to hear a (presumably) Chinese orchestra playing Lennon and McCartny! American pop and Beatles seemed to be the most common tunes. Karaoke was an absolute rage, it seems to me, as well. And soooo many many American and European pop tunes topped the list of songs chosen by the locals to sing. That may be what you'd expect in the 'world traveller' louges like those in modern hotels or hotel districts - but this was also true in the rural settings I visited and even in the private karaoke systems (we spent a week in a military compound). The locals who particpated in the karaoke, at places I attended, all seemed to do just fine with the English lyrics, though many I met could not speak English.

I was not able to attend Chinese Opera, as I had very much wished. We planned to do that on a subsequent trip, but I never made that subsequent trip. I never saw/heard any signs of Western Folk music music, not even Dylan on the Karaoke - but it may have been there. Other signs of Western culture?

CNN was quite evident everywhere. Pizza Hut and Mc Donalds have booming businesses within walking distance of Tienenman Square (and eleswhere) and I even saw, amid dirt roads and donkey carts near the Great Tombs, Colonel Sanders standing on the roadside by a tiny Kentucky Fired Chicken! Totally incongruous, it seemed to me.

My favorite times there (aside from one or two marevlous banquets) were when we got to walk among the local folks in open air markets, or ride third class in the train from near Central China to Beijing (12 hour plus trip). We travelled to a few places where I saw NO other Anglos for a week. We attracted a lot of attention form locals, and it was common for us to draw a crowd of 20 or 30 people who just followed us to see what we were doing ... what we ate, what we looked at in the open air market, what we bought, and HOW we bought (scratching western number on the ground with a stick to haggle over price).

I got the impression that one could sit on the sidewalk of Cheng Sha (one of the South China cities we visited) and watch the city grow! Growth and prosperity were everywhere in those days, and tall beautiful gleaming glass and steel buildings were being built right alongside dirt floor huts! Wonderful place. I'd go back in a minute!