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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: How do expat communities in China compare to ones in other countries?
Does China being China (and all the frustrations etc that go with it) lead expats in China to be generally more unhappy than expats in other countries? Most of the folk I've met here (and on this forum) seem to not be able to stand the place.
Personally I can't compare because I've only lived in one expat community (China), though a friend of mine who spent 2 years in Japan and then 2 in China noted that the percentage of "undesirable characters" (you know, the ones who make the news a lot and make us all look bad) that he met in Japan was lower than China. Just his opinion though and of course it's a subjective issue.
What are your thoughts?
I lived in Spain prior to coming here, and it seems that most expats grumble about anything slightly different or less advanced than things they are used to back home. Many expats are here because they failed at home or were forced here through unforeseen circumstance. These are generally the people less happy with their surroundings. The people who left to travel and experience their new home with an open mind and with the knowledge that china is a developing county take these problems in their stride. And therefore are generally much more happy and content. And china does seem to collect more strays And less desirable people bit like Spain in that respect!!
The expat circles in China on the whole tend to be a far grimmer refection of western society than say Thailand.
In my limited experience there appears to be an entrenched dullness or extreme wackyness to the expats I have had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with in China.
Newer candidates offer a slightly brighter outlook but the long termers either suck the life out of a conversation- setting a new world record for monotony or seem to be so off the scale of normal brain function that it is almost impossible to maintain a functioning dialog.
The worst part of my observation is that I suspect I will soon be joining one of the above camps!
sam239:
That's difficult to believe, I've found the expats here more "normal", like people I know in the west, than in Thailand. The immigration bar is low there, though I hear it's lower in Cambodia and the Phillippines.
The ones here working legally are typically the same everywhere I have been, the ones visiting long term, working illegally or thinking China is one big bar and whore house seem to be worse than others, even Thailand, that is saying a hell of a lot.