Why China? What’s waiting for you in the Middle Kingdom? This is the land of rice paddies and skyscrapers, a place where farmers drive their oxen while chatting on mobile phones. Executives in imported sports cars weave in and out of overloaded 3-wheel carts pushed and pulled by peasant pensioners.
China is an ancient land that is changing unbelievably fast. The poor earn a few dollars a day, yet the rich have it all. Buddhist temples get obscured by futuristic skylines, and bullet trains race past donkeys. China’s roaring economy is taking the world by storm and making the world notice this giant nation that seemed so backward just a decade ago. Foreign governments are starting to worry about its growing military and economic might. While the Chinese enroll their kids in English training centers, educators in the West are hailing Chinese as the language of the future. Multinationals from every country are tripping over themselves to get here before it’s too late.
Yet despite the rapid pace at which China is embracing the world, the Chinese remain a mystery to most Westerners. They wear formal shoes to go hiking, two-piece suits to do construction work, and pajamas to go shopping. They open the windows in mid-winter, eat chicken feet rather than chicken breasts, take off their shoes before entering a house, but will happily spit on a restaurant floor. Yet it is just this sense of the bizarre and unexpected that makes people fall in love with China — and keeps them coming back for more.
So is China right for you? Life in China can be both fascinating and frustrating. To live here happily for an extended period of time takes a certain kind of personality. You’ll most likely have a fantastic time if:
A. You’re adventurous
B. You genuinely like engaging people of other cultures even when there is a language barrier
C. You can handle roughing it when you need to
Living in China will give you an amazing opportunity to experience this vast and ancient country’s history, geography, and culture, as well as to be a part of the exciting changes that are happening in China right now. The media and the experts are hailing the current time as the China Century, and since you only live once, what better than to ride the wave.
On the other hand, if you get stressed when things don’t go as planned or get angry when your expectations aren’t met, then China most likely isn’t the place for you. To put it bluntly, you’ll have a rough time if:
A. You’re a control freak who is pedantic about ordering your life just the way you like it
B. You have special needs (such as easily susceptible to allergies, or have a strict diet)
C. You have no intention of learning any Chinese
D. You have high standards for cleanliness and service.
Furthermore, don’t underestimate how much you may miss:
Despite these inconveniences, the good news is that you’ll come away from your time in China enriched with:
A. the knowledge of a new culture and language
B. amazing stories to tell
C. fantastic pictures to show.
D. (for those who choose to teach English or do other work) either some money in the bank or many stamps in your passport from a trip around South East Asia
You can expect to have a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and make a lot of new friends, people you may never have met if you’d played it safe and stayed home. And in the end, you can hold your head that much higher, knowing you’ve taken on the very difficult task of living in a new culture.
As with so many difficulties life throws our way, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward. So for all you adventurous souls out there, see ya in the Middle Kingdom!