fern wrote:Brendan, how it is you went to China, live and work there? Curious.
And how good is to live there?
I have a bad impression of a country with so many people, farting openly, eating dogs and speaking and awful language-
Of course, all this is subjective and perhaps primitive, but there you have it
fern
Hey Fern, here's the answers in a simple form.
How it is you went to China, live and work there?
China, in the post-Communist period is a very young country with a very strange (by Western standards) culture, a complicated language and a form of "organized chaos" that makes life exciting.
I'd been running a chess school in Australia and although it was growing very quickly, I suddenly yearned for the simple life...
I read some things that made a BIG impression on me...
Mexican Fisherman Meets Harvard MBA
https://www.wanttoknow.info/051230whatmattersinlife
The Alchemist Paperback by Paulo Coelho
https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo ... 0061122416
These materials changed my outlook on life, and I'd always been curious about China. I had a lot of Chinese immigrant friends in Australia and was interested in learning the Chinese language (I already spoke some before coming here), so...
I cut the distractions, closed my business and moved here for adventure when I was 28.
How good is to live there?
Pros:
- Complete language immersion/few English speakers (easier to learn your target language)
- Very safe. There is almost ZERO violent crime here. For such a huge country, there is no risk or muggings, rape, beatings etc. My pretty wife would walk home at 3am with absolutely no risk. There has to be a VERY serious "disharmony" between people for violence to occur.
- Very easy to earn money, as in 5x local full-time average salary, for 13 hours of week total (assuming you have some negotiating/entrepreneurial ability/useful skills) This is my current situation, although I also earn money from chess coaching and other online stuff.
- Cost of Living is VERY cheap (as in, even with the income of a poor person in Sydney, you will live like a king in most Chinese cities)
- Public transport and buying things online is VERY good, cheap and mostly efficient (serving 1.3 billion people requires good systems. China overdelivers here.)
- Easy to make friends (for foreigners). Chinese are generally very curious about, and friendly toward foreigners. If you can speak (even a LITTLE) Chinese, this is x10.
- Politically stable/No Riots. Nobody even cares about politics or political agendas here. And this is a big deal considering 1.3 billion people of many different backgrounds and socio-economic levels. They care mostly about
working, taking care of family and earning money. As much as a lot of westerners might think differently, the government stays out of your life/doesn't interfere in your affairs (unless
you start provoking them with political nonsense publicly).
- AMAZING food. China has such a diverse range of cuisines that you could travel the country for an entire lifetime and never eat the same meal. If you like spicy food, there are regions who have mastered the pepper. If you like salty/sweet etc food, the same. If you start to miss the Western cuisine, you can get a nice steak, eggs and vegetables very cheaply. Hanging out for McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, etc etc etc....you can still find it.
Cons:
- The country is still "developing". Culturally, socially and economically. So some people are rude/inconsiderate (for example,unapologetically push in lines when buying something or whatever), the road is extremely dangerous to cross/ ride a bike on, some people spit openly, lie/trick others.
- Censored internet. No Google, Facebook, etc. And Deep Packet Inspection on foreign internet traffic slows down existing internet considerably. Most of this can be overcome with a decent VPN though.
- Low trust culture. Chinese is a so-called "low trust culture". Everyone is suspicious of their neighbors intentions and fears to be scammed. So every type of otherwise simple transaction is going to take 10x the amount of time. Need to DEPOSIT money in a bank account? Still prepare to fill in 5 forms.
Misconceptions:
- Most Chinese do NOT eat dogs and cats. This type of thing is a common occurrence in this so-called "Democracy vs Communism" ideological battle. One side always highlights in their media (and is even deliberately dishonest in many cases) the weak sides of the other. Yes, in very rural Guangxi province (deep south west village region of China), they have a dog meat festival, but 99% of Chinese would vomit to think of such a thing. The way this practice (from a remote village) is highlighted in the Western media would make us think that everybody has dogs for dinner.
- The government does NOT censor the internet because it fears the people will educate themselves. What they fear is that the people will become victims of ideological subversion (very possible if agencies like the CIA have easy access to Chinese internet traffic) and try to topple the government (how many governments have they toppled even in post-WW2 history?).
- All Chinese do not know Kung Fu. In fact, the average Chinese guy has no idea how to fight (nor does he have the inkling to do so).
- Chinese do not care about Communism, Russia, NK or any of this nonsense. See the "non-political" part above. They simply want to take care of family and earn money. Thinking about this nonsense is simply time-wasting for them. If you asked someone here "don't you wish you had democracy?" they'd say "Why? My salary would be the same, my lifestyle would be the same, but the country would be more unstable/divided."
- Big crowds aren't THAT big. Sure places like Shanghai have huge crowds, but its better to think of China as having hundreds of small cities. The city I live in here is quite modern, yet is (basically) the same in population as Sydney, the city I left in Australia. Not too crowded.
