As I sit here in my apartment overlooking the balmy 30
degrees weather with an AQI of 350… I can barely see across the street, which is a huge
plus. Now that the obligatory update on pollution is out of the way, I can
discuss a few of the things I love about living in China. Without question, the
primary reasons I have chosen to live, work, and study in China are the
opportunities and people that I meet on a daily basis.
I feel like I could probably write a blog about each of
these two separately, but the reality is that they are complementary to the
point that I don’t think you could have one without the other in this country.
Opportunities arise, in large part, due to the people that you meet here and the people that
you meet here only come here because of the opportunities. I think we can all
agree they don’t come for the sunshine.
Explaining the dynamic of the various types of people in
China is not easy. I don’t think there’s a perfect way to describe what I mean
by that, but I’m going to do my best. There is nothing particularly unique
about the people in China that you could not find elsewhere in the world. What
makes the entire situation unique, however, is the way people in China interact
and what kind of exposure one can have while here even with relatively average
social standing. In some ways it’s like a race-based gentrification amplified
by cultural barriers like language.
(Remember, I’m speaking as a Caucasian-American living in
Beijing. From what I’ve heard, this is completely different in Shanghai and I
know for a fact it’s different for the millions of Chinese people who live in
this city. I’ll leave the moral question of this entire system for another day
since I do have a strong opinion about it.)
It’s all about accessibility—I’ll define this as who and
what people have access to that in most places in the world would be
unthinkable. The well connected in California, for the most part, are
inaccessible to the average citizen of California. To a large degree this is
what many people refer to when they talk about institutional factors that keep
the poor impoverished while the wealthy get wealthier. In Beijing, these
barriers are virtually nonexistent in the expat community. Of course there are
some very wealthy people here who are “inaccessible”, but there are an
incredible number of successful and very interesting people who drink at the
same bars student expats drink at and eat at the same restaurant that these
students eat at. Yes they have the money to eat at 辉哥火锅, but who wants to eat live frog and pig
brain at a place with a name that they can’t pronounce being served by waiters that
don’t know how to ask if you like your steak medium or well-done.
In other words, they are given two options: experience
loneliness and extreme physical comfort in Chinese-oriented spaces without the
possibility of much person-to-person communication, or they can congregate at
expat watering holes with decent food and English-speaking company.
The whole experience is like a small-town enclave trapped in
one of the most populous cities in the world. If you stay here for more than a
month, it’s almost impossible to not run in to somebody that you’ve met before,
who introduces you to somebody new, who happens to have an uncle in the
Politburo… etc.
Since I’ve been here I’ve met hugely successful businessmen
and pretty impressive politicians. I spent an entire night out eating and
drinking with the man who owns the Arena Football League in China; I spent four
hours one night drinking beers and discussing international politics with the ex-Ambassador of a Scandinavian country
to Taiwan (he’s technically not called an ambassador since Taiwan isn’t
recognized as a country, but it’s the equivalent); I went out to a Chinese
dinner and show with a European ambassador to China and several friends; had the pleasure of meeting a belligerent drunk high-ranking Communist party official who proceeded to stand on a chair in a restaurant and proclaim in Chinese to his "comrades" why China would soon eclipse the West and become the world's sole superpower before all 300 pounds of him collapses the chair and caused a minor earthquake as he hit the ground; and I
met an investor from Southern California who has funded multiple films in China
that will be and have been released in the United States. These are just a few
examples.
All of these people have incredible stories, work
extremely hard, and are definitely successful in very different ways. But never in a million years would I have the opportunity to go
out to dinner with them and even become good friends with them if I wasn’t in China. This
isn’t a unique experience. It has nothing to do with me or the charm that my
mother tells me I have. It has everything to do with being in the right place
at the right time and having a culture in common within a country that has very
little international diversity.
Which brings me to my final point, for this blog at least.
Simply because China is such a radical shift in lifestyle, it generally only
attracts people who are seriously willing to be uncomfortable and take on
challenges—the risk-loving. Half the people I invite to visit me in China think
I’m crazy and wouldn’t even come for two weeks—God forbid they might have to
use a squatting toilet while they’re here. In contrast, there are people that decide to
move their entire lives here from the comfort of some European or American city
where they don’t know a single word of the local language and have to watch
where they’re walking just in case someone stole a manhole cover on the street
to melt down and sell as scrap metal.
Every day in China is a risky adventure. But every day in
China is also an opportunity. You don’t meet many people who are lukewarm here.
That’s not to say everyone is motivated in the right way, but it definitely
means they make decisions and won’t let anyone or anything get in their way
from accomplishing something.
This is why I live in China. I can put up with the fear of
eating sewage oil or the 2-hour drive to go 4 miles on a Friday night. All of
that is worth the excitement, opportunities, and learning experiences that come
with living in a foreign city that is emerging faster than any nation in recent
history.
Here are a few pictures that are somewhat related to this blog post, and others that are just pictures of me in China.
Some of the great people I've met here. Celebrating Thanksgiving.
Another group picture out having Mexican food and Margaritas.
Most foreigners stick to food like this (Spanish paella).
And maybe some rare steak.
If I have to choose, I usually prefer the "Small Rape"
... Or Griddle Gordon's Ass and some Bullfrog Casserole.
Because squatting isn't painful enough, you have to have someone beside you with three others watching as they wait in line.
