Ni hao (Hello)! I am honored and somewhat a little nervous about writing this article for The LoJo.. Through the miracle of the Internet and a
little help from the social networking site called Facebook, I was able to get reacquainted with a respected and old friend, Jim Turner.
Jim asked me to submit a piece about living in China. I will try to stick to the facts and give you a little insight to life in one of the fastest
growing countries in the world right now.
It started in November 2007 when my lovely wife, Britton, came home from work one day as I was sitting on the patio reading the mail. She walked up the
driveway and said, "How much do you love me?" My response was, "Where are we moving to?" She said in a guarded tone, “Well….. How about China?" and
I replied, "When do we leave?"
So, on Jan. 6, 2008, just two months later, we landed in DaLian, China. DaLian is a small city of 6 million people located on the east coast of the
Yellow Sea, about an hour flight from Beijing.
How did we get here? At the time, Britton was working for a company in Tennessee as an Industrial/Process Engineer. The facility was purchased by a
Chinese company that was interested in a proprietary process at her plant. That’s how we got here. When we moved, someone asked me what was I going to
do in China? And at that time I didn’t know but I knew I would find something to do. That something turned out to be teaching English as a second
language to Primary and Middle School students in the government-run public school system.
Now, I know what you are thinking, Jim Herderhorst teaching English? He can barely speak English himself, much less teach it! But I will tell you it
has been a very rewarding experience.
What are we both doing now? Unfortunately, Britton was affected by the economic crisis and was laid off as part of a cost reduction effort. It was a
crushing blow and we had to make a tough decision, stay or come home and take our chances with the economy and job market. We decided to stay for
another year. Through my contacts I was able to get Britton a job teaching English as a second language, but now she is teaching at Li Gong University
in DaLian and is also completing her Masters in Business Administration online through the University of North Alabama.
So, that is a little history, now a little about life here in China. One thing is for sure, the Chinese people have treated us with nothing but
respect. Many have gone out of their way to help the “Laowei” (foreigner). They are, for the most part, a culture of kind and generous people.
Obviously, the most difficult part of living in a foreign country is the language barrier. We always get the question, “Can you speak Chinese?” The
answer is no, but we can communicate. Communicate means that we know certain sentences and many words in Chinese that help us convey what we want or
need. But we do cheat a little, too: we have a talking English-to-Chinese electronic translator we use when we get into a pinch.
The food was also a challenge, not so much for my wife as it has been for me. Britton is much more adventurous in that department than I am.
Traditional Chinese food is prepared with many vegetables, something else that I am not accustomed to. Chinese food in America is not exactly like it
is here in China; Americans have “Westernized” the Chinese food so that we can eat it. Many dishes in China that are served with meat have the bone
left in, especially chicken and fish. Nothing goes to waste; when an animal is served the Chinese eat many parts of many animals that we consider
inedible. And if you are wondering, we both can use chopsticks. I can even use two sets, one in each hand!
There are many cultural differences between the East and West. This is the part that I have had to limit myself. I could go on for days with stories,
some humorous, some not, about things that we have experienced. But I have selected a few to share with you.
1. Men are still the dominant factor in most everything business, but there are a few women that are
breaking through some of those barriers. Men hold the most prestigious positions and the salary scales
are off-balance. Sound like somewhere else that you know??
2. The idea that we have always been led to believe is that “Saving Face” is their most important goal in life.
This is true and false, it really depends on the situation. When it comes to money, they are as cut-throat
as anyone else, if not more. But in matters of integrity and honesty they hold true to their values of
protecting their family name. In a nutshell, if they can sell you something for five times what it’s worth then
they will, but if you truly need something they will move heaven and earth to get it for you.
3. China is a communist country, but I can safely say that there have been very few times that we have been
directly affected by that. There are a couple of examples that come to mind. When the uprising with the
people of Tibet occurred just before the Olympics, you might be watching CNN and when the broadcast
started to report on the situation there the screen would go off for about five minutes with “Technical
Difficulties.” Another example is that the government controls when the heat is turned on and when it gets
turned off. Most every building is connected to the central system; the scheduled date for the heat to
come on this year was Nov. 15. We had already experienced several days of single-digit temperatures.
Fortunately, we have self-contained HVAC in our apartment, so it didn’t affect us too much. But we were
glad when the heated floors were turned on!
4. There is a lot of red tape to get something done. Yes, much more than at home, if you can believe that.
Many times it depends on who you know, so corruption can play into that equation as well. We
experienced that first-hand during my never-ending saga to get my Chinese driver’s license; it took a
total of six weeks and five attempts at the written test to pass it. But it all worked out in the end and I am a
legal driver now.
Living in China has helped Britton and me look at many things in a different light when we come home to visit. Most importantly we now appreciate the
things that we took for granted. Small things like comfort foods (candy, our favorite wine, hamburger helper, etc.), college football, driving within
the laws of the road! I won’t get into that here, since it is another whole article!
I would like to close by saying that the Chinese people are evolving; living here we see it happening all around us. Don’t get confused and think that
the term “evolving” means becoming “Westernized,” since it’s not. It only means that they are beginning to understand business as it applies to their
quality of life. The Chinese people are like anyone else in any other walk of life; they have the same worries about their money, their security, and
their future. In the mornings they are trying to get from point “A” to point “B”, get their work done, and in the evening get back to point “A” again
as efficiently as possible, so that they can take care of their families as best they can.
We came to China with open eyes, knowing that it would be a challenge and it has been. But it has also been a very rewarding experience, one that we
would not trade.