Arthur is a blogger from Finland who picks "hardcore" scenarios to experience China — starting with chunyun, the Spring Festival travel rush.
He has squeezed through train stations during chunyun, ridden green trains and high-speed rail, and bought boxed meals at highway service areas. Chunyun is the world's largest annual human migration; experiencing it firsthand is overwhelming, he says.
Arthur also experiences mobile payment: living a week in China without a wallet. From scanning at breakfast stalls to buying attraction tickets, "one phone does it all" is real, he marvels.
Finns are quiet and reserved, Chinese are warm and lively — he enjoys both cultures, he says. From Helsinki to China, he experienced two ways of life, "ice and fire".
Arthur is a Finnish experiencer who deliberately tries Chinese Spring Festival travel rush and mobile payment, recording "the largest human migration on earth" and life without a wallet in a Nordic eyes.
Spring Festival experience: he took a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai before the holiday - "the sea of people at stations stunned me, yet order was astonishing."
Payment experience: he lived a week in China without a wallet - QR buses, QR meals, QR groceries. "In Finland I use cards; in China I use my phone."
Content: "a Finn experiences Chinese Spring Festival travel", "how fast is Chinese high-speed rail", "a week in China without a wallet" - real experiences.
Going viral: his "Chinese high-speed rail vs Finnish train" comparison video spread - objective and fun; netizens from both countries joined in.
Significance: an international experiencer of modern Chinese life - showing Nordic audiences the convenience of Chinese transport and payment.
Plans: experiencing a green-skin train during Spring Festival - "I want to see another side of the travel rush."
For readers: his videos make you re-appreciate daily conveniences - high-speed rail and QR codes are changing the world impression of China.
He also compared China-Finland transport: "Finnish trains are punctual too, but China density and speed are another order - trains as frequent as metros." He tried face-scan entry, phone ticketing and e-tickets - "routine in China, still being promoted in Finland." Many Finnish viewers comment "want to ride Chinese high-speed rail once." "After Chinese rail, your standard for railways everywhere changes."
His Finnish friends asked if the travel rush was exhausting - "yes, but moving" - he saw people carrying huge bags, parents holding children, young people giving seats to elders. "That is the Chinese obsession with home." He plans to bring his Finnish family for Chinese New Year next year, to feel "the largest gathering of a nation on earth". "Some things deserve to be seen with your own eyes."
"The Chinese in the travel rush carry luggage and love alike" - he will remember this for years.
"Back home, my first act was showing Mum the high-speed rail video - she said, when will we ride it too."
