Why are you in China, and what keeps you here?

[Demonic_Duck]

Roddy thought it'd be good to have a thread like this as to act an antidote to his "Why did you leave China?" thread, so here we go.

 

I don't think my story is anything groundbreaking, but I'll get the ball rolling...

 

I guess I first entertained the idea of living abroad for an extended period of time when I was part-way through my 3-year philosophy undergraduate degree at a university that's so hip you've never even heard of it, thinking "what the hell am I going to do do with this thing after I graduate?" At that time I started dabbling in a couple of languages, most notably Russian (I'm not sure if I can remember to ask where the toilet is, but I do remember the word for "misanthropy". Like I say, I was studying philosophy at the time, so draw your own conclusions). Having finally settled on Chinese, and become enamoured with the language and the culture during my final year, I decided to get a job here in Beijing.

 

So, that pretty much explains the "why am I here" part...

 

As for "what keeps me here", I'd say the city is extremely vibrant and never boring - there's always something going on if you look around for it. On the whole, Beijingers are very friendly once you get to know them (though there could well be a selection effect at work here - you only get to know the ones that are friendly). The food is fantastic - not so much 老北京 food, which can be rather bland, but the huge variety of other cuisines from around China - I'm a big fan of Sichuan (spicy, numbing, full of flavour) and Xinjiang (lamb skewers, flatbread, lots of cumin) cuisines, among others. I'm still in love with the language, though juggling learning with a full-time job isn't 100% ideal and I'm planning to take a full-time course at Tsinghua next year (汉语进修项目).

 

On the downside, Beijing still has the very real and serious problems of pollution and overcrowding, but I manage to overlook these (on a good day) and endure them (on a bad day).

 

As for the future, I have at best some rather indistinct long-term plans, but one thing I'm sure of, at least for the medium-term, is that they'll be involved with China in some way. In the two years I've lived in Beijing so far, I've loved it, despite its problems. At some point I'd like to try living for in a smaller city within China, though I'm not sure I'd dare to try living anywhere "rural" as such.

 

So, what about you folks?

[Mouseneb]

Pure bloodyminded stubbornness? The longer we stay the more we have invested in staying, and the more to lose if we leave. Don't have a clue how to start over anywhere else anymore...

 

Oh yeah and we love it here... most of the time 

 

I would miss a lot if we left - the people, the challenge, the language, the adventure, the FOOD!

 

Currently in a stable job I like, so that helps too, but it certainly hasn't always been that way.

 

9 years and counting!

[Demonic_Duck]

I think I'd agree with the "pure bloodyminded stubbornness" - the more I stay, the more I want to stay. It seems like each time someone asks me "how long do you plan to stay in China?", my estimate gets longer. With that said, when I was growing up I'd always envisaged myself living my whole life in the UK, so these things do change over time. I'd certainly like to try living elsewhere in the world at some point, but I figure I'm in no hurry to do so, as there's so much more to China to explore first.

 

I have nothing on your 9 years though, I've only been here 2 so far!

[roddy]

Thanks, Duck!

 

I think for a long time what kept me in China was the sense of excitement and challenge of living there. A common comment was that it was 'never boring'. It might be frustrating or incomprehensible, but there was always something new to figure out. Might have been something as simple as where this particular bus you were on actually went to, but it kept life interesting. 

 

And as time goes on your Chinese level and cultural knowledge level up, and the difficulty of the problems you tackle gets tougher. Day 1, how do I change money. Day 50, how do I earn money. Day 1,500 (ouch, just worked out how many days I spent in China), how do I explain the existence of this money when wiring it home. 

 

 

Roddy

[Simon_CH]

Same here really, it's not anything in particular but more a general sense of excitement, uncertainty, chaos and life while making some money on the side.

 

I would certainly be a terrible poster boy for living in China, I can't sell it to anyone nor can I properly explain why I (currently) really like it here.

[xuefang]

I've been staring at this thread for a few days now, thinking of the right way to reply. After all, I do write a blog called Living a Dream in China so I guess I should be the poster girl for living here ;)

 

Why I came to China is easier to answer. My parent's lived in Beijing before I was born and even thouhg I was born in Finland, China was still a part of my life since I was a kid. My dad was very interested in everything Chinese and perhaps through those old photos and stories, I grew up liking China as well. I remember going through my dad's Berlitz phrasebook when I was in middle school.

 

During the years coming to China became a really big dream for me, something I want to experience one day. Then when I was 21 years old my boyfriend left me and I noticed there was a week left to apply for study exchange in Guangzhou the next semester. That was my sign and I decided to come! I made preparations so that I could go back to Finland after that one semester if I didn't like it in China, but as you can see, I stayed.

 

It's hard to put into words, but something is keeping me here in China. Some kind of feeling that it's the right place for me to be. It's not dancing on rose pedals every day, but just living my normal every day life in here. Now I have husband and four cats here, so I don't see my self leaving any day soon.

[Demonic_Duck]

Then when I was 21 years old my boyfriend left me and I noticed there was a week left to apply for study exchange in Guangzhou the next semester.

That's awesome. Guy breaks up with you, but do you sit around feeling sorry for yourself? Hell no, you move to China and fulfill your dream, and he's still stuck in his crappy, boring life!

 

(OK I have no idea whether his life's crappy and boring or not, but it makes for a better narrative.)

[Lu]

That's awesome. Guy breaks up with you, but do you sit around feeling sorry for yourself? Hell no, you move to China and fulfill your dream, and he's still stuck in his crappy, boring life!

Remedy as old as time, actually :-) Ovidius ('Ovid') recommended it some 2000 years ago (not necessarily the China part, but the 'go far away to see interesting things' part). And it works wonderfully.

[xuefang]

 

'go far away to see interesting things'

 

I fully recommend ;) He actually made me a favor as I would have never met my husband or my four cats without moving to the other side of the globe!

[anonymoose]

Where did your four cats come from? (Four!) It seems like many China expats have cats.

[xuefang]

@anonymoose

 

I got my first cat Lucy (in the avatar!) from a Chinese friend who couldn't keep her as his landlord didn't allow pets. So Lucy has always been an indoors and a family cat. Then Xiao Huang and Xiao Bai were found outside by my friend, one hurt and one in a trash bin. They were in terrible shape when I took them in, but now Xiao Huang loves being at home and Xiao Bai is out on her adventures and comes home for dinner and resting. The newest edition is Sam Sam whose previous owner moved back to Europe and could't take him with her.

 

I always had a cat named Sancho for a while, who also came from a friend, but unfortunately she went out one day and didn't come back

 

Now I think that four cats is more than enoug, even though there are often chances for having more and I even would have the space for it. But having a new cat into the pack always needs adjusting and it's stressful for the cats.

[Matty]

I've been here for 8 years now. I just found life in Australia to be too boring. (Not to mention the abundance of creepy crawlies)

 

I just can't bare to leave, in China everywhere is different, different foods, different languages, different customs, different weather, different environments, etc.

It's just much more interesting, exciting, and more of an adventure over all.

 

I walk along the street and can often see some chaos, it's more input for my mind.

In Australia you walk around and it's just empty, boring, repetitive... it's all the same.

 

There's so much more here to discover and learn.

 

 

Here: (unlike Australia)

• You don't need to wait an hour for the bus

• The government doesn't force me to vote

• The train always comes (even if it's late, eventually it comes)

• It's much much safer

• Very few huge spiders

• Very few poisonous spiders

• There's more to do than just sport and drinking

• Oh, I could go on forever!

 

Sure it's not perfect, - nowhere is - but I doubt I'll ever leave.

[Simon_CH]

I fully understand that sentiment Matty.

 

I am from Switzerland, and apart from a few sun-drenched and hormone-crazed weeks in Summer it's just a rather perfect, dull place.

 

Everyone has their perfect life, their hobbies, their gyms, their social events to attend, and it's all planned months in advance. It's just not for me and that's one of the reasons I currently much prefer life here - you could probably say I'd be happy in other developing countries as well, and that my reasons for liking it here are not uniquely Chinese - but it's one of the few countries where it's relatively easy to find well-paid work in my industry and at the same time offer that excitement and chaotic life. Needless to say Singapore probably wouldn't be for me.