Ask Imitation about 2years in China

[climber]

Hmmm so I guess first big thing to realize is China is huge.

If you want to live in China like you might imagine living in Thailand or something you are really talking about only a couple places--close to Western std of living but cheap.

Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guanzhou, etc. These are the only places where you will find good access to other foreigners, McDonalds, Starbucks, clubs+bars with people that know how to make drinks etc.

Even places like Xian are a big step down in terms of std of living. I've seen bartenders get out books to fill std drink orders and get like 3-4 service people swarming around for 10-15 min only to produce the drink totally wrong in a decent looking bar right next door to they Hyatt in Xian. Get even farther out and you get into what China is like for 90% of Chinese people. There are some nice cities in these lower rungs. Here you will get to know real people with all kinds of interesting lives. I'd reccomend reading Peter Hessler's Rivertown or Mark Salzberg's Iron and Silk to understand what this kind of experience might be like. Go southwest to somewhere like Kunming and you get nice weather, decent backbone of stuff for foreigners and much less urban-gold digger vibe than a place like Shanghai/Beijing. I spent a couple years in Lanzhou--a poor city of 3 mill with lots of pollution. The bar/club scene in a place like is non-existant/really ghetto compared to western standards. I'd second the Dalian reccomendation--haven't been but have a friend who lives there and i get the vibe its a nice mix between eastern developed city and small town authenitc China with decent weather and not too much pollution.

As Imitation said you will be sought out for your Engrish speaking abilities. Everone has a cousin they just want you to teach English to 10 hours a week. After a while you get good at saying no. There are lots of little tricks for how to say no in the right way esp if the person asking you is someone who is important to you for some other reason. My favorite, and what i believe to be the most Chinese way is to talk the request down to something minimal--1hr once a week or whatever and say you will do it. Then you do it once. Then the next week last minute you call and say somethign came up, sorry. Repeat last minute phone calls for a couple weeks and its over. Thats only for people you like/need though. Tons of other people with no claim on you will ask you all kinds of ridic favors and then its just no sorry i'm busy, bye.

The other nice/annoying thing is that the further into China you go the more exotic you become. If you are fine being the center of attention and don't mind meeting people this is great. On days where you are not feeling good, have a cold, need to run some errands in a hurry it gets real old real fast. I'm 6'4" and I've been a ton of places in China where my arrival is basically like Shaq jsut came to town. People are literally pointing and yelling for friends to look and running to get friends to show them the spectacle that is a person of my stature. That def doesnt happen in Beijing but in smaller less Westernized places it def does. This can make it really easy to meet anyone you want to meet. People also often feel a desire to help you as its clear to all you don't really belong there. A lot of Chinese have a strong sense of wanting to represent their country well and can be very hepful/firendly/nice. Once again you will experience a lot less of this in Shanghai/Beijing. Course you can get by with speakign a lot less Chinese in those cities as well.

[climber]

another fun/annoying thing is to figure out the 20-30 topics that all Chinese peopel hold the exact same opinion on.

yeah for communist education.

examples are

war: "common people don't like it--gov't leaders love it"
taiwan: "how dare they--China is one country"
japanese people: "i hate them, so unapologetic, terrible"
thailand: "oohh ladyboys!"
USA: "everyone is so rich"
Chairman Mao: "great man, but he is human and made mistakes"

etc, etc.

don't bother trying to talk about any of these topics seriously unless you have a pretty deep relationship with someone

[imitation]

Hey climber I would I laughed at the Thailand one, everytime I mention my month in Thailand it's the first thing I hear.

The Mao one is really interesting, he's considered almost like a neccessary evil. The however love Deng Xiaoping.

Taiwan issue is interesting, i'm not sure how much coverage of the current unrest in Taiwan is received in the rest of the world, but I think it's clear most Taiwanese would prefer closer ties with the Mainland in some form.

Also many other topics of interest are usually along the lines of how north china does it different to south china etc. Common theme is North are honest and gulible, South are thieves and crooks but great business men.

[fish2plus2]

most asian guys go for girls with very light skin, tall, thin, and with western features like a big nose, etc.

these girls are also of course the rarest, which plays a big part of it. these are class societies, and your gf/wife is basically just a possession/symbol in most of these guys minds.

for instance, these guys will bang a western chick, but they will not marry her, blah blah blah.

most asian guys give off what is practically an asexual vibe imho.

i dont think white guys have good taste in asian women either. they always choose the chick "with big boobs", who among asian chicks is usually the fat chick.

[fish2plus2]

dude, english teacher = the lowest paid profession. if you are doing it, you should really research it first, cause everyone makes it out to sound like it sucks. also, you might be surprised what the other teachers are like, most of them that i meet are cheap as hell, like waiting around an hour to save $2 or something, and tend to be kind of dull, like pseudo intellectual hippies with cheap jewerly and crap.

[imitation]

fish where are you english teachers in Guangzhou can make 3000 USD a month and living costs are not even close to that you could live very nice on 1000, party a fair amount on 2000.

[00Snitch]

are you ever going to come home and man sex me? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[miajag]

In what ways do you believe Chinese/Eastern culture is superior to Western culture? How about inferior?

[Jinx]

can you send me some E from china?

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
In what ways do you believe Chinese/Eastern culture is superior to Western culture? How about inferior?

[/ QUOTE ]

This could be long i'm going to just post the immediate ones that come to mind.

Personally I like Chinese cultures strong focus of family and community over the individual, I prefer this over what I see has become a very selfish Western culture.

I also like that my girlfriend will cook for me clean and look after me and that this is ok and I don't need to feel like a chauvinist. I'm not, I respect womens right to do anything they please, I just personally would like to find this kind of girl.

On the bad side is that Chinese people have very little respect for privacy or discussing what we would see as private matters. For example at the doctors the door is always open to the waiting room and the doctor might be looking in your throat or giving you a shot in the ass (chinese will give you a shot in the ass for anything apparently). Or people who've just met you will ask how much money you make, how much your rent is, etc. I have a link to a very interesting article which talks about how different small talk has evolved to reflect the values of the cultures associated.

Oh yeh Chinese people can't get on/off elevators or stand in lines as well. They have to push like it's a race at any opportunity, this is something that still pisses me off but i'm not an agro foreigner like other people are about it.