The West has given a lot to China but not all the imports have been good, take junk food for instance. On one of my early morning jaunts I was struck by the amount of people at 6.30 in the morning taking their children to fast food restaurants for their breakfast. One young boy was clutching a large cup of a bilious looking orange fluid, that I am sure had no connection with oranges at all. The custom here in Tianjin is to buy breakfast outside, with the most popular breakfast dish being yóutiáo, which is a long fried dough stick, a kind of doughnut, and soy milk. Whilst I never eat yóutiáo, their Chinese name literally means oil stick, and I cannot understand why something so unhealthy is so popular, I am even more alarmed at the trend to stuff children full of junk food and e numbers, especially as it is the first meal of the day.

My friends explained to me that people are very busy here and children have to start school a lot earlier than they do in the West, so parents really have no time to prepare breakfast in the morning, and the children really do not have the time to eat it at home, therefore buying it outside is a necessary task, and the children eat it on the move. OK I can understand, but why go for such unhealthy options? This is one thing imported from the West that is damaging to Chinese people. Another friend pointed out that now the fast food restaurants have healthy options for breakfast, such as zhou, a porridge made from rice. I pointed out to her that I had not seen any children with zhou, but I had seen them all with burgers and fizzy drinks. She then concurred that the children prefer to eat junk food. Of course, all children do, I love junk food, but I am not kidding myself that it is good for me and I rarely touch fizzy drinks, let alone drink one for breakfast. As Chinese people are unable to say no to their children, every day many of them have the worst possible start to their day. Experts readily testify to the effect of chemical and e numbers on the behaviour of children.

What about other things that have been imported from the West? Lots blame the increasing lack of morality amongst young people here on imported TV shows that promote immorality. Whatever you think of this, it is true to say that Chinese people think we are very "free" - their opinion of us is based on the shows that they watch. I have had people say to me, "Westerners are very open minded", when I ask them what they mean, they say "I watch Sex and the City so I know you people are very open minded". I have never ever watched this show, but as the title is self-explanatory, and if my surmising is correct that this show portrays us as being liberal and having sex with strangers all over the place, then it is no surprise that Chinese people are being influenced.

Once upon a time premarital sex was frowned on here, but now one night stands are common and girls live with their boyfriends with no repercussions from family or friends. Older Chinese people believe this is a Western influence that has crept in. Another problem is the attitude to marriage and divorce. Divorce rates are skyrocketing here and when you look at the behaviour of some stars, who appear to lead glamorous lives but who marry and divorce with relative ease, no wonder people think that is no problem. One case in point is Kate Winslet. She is very famous here, she has been married three times and is now pregnant with her third child. This will mean three different fathers for three children. If a Chinese star had this kind of record they would not be famous for very long, but as Kate is a Westerner, it is accepted that it is just normal behaviour for us.

You probably know that here gifts are valued for their elaborate packaging, rather than the contents. This is something that is also said to come from the West. Before goods were plainly wrapped, even if they were a big name brand. However once people saw that imported goods were beautifully packaged, people were amazed and wanted to also use this kind of packaging. Now this custom is really over the top, as the boxes frequently cost more than the goods inside. Mianzi is everything so the packaging will clearly let a person know his status in the gift giver’s eyes. People buy moon cake gift boxes that cost hundreds of rmb, but the contents are still just cakes and in no way justify the high price. I went into a shop once to look at a pretty glass jar. The shop owner said "You should buy this for your friends because the box is really special. For you Chinese speakers the Chinese she used was "这个盒子特别好玩儿". I remember thinking at the time that it was a peculiar thing to say. There is no way that I could tell a friend "I bought you this present because of the box". So although the beautiful packaging of goods may have started in the West I don’t think it is fair to blame us for how it has become twisted. Nevertheless Chinese people say they got the idea from us.

We live in a disposable society and we throw too much away. Before the economic situation was not so good here so people didn’t throw things away without good reason. Forests are now being chopped down to provide disposable wooden chopsticks. Whilst the West cannot be blamed for the every bad thing here, maybe we do have some responsibility for certain things. It is as if we threw the ball that is the throw away mentality, and the Chinese caught it and ran away with it. Now excess packaging and the use of too much plastic is a problem for most societies. I used to tut tut at the bare bottomed children going to the toilet in the street. I still tut-tut but this time it is because they are doing in full view of everyone. The landfill problem created by disposable nappies is a far more serious problem than the one caused by the children not wearing them.

Progress is a two edged sword, with the wide availability and accessibility of computers, smartphones, the internet etc. Chinese children are now in danger of not being able to write characters, so used to just tapping them out on a keyboard or phone pad are they. No wonder in the parks it is old men who are writing calligraphy and not young people – young people simply are simply unable to. Thousands of years of calligraphy culture may well be a thing of the past at this rate.

The West has given a lot to China – it has also taken a lot away.