A/N - Never been to Guangzhou. Never been to China. But when trying to think of a place starting with G, won't pick Germany as already based a story there (Dresden). Won't pick Greece as I have an idea for a story there later (Xanthi. Trust me, the letter X was not easy.) There are 11 countries starting with G... Ghana, Gabon, Guatemala...
Then cities. Guangzhou, otherwise known as Canton, is by far the largest city starting with the letter G. Could have done Giza in Egypt but... Nah. Never been to Egypt but all I've heard are horror stories of being a tourist in Cairo and elsewhere in the country.
Given the large population of Chinese-Australians, I figured I could do a story based somehow around Guangzhou and make it work. Googling differences between Mandarin and Cantonese, from what I could find, I learned they are not particularly related and can be considered two completely different languages, so knowing Mandarin won't particularly help trying to understand Cantonese.
Previous stories in this series:
Love Around the World - Andorra (Mature)
Love Around the World - Bangkok (Interracial)
Love Around the World - Colombia (Transgender)
Love Around the World - Dresden (Romance)
Love Around the World - Estonia (Group Sex)
Love Around the World - France (Anal)
Australian / British standard English. There is a good chance of reading the following: lots of profanity, characters drinking, typos, and bad grammar at times.
Proofreading and editing suggestions provided by OhDave1. Any mistakes are still mine.
Comments are appreciated as always.
Feedback by email is always welcome. Enjoy chatting with anyone who likes my work.
*****
Best friends finally admit their feelings for each other.
*****
I guess I was thinking of the future not just of myself but of the country when I was trying to decide what to study in university when I was preparing for my last exams at high school. Australia, and in particularly Sydney, had become a true melting pot of cultures while I was growing up. No one could miss the influx of immigrants arriving from across the world; it was obvious that Australia was pivoting away from the old Empire and the Commonwealth and taking note of our position in the world, that of being regionally close to Asia and the billions of people that inhabit that area of the planet.
The high school I attended wasn't a sea of white faces. Most kids were at least second generation, their parents having likely immigrated with their parents, so they grew up in bilingual households. I was at school with children descending from China, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, just to name a few.
Given our proximity to China, the fact it was one of our largest trading partners and no-one could miss that it was going to become the regional superpower within a few decades, perhaps not rivalling the United States, but certainly able to throw its weight around, I wasn't the only one thinking that learning to speak Mandarin wouldn't be a bad idea.
Universities across Sydney offered numerous courses based on language and culture. I eventually chose a broad course based on Asian studies, focusing on language, history and culture. I could choose a variety of subjects each semester, ensuring I selected a language course for each one while selecting other courses that would simply interest me at the same time. Plenty of courses on Chinese history and culture, but also Japanese history, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Philippines, Indian...
I had quite a few friends of foreign ancestry but the university campus I attended was something else entirely. And in that sort of environment, it was hard not to suffer from a touch of 'yellow fever'. Definitely not a politically correct term, but it was hard not to be carried away with the number of pretty girls surrounding me each and every day. I was an average-looking white male of around six foot, somewhat broad and kept myself fit, rather dark almost black hair, blue eyes and I guess I was handsome enough. Had no problem dating in high school with a new girlfriend every year, or so it seemed.
Still didn't stop plenty of interest from being thrown my way in return. Whenever I was in a Chinese language class to learn Mandarin, I had a girl of Chinese descent on either side of me to assist me as they were usually fluent in the language, left wondering why they were even in the class. Japanese history? I felt like one of those I think they call weebs as I had them giggling away with some incredibly bad jokes.
I swear I don't watch anime, manga or anything like that!
I wasn't the only one who probably had a switch of interest to a certain type of woman after a year or so of university education. Plenty of Anglo-Saxon men were dating women of Asian extraction. I hadn't really dated anyone during my first year though made plenty of friends, but I soon realised I had a core group of small friends. Three more Anglo-Saxon white guys and six gorgeous girls, all of them of Chinese origin. I had no idea why though one of the girls, with the anglicised name of Cindy, suggested they didn't want to date Chinese men.
Maybe some Asian women had white guy fever or something?
Though I had retained friendships with guys and girls from high school, my best friend at university was easily one of the girls. She called herself Wendy, going so far as to show me her driver's licence, smirking when I asked if that was her birth name, aware many Chinese-Australians were christened with a traditional Chinese name though were happy to be called an anglicised form. A friend at high school was christened Meng but he insisted on being called Michael as one example.
"Mum insisted I have an English name," she told me the first time we introduced ourselves, "I mean, do I sound like a stereotypical Chinese person, Mark?"
"You sound like a true-blue Aussie bogan," I retorted.
That earned a playful slap on the upper arm, but the smile suggested I'd answered correctly. We'd met at a function organised by the university for people to meet, and after that first conversation getting to know each other, we'd been thick as thieves ever since. We were on the same course, doing many of the same subjects together, and we simply relied on each other when it came to studying and completing assignments and the friendship blossomed from there.
Her family was originally from the Guangzhou region in China, and she was fluent in the language of Cantonese. Having been born and raised in Australia, much like her parents, her primary languages were both English and Cantonese, not particularly learning much in the way of Mandarin, explaining the reason why she was in language classes with me.
Our courses were for three years, and our friend group all graduated together before thinking of what to do once we headed out into the workforce. My parents had both graduated from university, yet their careers had little to do with what they studied. I knew learning a language could be a way to open doors when it came to working for some international organisations.
Growing as close as we did, heading out for dinner together earned no raised eyebrows as we simply enjoyed the company of each other. We shared some similar interests. Her parents knew me; I knew her parents. They probably wondered why we weren't dating. She'd dated during our time at university, I'd dated around after that first year.
But our friendship always remained solid. I helped her when left broken-hearted by more than one man. Wendy hadn't been shy in telling me when she thought a girl that I was dating simply wasn't good enough for me. What amused me was that one of the girls I dated was part of our friend group. Thankfully, we realised within a couple of months that we were better friends than partners and parted amicably, keeping the basis of our friendship solid.
