Comments on: What’s China like? Which one? http://silkroadintl.net/blog/2009/02/11/what%e2%80%99s-china-like-which-one/ Your Branch Office in Asia Sat, 12 May 2012 06:52:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: shawn http://silkroadintl.net/blog/2009/02/11/what%e2%80%99s-china-like-which-one/comment-page-1/#comment-2208 shawn Sun, 08 Aug 2010 12:57:57 +0000 http://silkroadintl.net/blog/?p=376#comment-2208 China is steel not good. i had wrote some,check that in my blog: http://chinatouristboy.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-china-liketell-you-5-points.html China is steel not good. i had wrote some,check that in my blog:
http://chinatouristboy.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-china-liketell-you-5-points.html

]]> By: Jim http://silkroadintl.net/blog/2009/02/11/what%e2%80%99s-china-like-which-one/comment-page-1/#comment-1098 Jim Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:42:09 +0000 http://silkroadintl.net/blog/?p=376#comment-1098 Excellent post. Especially because I have been trying to explain this to people for 7 years -- and most don't get it. And I've also been amazed that most of the writing out there about China just misses this entirely. I just went through this "how do you explain what America is 'like?' routine with an American guy I know, trying to get him to see how hard it is to encapsulate what China is like. I lived in China for over 5 years and have been married to a Chinese girl (living in the US) for the past 4 years. What is the one thing that amazes me more than anything else? Most expats in China are utterly clueless and learn surprisingly little while there. Language is a huge factor, as you pointed out. The flip side of that: most Chinese expats in the US are even more clueless and learn even less than their Western counterparts in China. I know a lot of them. They sit in their dorm rooms and watch CCTV all day (only a slight exaggeration, believe me). I've been reading China blogs since the days of Hank...before TalkTalkChina...ah, those were the days. The number of expat China blogs has exploded since then, but the percentage of people who 'get it' is lower than ever. To be honest, it is disheartening. Excellent post. Especially because I have been trying to explain this to people for 7 years — and most don’t get it. And I’ve also been amazed that most of the writing out there about China just misses this entirely.

I just went through this “how do you explain what America is ‘like?’ routine with an American guy I know, trying to get him to see how hard it is to encapsulate what China is like.

I lived in China for over 5 years and have been married to a Chinese girl (living in the US) for the past 4 years. What is the one thing that amazes me more than anything else? Most expats in China are utterly clueless and learn surprisingly little while there. Language is a huge factor, as you pointed out. The flip side of that: most Chinese expats in the US are even more clueless and learn even less than their Western counterparts in China. I know a lot of them. They sit in their dorm rooms and watch CCTV all day (only a slight exaggeration, believe me).

I’ve been reading China blogs since the days of Hank…before TalkTalkChina…ah, those were the days. The number of expat China blogs has exploded since then, but the percentage of people who ‘get it’ is lower than ever.

To be honest, it is disheartening.

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