(原文發表於2026年2月18日)

Had dinner in a Chinese restaurant owned by a Vietnamese boat person who used to live in Germany and then came to France to marry his girlfriend.  He is a nice Asian guy.

 

Met two Singaporean (National University of Singapore) and two Japanese (University of Tokyo) young men sitting next to me in the same restaurant. They were exchange students for six months to study aeronautics.  They told me: 1. It is hard to find an engineering job these days, 2. France is more expensive than Singapore though the salary of the latter is much higher than the former, 3. Everything is very expensive in France while the pay is low with high taxes, 4. There are so many blacks and Muslims in the country, and 5. One of the young guy said that UK (London) is just like a Muslim country.

 

When I walked out of the restaurant, three young Muslims began to talk to and laugh at me. I shouted loud “what the fuck” and walked fast away as this restaurant is located in the back alley, where is full of beggars, homeless and even prostitutes. A prostitute even waived her hand to me.

 

When I returned to the hotel, I talked to the receptionist who is from Morocco. She told me the following:

1. The French colonialism took away everything from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco,

2. After the war, France needed people from their colonies to rebuild the country,

3. Colonialism has dire consequences (heard the same statement from a Moroccan guy of Harvard several years ago),

4. France is now full of all kinds of problems, i.e., crimes, drugs, homelessness and so forth. Pay is very low with very high taxes. She makes 1400 a month while the rent is 1200 euro (her husband has a job),

5. Unemployment is ver high amongst the young people, who are very antisocial and not afraid of police,

6. The mass media is full of hatred messages against the Africans, Muslims and foreigners, and

7. The future is in Asia.

 

The first encounter of the French reality!