3 Things I wish I knew before coming to China
Living in China for several years causes your view of the world to shift – and then it is no longer possible to even remember what life ‘before China’ was truly like. Because of that, I find it hard to provide better insight to you than this simple advice.
Ryan over at Lost Laowai has put together a blogging project called “If I knew then what I know now“, asking you and me to come up with posts about the way we mistakenly saw China in the past or what we wish we had known then. If you have a blog and are an expat in China, I encourage you to submit a story before the deadline (this coming Monday).
Here goes… three things I wish I knew before coming to China:
1. China is loud
Make no mistake about it, China is one of the loudest places to live or work (although I hear India is no picnic either). If you are preparing to come here for any significant amount of time, get ready for some acoustic shocks to your system.
So what are some of the loudest things in China?
- Firecrackers at Chinese New Year anytime of the day for days on end
- Extremely loud truck horns
- People shouting in cell phones or at each other anywhere and everywhere
- Incessant sales pitches in any large shopping area (Hello, DVD, Rolex, etc.)
2. Teaching English can be pointless
I’m not saying everyone who teaches English in China has a pointless job. Instead, I’m saying vast numbers of teaching jobs are almost pointless. And will remain that way, despite your best efforts or intentions.
I wish I had known this before coming to China, because I would have either found a truly meaningful teaching job (not easy), or worked my way into an internship or other job (not easy either).
Having a pointless job is okay if you only spend one year doing it, but it doesn’t necessarily get you where you want to go. There are other ways of getting to China, and they should be pursued if you don’t want your useful skills and abilities to degrade instead of developing along a career path of your choosing.
My unsolicited advice, however, is to figure out what you really want to do before you get to China, and then work that into going to China instead of waiting to sort out everything after getting here.
3. It’s not always easy to leave China
This doesn’t apply to that many people, but it applies to enough to merit a mention. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. After being in China for three years, I am starting to thoroughly enjoy it once more. But I couldn’t pick up and leave right now without regrets. How so?
One thing that has kept me here is my wonderful girlfriend. It’s just hard to save up enough money (on a China salary) to get ready to move back to the States with a girlfriend in tow and find a job without starving. While this situation is more gender specific, it’s worth mentioning.
The last thing that keeps me here is that even though China can drive you crazy, it feels like there is a lot missing when you go back home. Everything seems so slow, so quiet, and everyone seems nearly the same. And China begins to feel like home.
What about you?
Nothing too profound. What about you? Are there things you wish you knew before coming to China (or want to know about China because you haven’t been)? If you have something better (and I’m sure you do), write your own post about this as part of Ryan’s project mentioned above or leave your thoughts in the comments below.
[...] 3 Things I wish I knew before coming to China :: Jeremy (Added June 17) [...]
Hey man, good post. I am definitely one that falls in that last category of not being able to leave.
At times it has been a repressive pain that I wasn’t getting out of here, but now it seems to be settling into a sort of calming reality. I live in China. I LIVE in China. I live in CHINA… I just sort of run through that… and I’m more and more ok with it
Bang on with the Chinese… it’s no wonder Lao Zi said ‘the more you know, the less you know’.
Ya. Chinese is tough.
As for the teaching, a wise man once said:
“Stay the **** clear of those goddamn English schools, they’ll **** you up!”
I think it might have been Confucius. Some where near the back of The Analects, I think it was.
[...] 3 Things I wish I knew before coming to China :: By Jeremy [...]
Jeremy,
Too true. Luckily, there are simple solutions: (1) accept that Chinese 爱热闹 (love noise and excitement) and drown out the noise by cranking up your mp3 player full volume (best to use lessons from ChinesePod) (2) don’t teach English and accept that your salary’s going to be pathetically small for your first few years and (3) accept that you’re going to stay indefinitely.
Yeah basically if you’re not good at accepting, you probably won’t last long here.
Jeff G Deutsch
Ryan,
Thanks for the encouragement – and yeah you do need to convince yourself everything is OK sometimes here.
Rick & Ryan – thanks for the ancient Chinese references.
[...] 3 Things I wish I knew before coming to China :: By Jeremy [...]
Having brought my bike whcih took me across Europe, I wish I knew how terrible the traffic was (1,500 new cars on Beijing’s roads PER DIEM) and how selfish the people were. I’ve been hit 4 times this past year and had to replace my beloved Raleigh.
dang, it can’t be all that bad. you could be in korea!
i have been here 11 years. i could stay another 15 and not get tired of it. i was in korea for 6 years and was dying to get out of there after 3 years. it isn’t so much china vs. korea as it is chinese vs. koreans. anyone who has lived there will know what i am talking about. (and is probably busting out loud laughing at the moment.)
teaching english is a dead end street. it may pay your bills and help you get by while learning chinese, but don’t put much stock in it for your future. it is kind of like working in a restaurant as a part time job while going to college. so why expect too much?
there are lots of opportunities here if you are willing to get off your lazy asses and do something other than hang out in the bars or expat areas. there are 20 major trade shows here a year. maybe more. pick an industry and start immersing yourself in it. go out and see the factories here in china and make yourself available to them for helping their businesses. sitting around being an english teacher all the time will only beef up your resume as an english teacher for a better paying english teaching job. if you want to get off of that career track then get off that track entirely.
oh, and that girlfriend you don’t want to leave but don’t have the money to “tug along”. you might want to think about marrying her! she may turn out to be better at making money and making ends meet than you are. don’t underestimate these people. lots of foreigners come here thinking western society is ahead of chinese society. as they try finding china in their rear view mirror they are being passed up front by harder working chinese students. better to come here to learn than to teach. if you have nothing left to learn then it is time to leave.
cheers!
Thanks for the advise. A couple of notes:
I do plan to marry my girlfriend
I don’t underestimate people in China – I come away more and more aware of the fact that many Chinese people do jobs just as well as Americans for 1/10 the price and that many Americans are not fully aware of the extremely strong competitive forces we face.
Also, I got out of English teaching after my first year in China – my second year I wandered into promotional products almost exactly like you are doing, and for less than a year have been involved (full time) in the auto part global supply chain. Also if you read the above carefully you can see that I recommend trying to find other ways of getting to China than through teaching.
“as they try finding china in their rear view mirror they are being passed up front by harder working chinese students.”
Bollocks, mate…total bollocks. My school literally has COTS for my (adult & college age) students to sleep on for two hours during lunch. Bollocks.
One more to end…a useful quote:
“(Americans)waste everything except time.
Chinese waste nothing but time.”
But many people in China spend tons of time working. Wasting some is just a way to mix in a bit of (non work) life with all the long hours
But the fact remains that one can hire several Chinese workers to do the job of one person in America.
So… if Chinese workers waste a little time (which they do, even though they work incredibly long hours), does it really matter?
1. I wish that I had fully realized that contrary to the USA, where they tend to build out…the Chinese more often (and i believe it to be a smarter way to go) build up and down. But the existence of the up and down isn’t always obvious. If you go into a supermarket, be aware that there is probably more than one floor. Don’t make the mistake of going to a market to buy things like sheets, slippers, towels, etc….not seeing any on the first floor, and paying too much by buying these things from one of the “stands” on the first floor. Look everywhere for an escalator first. Don’t be afraid to explore to really find out all of your options. (Of course, maybe this is only true of large cities…if you are in a small town, this may be total BS for you)
2. If you are severaly self-conscious, China may not be for you. You WILL be stared at. You could be in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou…being obviously foreign even city-folk may stare at you. It is nice to know that it is completely common to carry an umbrella even when the sun is shining (helps protect your skin…man and woman alike). I have found that on days when I do not want to feel all of the eyes on me, I can hid behind my umbrella. Yes, they still stare…but I don’t notice it as much.
3. DO NOT drink the tap water…but it is okay to brush your teeth with. Don’t end up wasting water you buy to brush your teeth with. And if it is an option at all…get a water cooler and have water delievered to your house. Beats feeling wasteful buying bottle and jug after bottle and jug and creating so much waste from it.
4. If you are female and larger than a size 6-8 US (or if you simply have hips)…do not count on being able to find jeans here that fit you. Same goes for US women’e shoe sizes above a 7.5…good luck finding shoes you like in your size. Maybe it can be done…but after more than a year in large city, I have yet to find these things. Either spend the extra money and buy a couple of pairs of each before you come…or make sure that you can have them shipped if you are going to be here long enough for what you bring to get worn out.
5. While I don;t mean to make any males uncomfortable, if you are female and like me, do not enjoy the feel of diaper-like pads…get ready to only have access to O.B. tampons…and I do mean the kind without an applicator. Though here, the brand is cool enough to include plactic finger-covers. So either get used to the idea of using your finger…or using pads.
Funny the perspective. The Chinese (Asians for this matter) in the U.S. think Americans are lazy asses.
Many Americans are lazy. Many are quite hard working
And many Chinese people (in China) waste time on the job, although the effective number of hours worked is more than likely higher than their American counterpart.
Plus, since you are talking about Chinese / Asians in the US (not Chinese or Asian Americans, but 1st generation immigrants), we are comparing apples to oranges. I know plenty of parents of (Asian American) friends back home who work their asses off.
Plus plenty of 1.5 generation friends or acquaintances (those who grew up in Korea / Vietnam or China until their early / late teen years and then moved to the States) who definitely worked harder on average than any group of people born in the US.
i cant believe the nievity i reading here. so many chinese are in jobs they are not qualified for and/or dont want. they also have shit lives and not much to do in their job even if they wanted to.
kbhk – You’re absolutely right. And it’s a sad state of affairs. But it’s no less reason to chase your own dreams if you are able to (switch to a job that fits you better than your current one, learn new skills so that you can get a decent job or start something on the side given the chance, and so on).
The one thing I would add to the list is:
-The utter and complete lack of respect for other people
Having spent half a year in country (this time around) I still find myself, every day, being surprised by how little Chinese people in general care about the next guy. This ranges from changing lanes without looking in the rear view mirror (whatever happens behind you is not your problem, regardless of whether you may have caused it)to casually walking past a queue of fifteen people or slamming the door in the face of the next person coming in/going out.
I do understand some of the reasons for this, and that it’s perhaps a very natural consequence of being 1.3 billion people sharing a limited space. But it still amazes me that a society can get by this way.
I just wanted to say, as a female, thank-you Belle. Certain information men never worry about, and when it comes to living in a country and surviving, hygiene and health are necessities (despite the lack of information included in guide books).
I am a law student considering studying abroad in China for a semester, and just wanted to know if there was any other helpful advice – hygienic, personal, or professional – that anyone would share.
thanks.
I have a friend in Shanghai who is teaching English. After reading your blog, I am starting to wonder if he feels comfortable with the alienation an expat may feel in China. He is an Indian-American and although he wasn’t stared at in the U.S.–the sense of being a foreigner may be something he has accepted already. The decision to teach English is also beneath his ability. I see too many people with great potential but limited motivation. Why is it that so many peoople lack drive. What makes life seem so blah? I myself struggle with this and wish I had more ambition
Hi Bill – well, a couple of things. One is that foreigners don’t stick out quite so much in Shanghai – there are so many of them. Another is it depends – if he is just teaching a set amount of hours, has good pay, and has attentive students (like at a university or private school for adult learners, where the students are there by choice), it could be fine.
Plus, there’s always time to do things on the side. The more I think about it, the more that teaching in the right circumstances seems like a decent option – as long as you are pursuing other things at the same time.
I wish I knew how unbelievably closed minded and racist Chinese people are. It’s truly frightening. The Economist was right when they labeled the recent nationalist protests more than a little disturbing.
What makes that gender specific? I have a Chinese boyfriend who doesn’t make that much. Or do you go for the housewife type?
Hi Mona – you’re right, it’s not in that sense. What I meant is that there are a lot more Chinese girlfriends than boyfriends. Either way (if you’re going to stay together), it makes it much harder to make the move back.
It’s my 6th year here – one thing I can say for sure is that China is not for everyone.
The country is basically a shit hole. It’s getting better, they are making progress, but it’s still backward as can be. Of course if you spend your time here staying at the Marriott in Shanghai things will look a lot better.
One piece of advice – don’t be like so many of the idiot expats here, mostly English teachers, and socialize exclusively with mid to lower class Chinese and think your are seeing “real Chinese culture.” What you are seeing is poor people. That would be like going to America and hanging out with people from a trailer park in West Virgina and thinking that is what all Americans are like.
It’s best to make friends with some rich Chinese to really understand Chinese culture; preferably ones who are not commies and/or did not make their money yesturday.
Even worse than the poor dirty Chinese, are the rich dirty Chinese. These are the new rich who live in filth but drive a new $100k BMW – avoid these people at all costs, as they are the rudest of the rude.
And, enjoy yourself. Life can be ridiculously easy here for a foreigner.
Billy Joe, you seem to be an incredibly unpleasant person.
The vast majority of Chinese people are poor, so hanging out with poor Chinese is actually representative.
Poor people are not inferior to rich people.
Poor people have culture. Culture is not just paintings in a gallery, its beliefs, values, and lifestyle.
China is not the West.!!.You will need time to adjust to China from head to toes..
Well, I live in a really out of the way area of China. I don’t find the people racist as one poster said (well no more than in the UK). I also don’t find the place a shit hole – well not anymore than many places in the West I know.
At east China admits it has a lot of poor. The US and the UK just ignore them and sweep them under the carpet.
However, the one thing I wish I knew before I arrived here (I’d visited China many times but never lived here until recently) is that there don’t seem to be any bread knives! I finally find an Austrian bakery in a supermarket and I only have carving knives to cut my bread with – grrrr!
By the way. This Lakeland ‘cheese’ from the US. Do people actually eat this shite in America? It’s gloop!
Hi everyone!
I’m new to China/Chinese culture, etc, and I somehow came across this website.
I may be going to China to teach for a year (I know, you guys have said it’s pointless)My nationality is Mexican and I’m a woman. How safe is China for foreign women? How much do they like non caucasian foreigners? (well, I’m technically white anyways, but not caucasian). I have been to Thailand before and found their people quite friendly (despite the fact that they’re trying to constantly rip you off, luckily my country is the same so that came as no surprise) how friendly or shy are Chinese in general?
I’m coming to China, since I will not be hired in the US (yeap, try to find someone willing to sponsor you a 5.000 usd visa during recession).
I appreciate your advise!!! Thank you!!
And to Beu, China is relatively safe, but as a foreigner you might be targeted as a customer (or over charge you) no matter where you are going. Just make sure you agree with the payment before you take any kind of service or purchase; or reject them with a smile in case you don’t know Chinese.
I’m now in China, it is often very busy and stressful, on the contrary I would like to find somewhere more relaxing.