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Q: Does anyone feel forced to live in China because of lack of choices?
I wonder if there are foreigners in some way forced to live in China because of a job, a project, family reasons, etc and how they cope with their life here?
Does the wanderlust/sadistic nature count as being forced. Going through the daily hassles of working for a Chinese company and trying to get them to produce a good product, all because I can lie to myself and say my small town life here is adventure and more entertaining than doing a normal engineering job back in the States.
Sangoku:
Yes, I believe your situation can be recognized as "force majeur" :) :) I also used to work for a Chinese company who was trying to sell services that she couldn't provide....luckily despite my white face, foreign companies can see through a bad product or service is proposed.
MrTibbles:
I worked for a Chinese company a while back. It was embarrassing.
I have a choice and choose to live in China on a part time basis only, while I continue working in my career back in Australia. This suits me and i enjoy the contrasts and the good things enough that it outweighs at this moment all the negatives associated with life in China. How long this will continue I do not know. There are times when I am in either country that I wish I was in the other and the good part is I can choose which one to be in within reason depending on my thoughts at the time.
I understand how some would feel frustrated if they were there for work, especially if the work was not their passion. It would probably drive me nuts dealing with some of the issues that could arise in that environment.
yes , i would love to live in just about any other country but here. i would love a more open and liberal country (taiwen, korea, japan, thailand, cuba, dominican republic, phils , ) but the condition and opportunity is best here for me to save 10k US a year.
woody:
I have lived in the Phils many years ago and if you think that an open and liberal country is always the best that is one place that contradicts the argument. If you have money in the Phils youn are OK and can pretty much do or bribe whoever you want, but if you think that the poor in China struggle check out the slums in the Phils and see how they go with education, sanitation and health care. I wouold think Dominican Rep would be the same. Great for you and you can take advantage of your relative wealth to live like a king but Fk most of the locals who get not a sniff from the government or the wealthy. Cuba on the other hand is probably a good example of how to do what you can to give people there basic needs but is fked over by the US and their rediculous outdated embargoes.
crimochina:
that is the one thing that pisses me off, as a person that has a true interest in politics and girls i would love to be able to hope a flight to cuba cheaply and with no problems but the US govt is always for sale to the highest bidder including the cuban dissdents, isreal georgia and any other country with 2mil to hire a lobbist
I'm stuck here for a girl.
I cope with it by remembering that, due to the fact that I am so far outside of society, and due to the fact that I'm not going to change anyone's mind about foreigners (for better or for worse), I am completely free here in a way I could never be in any other country.
I can do anything I want (within reason) (I can't kill a dude, obviously), and people who don't like foreigners will still not like me and people who like foreigners will say "so cool" or what have you.
It's like groundhog day. I have no identity, and nothing I do has any lasting impact on anyone. I wake up everyday with a reset. And that is why I love China.
Do I feel forced? No. However, I think it is one of the best options for me at this point in my life. I have wanted to travel in Asia for a long time. I also want to learn Mandarin, which is much more likely to happen if I live in China. Here I am exposed to the language, and seeing the characters in every day life, as well as on TV, encourages me to learn, at the very least, how to read them. If I weren't here, I'd have no idea what to do with my life. If that means I am "stuck," then I suppose it is a good kind of stuck.
Yes...my boss back home said, "Dude....I need you in China...maybe 8 months a year"
What do I say? "OK, but my expense account includes beer, KTV and a VPN, as well as normal stuff!" 
