“Why are Some People on the Internet so Angry about Working in China?” and Other Questions: A Brief Introduction
I had an interview at 2pm on a Wednesday. I tried to pick out which clothes said “I understand the internet.” After some reflection, I decided that social media experts probably wore trendy clothes in monochrome schemes while saying phrases like “engagement rate” and “audience growth.” I was somewhat familiar with the work for which I was about to be interviewed, but I was very much unfamiliar with the context in which I was about to do it. I had been living in China for 7 months, but had struggled to find satisfying work or a stable, attractive offer. When working as a teacher, my coworkers were often foreign nationals like me, and my working life was scored entirely in English. In a bid to change my circumstances, I decided I’d shoot for something different, and took up a friend’s offer to recommend me to someone looking for an English-language social media and content writer. I got the job and started working for a company where I am currently the only non-Chinese employee.
That was one month ago. In the meantime, I’ve had friends and acquaintances ask me all kinds of questions about my new job, or tell me about their previous experiences working at Chinese companies as a foreign national. Complaints abound, from deep-set nepotism to dishonest coworkers. Although my time at this particular company has been brief so far, the more I hear the more thankful I feel that I don’t see my situation reflected in those stories. Pain wants an audience; people who are content with their circumstances don’t talk about them nearly as often as those who aren’t. We’re not always reminded of that before we receive unsolicited advice though, and it is easy to be tricked into believing that one side has a far stronger majority than it truly does.
Anyone considering moving abroad and entering the workforce in a country distant both geographically and culturally will have questions about fitting in, working culture, and expectations. Unfortunately, when you search one of these questions your answers tend to fall into two groups. The first group comprises burnt-out expats with nothing but bad things to say after a particularly negative experience. The second comprises impersonal, self-help styled articles often written by people local to the country who have international experience. The former group hardly presents a nuanced picture and are usually just as eager to let off steam as to actually help anyone. On the other hand, the latter comes off so impersonal as to be useless (yes, you can explain the concept of “face” in China to me 20 times but that does not mean it will actually prepare me for anything).
I’d like to strike a balance I haven’t seen. I want to talk about challenges but also emphasize the good things, injecting a little bit of much needed optimism and advice into the internet conversation around working in China. Over the coming weeks I’ll share my adjustment process to both a new line of work and a new working culture. I want this to be personal in a way that the articles I read never were, but also highly practical. Part blog, part self-help, part journalism. Let’s begin!
Feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me at crockett.d.ford@gmail.com if there are any questions you have, topics you want to hear about, or just to chat!