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Moving To China!

An-DAn-D EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
edited July 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
For a year, anyway. Maybe more?

My friend studied abroad there, so he's been telling me all kind of exciting stuff about people, habits, night/bar-life and all that fun stuff. The company I'm working through (going to each English) has given me a few pages on 'what to expect' (most of it seems to deal with culture shock, homesickness and my "celebrity status" as a white guy).

But, being who I am, I still want to be super prepared. I took two years of Mandarin in college (I just graduated) so I have a fairly good grasp of the language (not fluent by any means...yet). I'm going to be in Chongqing (unless something crazy happens and that changes). I have a high-paying job and an apartment already.

So, I'm looking for any more advice/what to expects from people familiar with the area. Things that one normally doesn't think about but should when moving from the North Carolina mountains to the other side of the world for 10-12 months.

Photobooth ; ; Twitter ; Steam
An-D on

Posts

  • pogo mudderpogo mudder Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    An-D wrote: »
    I have a high-paying job and an apartment already.

    This alone will get you A LOT of female attention out there. As well as being white, you are going to be immensely popular.

    pogo mudder on
    what a work of art is man, and the most boring choice you can make
  • HozHoz Cool Cat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Don't make a bad impression on our future overlords, fellow white man.

    Hoz on
  • An-DAn-D Enthusiast AshevilleRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Hoz wrote: »
    Don't make a bad impression on our future overlords, fellow white man.

    So....don't wear my American-flag karate pants to high-end social events? o_O

    An-D on
    Photobooth ; ; Twitter ; Steam
  • stawkstawk Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    An-D wrote: »
    Hoz wrote: »
    Don't make a bad impression on our future overlords, fellow white man.

    So....don't wear my American-flag karate pants to high-end social events? o_O

    why not they were prolly made there :P

    stawk on

    stawk.jpg
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    An-D wrote: »
    Hoz wrote: »
    Don't make a bad impression on our future overlords, fellow white man.

    So....don't wear my American-flag karate pants to high-end social events? o_O

    Not without your 10 gallon hat and pistol holster. And pistol. And shotgun.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • BloodfartBloodfart Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    My advice as someone that has lived in China for 5 years is practice shopping as soon as possible so you get a feel for how to bargain down prices and how much everything should be worth.

    Find a chinese friend and get them to show you the ropes and the general pricing. When the shopkeeps see a whiteman cometh they will often up the price 10 times and it may still seem like a bargain to you. Shit be real fucking cheap in China so don't let them play games with you. Also arguing over the price, even seeming angry is expected and once the deal is finished they'll usually smile and go back to friendliness.

    Don't bother ever shopping in legit retail stores because the quality of merchandise isn't much better or any different than the cheap market stalls but the price will be much more.

    Bloodfart on
  • chaosisorderchaosisorder Cupcake Princess and Pinny Whore OregonRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    How 'in the city' will you be? I'd expect that moving from anywhere NC to multi million person city will be an adjustment as well! Welcome to long public transit...lines...insanity like so (which is actually more line like than I have *ever* seen a train or bus line here.) But it's cheap and the routines are pretty easy. Prepare yourself for a sincere lack of personal space, especially if you are in any way unusual- blonde hair, really tall, etc.

    Expect a whole new set of attitudes. You'll discover that the customer is not always right - don't ever expect a refund anywhere even on defective merchandise so inspect it as best you can before you buy, your landlord might be really, really slow to respond to problems, and yeah, your skin color makes you a target for price gouging. You'll also find being white means you get a lot of friendliness and a general 'get out of fucking up culturally free' card. You'll also find a lot of the other white folk to be jaded and less than enamoured with China.

    If you can take a business culture class, especially if you are working somewhere that isn't all expats, DO IT! Travel is cheap, so take advantage of that as well because there is an amazing amount to take in here.

    If it's only for a year, you can bring a few 'can't live without' things like deodorant with antiperspirant, shoes or clothes if you are a larger size, and

    Also, www.taobao.com is your friend to find any crap you can't find and has great prices on board games (that I'm sure are totally legit! :P )

    Feel free to PM me if you want any specifics!

    chaosisorder on
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