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Posts: 2531

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Q: Your return from China, did it go as expected?

In a few months, a lot of people will be leaving China. I will be heading home for a visit too... and I still speak to a few people who returned home permanently in 2014.

 

I ask them how their life is going and if it was hard to transition back (some of them have been here for many years). It seems like quite a few had a hard time finding a decent job and sort of returned to the way they were before but with a Chinese family on board.

 

They thought they were going to do big import/export business but ended up in a job that they took mainly to survive. A lot of are stressed and want to return to China and the easy lifestyle it provided. Obviously this is a case-by-base basis but that seems to be the general consensus.

 

How was your experience? Are you eager to return to China or get out of it?

8 years 51 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Ahhhh....

 

 

Sounds like they made minimal effort to improve themselves while in PRC.  Maybe they fell into the LBH category, and made no attempt to get themselves out of that mindset?

Robk:

I don't think it is that they didn't try to improve themselves. A lot of them got married, had children and had big plans...

 

They wanted the best for their family but what they didn't realize is that their skill level and so called "contacts" (Chinese) didn't really want to do business with him once they arrived home (for a few in particular). I guess many of them were just deluded after being here so long.

 

China can be very good at boosting a person's ego. Once they return home, they are given a nice slice of humble pie.

8 years 51 weeks ago
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8 years 51 weeks ago
 
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Posts: 2855

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Ahhhh....

 

 

Sounds like they made minimal effort to improve themselves while in PRC.  Maybe they fell into the LBH category, and made no attempt to get themselves out of that mindset?

Robk:

I don't think it is that they didn't try to improve themselves. A lot of them got married, had children and had big plans...

 

They wanted the best for their family but what they didn't realize is that their skill level and so called "contacts" (Chinese) didn't really want to do business with him once they arrived home (for a few in particular). I guess many of them were just deluded after being here so long.

 

China can be very good at boosting a person's ego. Once they return home, they are given a nice slice of humble pie.

8 years 51 weeks ago
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8 years 51 weeks ago
 
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I think one of the main difference is that you can do whatever you want in the PRC due to the lack of law enforcement. I often drive way above the speed limit (well when I am not stuck in traffic jams), cross the street anywhere or listen to music very loud in my apartment. The numbers 1 and 2 are not doable back home for obvious reasons, the number 3 is also illegal since there are laws on noise pollution. These are two cases among countless.

 

Another thing is just that most of us have no relatives beside our partner and their family in China, thus no "must do / must go" family related stuff. We can do whatever we want or go wherever we want, whenever we decide to. Back home (this depends on where is home) we have obligations like going to the big lunch with all the family on Sunday and if we never go we will be tagged as a jerk.

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8 years 51 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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My friends how moved back in these past 2 years are all happy. Long term expats (15 years, Taiwan first and China then), they managed to stash enough cash and experience to have a fairly easy re-begin in their home country.

BTW, I do not understand the point of "easy lifestyle" in China. What are all these advantages? I like an environment of civilized people having behavioral rules to be followed for everybody's well being. In this regard China is not "easy" at all. As far as I'm concerned it's the major point of discontent for me here.

RachelDiD:

I feel that the 'advantages' are seen by short-sighted kids in their late teens/early 20s. You tend to see through them within a year though. For example:

 

--China is so cheap! 

 

Cheap things in China are cheap. Food is cheap, but it could be poison someone swapped out for actual food in order to save a few kuai. Worthwhile things that last in China are actually more pricey in China than they are in my home country.band then there is the idiot tax to contend with. 

 

--I only work xxxhours per week!

 

And, what is your job going to lead to? Promotions to a real salary? I usually make up the difference in actual work hours fixing my idiot employers' mistakes, anyway. 

 

--The people are so nice! 

 

Ha! When they want something from you. If they feel you are disposable, look out. 

 

--learning Chinese is the future!

 

Peasants are peasants...I don't care how many there are. When the Chinese actually come up with substantive innovations, we can talk about the value of learning the language. I definitely would not any to do business here. Which means that the other option for me would be to manage for a foreign company. Oh, the hell that would be.

 

 

8 years 51 weeks ago
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Sinobear:

@RachelDiD: too bad you didn't post this as a separate answer - many thumbs up would come your way.

8 years 51 weeks ago
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Robk:

Or perhaps your comment being deleted because it wasn't China friendly, like my answer in the "Chinese bodies are different" section.

8 years 51 weeks ago
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RachelDiD:

Thanks Sinobear--I figured my response was more suited to Andy's 'easy lifestyle' comment. It's been a while since I got lots of thumb-ups though...

 

Robk--I know what you mean. I actually think they are more likely to delete anecdotes than anything else. Probably because they are real stories of what people actually experience. I had a noveax riche nongs on a plane comment deleted in less than a day. 

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I'm back in France since 3 weeks.
* Job : I keep the job I had in China, I just work remotely. That makes things easy
* Accommodation : It took 2 weeks to find a nice flat in a 3 story building, very quiet, parking, insulation from 2010, clean, good as new, at a reasonable price
* Paperwork : it's a bit slow, but it works without a hitch so far : reconnecting with French welfare, wife's immigration paper
* Wife : she seems to adapt well for now, she's about to start French class. She enjoy the clean air and the quiet environment, we can find things to cook Chinese food without too much troubles. She want to meet friends, she starts to talk about going to some club and getting a job.
* Me : no problems so far, I find interaction with people much more relaxed than I'm used too, everything feels so smooth !

Robk:

Yeah, I was wondering how it was going with you. I read you were headed back home.

 

Nice to hear it is going smoothly. Have you started missing China at all? I doubt you will for at least a few months, if at all...

 

When you returned to France, did you have to prove some sort of income to get your wife over there? How did that work out?

8 years 51 weeks ago
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DrMonkey:

Missing China, nope, not yet. For my wife, I didn't have to prove a minimum income. We just needed to prove we were married and that we had a place to live ie. my parents. It was very easy, as we registered our marriage both in China and France. Hopefully, we move in our own flat this week.
 

8 years 51 weeks ago
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royceH:

G'day Dr M!

Keen to hear of your wife's trials and tribulations.  Are there any Chinese ppl around for her to talk to?

Have you taken her to a Chinese restaurant yet?

Good luck to you both.

 

 

8 years 51 weeks ago
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Mattbaker:

No income requirement..... and that's why the French are far more civilised than us English.

 

They actually believe in les droits de l'homme.

8 years 51 weeks ago
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DrMonkey:

@RobK We found a restaurant that serves food exactly like in China, not  the usual Cantonese food approximation. She know one girl, but she's far (a few hundred Km). I hope she can find some friends at her French class. The university have lots of Chinese students, so there are hopes there. Online community of young Chinese in France seems to be mostly about gossip, which is not her cup of tea.

 

@Mattbaker Ho well, that's quite the debate here, those days. Some want to make it tough, some want to keep it open. The UK situation seems to be a nightmare for the young couple wishing to settle down there :(

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