Professionals my ass - ha ha

There is no such thing as American professionals working in China. Perhaps 000.1% are professional but they get their pay from the States and are here on short term contracts. They neither know nor care for the Chinese. If they are CEO's or upper management they live in gated communities and have no contact with the locals. Maybe there spouse has to try and talk with the maid or her private driver.

The average American Joe working in China is far from average. He failed at what ever he was doing back home and came over here, lured by the "teach in China - no skills required" campaign that all schools here run; to recruit losers.

I'm am not saying all are losers but for the most part they are. We expats know, I have met them and continue to avoid them. They screwed up royally back home and bring their problems to China (having not fit in at home).

Once upon a time in China it was a respectable job to teach but now with the misfits and social lepers it is hard to be treated with respect.

Yes, I know there are many good expats here, who work hard and are conscientious, guys who are studying the language and so on but those guys are the minority.

1st majority - inept drunken retards.(As the cartoon in the Shanghai Daily depicted us some years back.)

2nd majority - twenty something's looking to experience the mystic orient... and get layed.

The sad fact is the minority among Americans in China is women and professionals.
If you are a women professional you are rare indeed.

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Questions

I find the above post interesting, and I wonder who put it up. My first reaction is that there many MORE professionals here than in the past. In the past people who couldn't cut it moved out here. Now I meet tons of lawyers, investment bankers, and reporters, most of whom speak very good Chinese. Now there are still lots of folks who don't, but there is an increasingly large number of people out here who actually planned coming. Of course there are lots that are different, but those CEO types are a shrinking portion of all the expats here. Maybe your friends are just lame. You need to meet new people.

and it's spelled 'laid'. Perhaps if you have ever met the growing number of foreign women out here, you would know that. Probably 60% of my foreign friends are women. And professional. I think your post is more a reflection on you than it is the people around you.

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American expats

Hi Jimmyjim:

Do you think you could help me get in touch with some of the American laywers and bankers of whom you speak? I would be most grateful.

Feel free to contact me at katherine.rosman@wsj.com

Best, Katie

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award winning story?

China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders (Paperback) by Juan Antonio Fernandez (Author), Laurie Underwood (Author).
Katherine this book perpetrates the myth of 1000's of ceo's and upper managers mixing with local and speaking Chinese. Just like the post above. There are many books like it. All lies. Sure there are more professionals here but they do not mix with the Chinese and those guys are the minority, really. If they are professional they are getting paid from an American company, doing American business practices and speaking English. Their Chinese colleagues all studied in ivy league schools and are fluent in English.
They live in ivory towers in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Do you really want to interview that?
Find an adventurous pioneer living in a city and doing the daily grind with the locals we (both expats and westerners) would actually learn something. The many books and laughable interviews of know-nothings (about China) is the norm. Just because you are good in business does not make you a China expert, that comes from being in country and being on the front line. Get creative, interview someone setting up a business from scratch outside the westernized cities of China or an expat married to a local and living a very different life, again outside Shanghai, Beijing, etc. Then you will have a award winning story. I wish you well.
esker255@yahoo.com

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Valid argument

Jimmy Jim, why attack the first poster? His or her comments are valid, although inflammatory... but none the less true. There is far more truth in her post than yours and I think you know it. Did he or she cut too close to the bone? Congrats to someone spelling out what we all know and don't like to mention.

If Miss Rosman is looking to do a quality interview about cultural understanding and misunderstandings and especialy the way of life in China she would be better off looking for another type of expat. Not the low life hustlers or the CEO's and upper managers. Someone normalish (let's face it there is nothing normal about choosing to live in the middle kingdom).

However, I am beginning to think that Miss Rosman has already decided on the "type" of individual and already decided on the answers. Perhaps she has already wrote it and just needs someone to agree with her? Bankers and Lawyers in China... Wow, that's exciting...Yawn

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Please

Just because you learned to speak Chinese in no way does that mean you understand the culture. Lets face this; American ceo's are self deluded about the Chinese and the culture. Please let us not read about another self deluded buisness man in China. They are so far remonved from reality they actually believe the compliments about their language skills. Katie you are looking in the wrong place interview someone who does not have a maid, a nanny, a driver, a personal assistant an interperter, etc etc.

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US Embassy - New Yorker

Hi Katie

Assuming that you work for the wall street journal?
On the Embassy's listing there is a list called BSP (business service providers) under the commercial section...I'm sure expats' contact information is listed. w w w (dot) export (dot) gov / china / en
Hope this helps. - Ms. Manhattan

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expats in China...chang chang kan

I'm not offended in the least by the person citing the expats living in gated communities and having no contact with the locals as the typical expat from the US. I think the comments stand on their own. I know some persons living pretty sheltered existence over here and conversely I know some folks who seem to be goin' native, like me, married to a Chinese lady and basking in the dichotomy of love in two cultures. But I do have to admit that I meet and there do seem to be quite a few foreign persons over here who seem to do nothing and everything at the same time and their means of existence remain a mystery to me. Lucky them, perhaps. Hmmm?

But enough speculation and conjuring up fiction. Here's some data about the number of "foreigners" living in China that I've come up with which can be found at your local chamber of commerce or on CIA.org or in some of the many trade journals. I've backed out the Hua Qiao Ren (overseas Chinese) which even includes the Hong Kongese from the mainland Chinese ranks as they like to do here. So get ready for a shell shocker:

There are approx. 150,000 foreigners who have resident permits and work in and get paid and pay Chinese taxes in China. That's about 0.0001 percent of the population which I rounded up (may be more accurate this way) to 1.5 billion. Over half of that number are engaged in education and short-term assignments (exchange, volunteer services, study on grant funded research).

I live in Shenzhen which claims to have about 20,000 foreigners living in its confines. But when I check with the Foreign Service bureau I find that number (excluding Chinese descendents) to be less than 10,000. We're talking some really small numbers of foreigners here in China mind you here. In perspective: my hometown (Kansas City) if it had the same proportion of african-americans to caucasian persons as China does to foreigners there would be fewer than 18,000 blsck persons in Kansas City which actually has a black population of over 35% total population.

So it's no wonder if you look around and see an ocean of Chinese faces. Stop worrying about sticking out in a crowd. Asian countries lay claim to the most mono-cultural societies on earth. If you want to see what limitations of the gene pool does to a society well here's a genetic engineer's test bed -- and don't scoff or get ready to email me wicked email....there are more studies conducted in Asia to determine effects of medicines, marketing than in any other area on earth for that very reason. Now if only the insurance companies could figure out this homogenous pot of soup...they'd be on to something more truly profound than wondering if the fellow US citizen you met is legit or just another freak in the long parade.

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