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Q: What is the effect of China on the typical western male's ego?
Dude you coined the phase Rock Star
that and my favorite one from Charlie Winning!!!!!!!!
What is a typical Western male?
The answer to that needs deciphering before going any further. I guess, generally speaking, most western males egos are ignited by the "you are so handsome" fixation of even the most beautiful local girls, attracting the attention of such beauties and whatever other complimentary remarks are thrown their way.
nevermind:
Yeah, and other men around the world take it as an insult.
I don't have an ego, I've got a wife! 
Hugh.G.Rection:
I'll just check with her and get back to you with an answer. 
I don't think it has much of an effect on typical western males, just the atypical ones who, as has been mentioned got off the plane with their cocks still in the shrink wrap.
It makes me glad that I'm from the West!! 
philbravery:
I dont think you deserved the down vote for that answer so heres a equalizer
I can think of one western English teacher I met who struck me as the most egotistical dick I ever met.
It seemed to me this was the likely scenario:
- Back home in Washington he was a very average and unrecognized substitute teacher, maybe a bit pudgy, not exactly charismatic, probably was unfairly ignored and passed over for advancements.
- Got a job in a decent college in ___ China (and not that many foreigners there) and was the 'Superstar' of the school and the kids really admired him, the school, in my opinion, really over-pumped him up like he was a 'Professor'.
Okay.
But for whatever insecure reasons inside his own self - what a pompous undeservedly arrogant passive-aggressive little fuck this guy was now.
That 'petty condescension' too.
"goooood for youuuuu" and just that small-man petty sort of ego. Not 'obnoxious' but just low-grade nauseating. Ugh.
And yes I can think of a Brit and one American (one too young, the other possibly middle-age crisis zone) who - as mentioned here already - got into crazed sex-ego a-holiness realizing they were suddenly popular and could work local girls (perhaps infatuated with foreigners).
Can't decide what type is worse.
The good news - most of the westerners we meet are actually fairly humble or reasonably self-aware and put SOME effort into checking themselves.
MissA:
I worked with a guy like that in Vietnam - he hated Vietnam and kept saying how much he missed China. We worked in a big school with lots of qualified foreign teachers.
When we eventually got him to explain why he hated Vietnam, the best he could give was "in China, everyone treated me like a proper college professor!" When one of my colleagues kindly pointed out that he was, in fact, not a college professor - he was a barely-qualified English teacher who didn't know what a preposition was - he threw a massive tantrum and quit.
No effect at all on my ego, I have never been egotistical. However I do enjoy talking and having fun with women who would not have given me the time of day back home. When I say fun that is the non-sexual type of fun as I am married,but it is nice that my wife trusts me enough to let me mildly flirt with others.
I think the answer to this depends on many factors. If you are single, 20 something and living in an underdeveloped region with few foreigners then China can make the average man pretty egotistical. However, if you older and living in a more developed region with more foreigners I don't think its the case. Perhaps even the reverse is true. It also depends on your job. If you have a job teaching college students at a 2nd or 3rd tier university you are more likely it is to get to you. If you are around older Chinese adults I don't think its the case. So it all depends.
All of the white Western males that we have hired, I mean the ones 25 - 35, have arrived with a great deal of humility and usually a good work ethic. Over the course of the one year's contract, the work ethic remained. The humility went out the window and they came to believe that they were a law and a force unto themselves in China. It was very difficult for those around them to bear. In the end, their contracts were not renewed and they continued to strut their stuff in other places.
pbrown22:
That's very interesting. Care to elaborate? How many have you hired, what kind of school, what kind of behavior did they begin exerting?
coineineagh:
I understand what you're saying. But you are choosing to focus on how their *attitudes* are objectionable, and like most locals you totally ignore *why* they were so rebellious. No one listens in China. Nobody wants to improve - people are doing things the wrong way and too proud to hear a lowly foreign recruit's opinions. Frankly we don't give a damn if no-one likes us for saying the truth. It's too bad if our reality check clashes with your perception of reality, but I feel it's something worth respecting, that people are willing to risk alienating others to stick to their values. If you choose to focus on how they look arrogant while doing so, you're using a fallacious defense and it's your own loss.
What ego , i am married and i am native american (seminole/apache) 7/8, and 1/8 scotch.
my wife is chinese. who has time for one.
All I can say is I wish i'd come here in my early 20s when I was more interested in chasing girls than in my late 30s when I was getting short of breath. Going from relative obscurity to being a financially viable, quite eligible bachelor who towers over most every man in the street can go to your head, there's no denying it.
coineineagh:
Yeah, can't agree more with you there. Too bad I wasn't in China in my early 20s. Now I'm older and married, all the bimbos on the street are just unwelcome temptations, and I find myself alienating people when I try to discuss non-mindless topics. If I were in my 20s I'd just think "F*ck it". Literally. It's less fun when you're later in life.
When I came to China I was in my early 20's and the way girls here aren't 1 bit discreet about noticing you is definitely an ego boost. But then you start to realise just because every girl on the street is eyeballing you or giggling doesn't exactly mean they are interested in you.
Then as you get older the only girls you meet are just interested in marriage. Unless you're going to chase youngsters all your life!
fine, ill be the first to say it. China makes me firmly believe that i have the biggest dong in the history of mankind. All others bow down to the massivness that is Mike. Although i get the feeling that others might have been told the same thing.......
I really, really wish I was a dude in this country. Of COURSE their egos get inflated! I see how Chinese boys look at me....it's flattering...too bad I'm not interested in Chinese men. So I remain relatively date-free.
Luckily, I don't care too much.
The effect is usually negative. The egos inflate, and they become a lot more boring, in my humble opinion of course. A friend of mine said he was going to home because he could feel himself becoming a douche and needed some humility (I refrained from telling him he became a douche a while back).
I want to know, are they changed forever or is it reversible after they leave?
