How are Chinese guys as flat mates?

[Ruben von Zwack]

I just want to say to everyone who listened and shared their joys and woes: everything's fine on the flat mate front!

I am rather smitten

 

As advised, I bought some local beer for the welcome evening, and encouraged music and singing 

I have been doing this flat share for a while now, and seen the good, the bad and the... um, wacky (last one includes myself), so upon experience, I dare to predict that "the new guy" will be quite a pleasant flat mate.

[anonymoose]

Don't forget to pass the 喜糖 around when the time comes.

[linguaholic]

I once had a Chinese flat mate in China (Nanjing) and I have to say that I never experienced any trouble. She was very kind and also "modest", never complaining about anything. No problem at all 

[JustinJJ]

All I can say is that in my experience Chinese flatmates are always interesting! One room in my apartment was until three days ago was occupied by a Chinese couple as well as the girl's mother visiting(/sponging) from China for the past month (yes a couple with a mother in the same room for a whole month!). The other room is occupied by an easy-going Chinese girl.

 

Everything went smoothly until three days ago when the girl broke up with him (having all three in the room I'm not surprised things blew up). Heard lots of smashing and noise from their room etc ending in a frantic plea from the girl's mother for me to call the police. The police turned up in the middle of the night, by which time the girl and her mother had already left. The result was I had to translate the story from my flatmate to the police as they couldn't understand my flatmate's English (despite having lived in Australia for nine years, he seems to have lived the 富二代 lifestyle involving almost complete avoidance of locals and no study, hence a low level of English).

 

At last it's perfectly peaceful and quiet now

 

Note that this is an exceptional case, 90% of the Chinese flatmates I've lived with I've had no dramas with!

[Ruben von Zwack]

Don't forget to pass the 喜糖 around when the time comes.

 

  I'm 10 years his senior! But looking into adopting right now...

 

[anonymoose]

I'm 10 years his senior!

 

姐弟恋 is not a new concept to the Chinese. 加油!

[JustinJJ]

Hi guys,

 

If you want to here a bit of a warning about flatmates feel free to read my blog post below (it is a bit long though, but does describe in detail my recent experience living in Sydney).

 

In summary, try to not live with people who are dependent on their parent's to give them money because they tend to not be mature enough to manage their own finances and this can impact you when it comes to things like paying rent, bills, etc. 

 

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_e90f27f80101siy6.html

[tooironic]

Here, here. I had a bad experience living with a Chinese friend who moved into my house, and by the end of it we weren't exactly friends anymore. He just ended up owing me so much rent that he hit the 6 grand mark (that's $6,000 AUD). Plus another grand for his visa application. I don't mind lending money to friends when they genuinely need it, but it's been six months now and I still haven't seen a penny of it. He's gone back to China as he failed his uni subjects and now claims his parents have helped him take out a personal loan and the money will be in my account in three weeks. I'm not holding my breath though as he's made similar promises in the past. Anyway I'm not trying to demonise anyone or freak any one out, just keep in mind that many Chinese students rely almost entirely on their parents to sustain them, so if you're thinking of taking one on as a house mate, make sure you ask some questions about their income source first. And be strict about your expectations re payment deadlines. If they think they can rely on you for a certain amount of time, many will do it without thinking twice, especially if you are friends.

[zhouhaochen]

I would say the main difference between Chinese/western flat shares is that Chinese are less likely to try to make friends (at least in China, I never had a Chinese flat mate abroad) with the people they live with. Less likely does not mean this is not possible of course, but in my experience less likely, most of my Chinese friends who share apartments with other Chinese do not even know the other people's names.

Except that, same risks and benefits as with all other nationalities. Someone who does not have enough money to pay rent will make trouble with payments, someone with an active sex life will make noise and many guys do not know how to clean a kitchen.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Good luck for finding a nicer place, or renting together with your friends, JustinJJ!

 

Tooironic, gosh I hope you get your money back. 6000 AUD is a lot.

 

I had similar experience like you guys, last year with a Taiwanese girl. I didn't mention it cause I thought it was a character thing, not a cultural thing. Don't know, and not keen on repeating the experience to study the problem more in-depth

 

But yeah, I am not so fond of students as flat mates either, for a couple of reasons.

 

Anyway, I am in the mean time being spoilt rotten by my not-so-new-anymore flat mate. He is from Hunan, I don't know if Southerners are especially warm hearted, but this guy is amazing, and there are definitely no problems with bathroom, toilet or whatsoever. We talked about these things though before he moved in. So it could be either he's always like this, or he's being nice cause he knows I'm a bit picky. Yeah the oven is not as spotless as it used to be before, but oh. my. god.    all the Hunan food that I am being treated to is well worth it!

[roddy]

He sounds great, do invite him to sign up here ;-)

 

Next week's top topic: "Crazy foreign flatmate won't let me stop cooking and cleaning..."

[Ruben von Zwack]

I just want to share this picture of flat matey (left) and me (right) from last weekend 

 

 

I'll try a moral of the story:

 ~  girls are *not* tidier, cleaner or easier to get along with than guys. Next time someone suggest this, be warned, I have some pretty stomach turning stories   ~    not every Chinese will mess up the bath room. The kitchen stove, maybe, but it's worth it!    ~  a flat share with a complete stranger might turn out a desaster, just as it may with people you thought you knew and who were your friends, but it may also turn out much better you'd imagined.

 

I'm not advocating randomness - but (moral to myself:) base your decision on some facts (as in this case: age, has lived away from home before, etc.), and not on worries or prejudices 

[roddy]

You should take him shopping for some decent hiking trousers...

[Lu]

You guys are so cute together! :-)

[Ruben von Zwack]

You should take him shopping for some decent hiking trousers...

 

Pffhhh... you should've seen the rest. Totally pro!