Last month I was in Guangzhou, China. While just 4 days in a country of 1.4B is in no way representative, collating these observations was fun.
- WeChat / Alipay = OS for daily life: a fusion of identity + comms + payments. Made me appreciate UPI’s incredible achievement, and how much more it could still become.
- Voice dominates: I saw far more voice notes than typed messages, likely due to Mandarin’s script. Reinforces the thesis that Indic languages will go voice-first.
- English proficiency is low: even among younger cohorts. India’s edge is clear, though I feel AI-translation may erode it.
- EV penetration is almost done: Especially in 2-wheelers where the market has converged on a “Yulu++” form factor used for both commutes and gig work. One surreal sight: a driverless bus gliding past an old-school tuktuk.
- Food and transport were only ~10% costlier than India and everyday urban life felt far better: cleaner roads, well-planned transport hubs, walkable footpaths. India’s broken urban governance may be our Achilles heel.
- No Netflix, no YouTube: China lacks the cricket-politics-religion-bollywood cultural glue that we have. Probably why short-form, mobile content picked up there first.
- Food felt like the cultural core: Restaurant density was insane, possibly due to high female employment and minimal home cooking. Among QSRs, coffee and burgers had crazy penetration while other global cuisines were limited.
As I flew out, I felt admiration and a little envy. Hard to believe the average Chinese and Indian were equally well-off as recently as 1990. I’m not China-pilled, though. India’s path will be different—more chaotic, organic, and perhaps more anti-fragile.