Living as a foreigner in China
Each foreigner I meet in China shares many similarities with me. In a typical conversation, we will both state that we teach English, are currently dealing with some sort of issue pertaining to our visa/residence permit, and the decision to come to China resulted from a 3:00am decision to completely change our lives. Since we all live in China under similar circumstances, there is a profound sense of common understanding among most foreigners here. Here, I will break down the most interesting aspects of our day-to-day lives.
Chinese law enforcement and foreigners
Like most developed countries (minus European Schengen Area states), China cares a great deal about who crosses its border and resides within the mainland. This means foreigners must go through extensive stacks of paperwork and sometimes interviews to obtain a visa for entry. For those of us intending to stay in the country for an extended period of time, this can be troublesome because the types of visa offered by the government are for no longer than 60, 90, or 180 days at best (with the exception of work visas or long-term student visas).
This leads expats to participate in some complicated, not to mention expensive, tactics to attain legal residency status. For example, I interned in Beijing for three and a half months, and now I study at a university in Chengdu. I, therefore, reside here on a visa that is valid for one year, but only allows me to be on the mainland for 90 days at a time. This is an exceptionally common situation for foreigners, who have developed various “border run” routes to Hong Kong, Macau, and Mongolia to essentially step off the mainland, turn around, and cross right back over the border to re-activate their visas.
After navigating the complicated world of entry and exit documentation, foreigners are required to undergo additional registration procedures with their local police departments. Failure to do so can result in hefty fines, detainment, and even deportation. This level of difficulty for foreigners makes many wonder just how welcome we are on the mainland. Are we viewed as untrustworthy, or are all these steps just ways for the government to help ensure our safety?
Everyday attitudes toward foreigners
As with any other language, Mandarin has different ways to refer to foreigners, the most common being waiguoren (外国人). Chinese, however, is a tonal language, so if you say this word with incorrect tones, you get歪果仁, which has a much less flattering meaning. Furthermore, a more colloquial term for foreigners, laowai (老外) gets tossed around in conversation but can be interpreted as derogatory. Yet as foreigners bring this issue up with Chinese citizens, they are assured the word does not have a negative connotation. Yet, address a Chinese person outside of the mainland as a laowai and their reaction will not be positive.
These sorts of contradictions are what foreigners in China encounter daily. Let’s take, for example, attitudes toward English teachers. In the large Tier 1 cities, demand for English teachers is absurdly high, and salaries are just as hearty. This gives the impression that foreigners are welcomed with open arms. China, however, is a country of conflicting messages. This summer, a rapper in Chengdu released a song essentially focused on lashing out at foreigners. One line when roughly translated asserts that foreigners come to teach English here because they are not skilled enough to start a career in their home countries.
China’s Appeal to Foreigners
Despite the pains of residency documentation and the exceptionally confusing impression Chinese citizens present to foreigners, many of us stay in China for years on end. For some, teaching English is the end-goal. But for most of us, China is a period of transition. The ease of finding well-paid work in China combined with the comparatively cheap cost of living makes the country an ideal location for those of us not sure where to go next in life. Very few foreigners I interact with intend to stay in China for the rest of their lives, not that the option is even available for most of us anyway.
But as an intermediate step between graduation and finding a domestic job, between one job and the next, or just because a change is necessary, China fits the bill. Day-to-day life is rarely simple, easy, or free of uncomfortable moments. But living here, foreigners have a chance to block out everything but China itself, and re-invent their lives to their liking. That’s why the all the frustrations China presents are secondary to the chance to leave the average routine and experience the out of the ordinary.
Edited by Cheyenne Abrams.
