Conclusions: An analysis of my stay in China

Living in China / Beijing Conclusions and summations

            So...final thoughts on China?  I'll be honest, I've not had a grand time here.  It's not been slavish or abysmal, but it has been more annoying than I'd like to admit.  China has its merits but it also has a number of shortcomings.  I'll address those here as well as my recommendations about the country.  Bear in mind, I've only lived in Beijing, so please accept this as a manifesto on Beijing as much as China, not with any experience with towns or cities outside that scope.  I'm only speaking from my own experience.

Personal: I will admit upfront that many of the problems I had during my year in China are not actually the fault of China or Beijing, but just poor circumstances.  However, I will give a frank and honest report of my year as a whole.  My first impressions of China were mixed, as I liked the food a lot and was excited for a chance to see another Asian culture, however they were blunted by the crowds, as the city of Beijing is a truly crowded place.  They were blunted further by the paperwork I had to deal with and the incredibly tight time frame I was forced to work within for finding a home, especially after being dumped by potential roommates out of convenience.  Once I found a home, I actually started to like the city.  It took some getting used to, being without the amenities of home, but...I adjusted.

The pollution was something I could never fully get used to, nor the inconveniences of living in China, as there were so many needlessly complicated things.  Every week, I'd be unable to order food via phone or the internet and I had no car, so I'd have to walk to and wait at a pizza place.  I'd have to keep track of my water and electricity constantly to top off electronic cards to pay for them.  Finding a home was also difficult as the best and only one I felt suited me, I.E. was clean and homey, was almost an hour away from work.

When I first started work I was given a lighter load to help ease me into it and overall I liked the job and the students, but my first few months were hectic and full of planning and trying to get into the swing of things.  I have to say though, this was nice.  It gave me a chance to try the new food around me, which was really good and it gave me a chance to explore some of the cultural sites, which filled me with wonder and nostalgia, giving me a real chance to enjoy Chinese history, culture, and to just think and be happy for a bit.

Ultimately, what became the bane of my existence though, were the long work hours and the long commutes.  I would often work between 9-10 hour days 5 days a week and with a 1 hour commute each way, it began to wear on me.  I started wanting to stay home more and more and to go out less and less, unless I needed to.

Eventually my trips out stopped entirely.  This about brings me to when my family visited, around the six month marker.  I'd hit my stride as a teacher, I enjoyed my job(the students really do make it worthwhile), and though I'd had ups and downs, I was doing well, saving money, doing my job, etc. but they reminded me how much I truly missed home, their company...and how depressing China could be.  For me, part of it was how industrialized it was...there was no harmony with nature like in my hometown and there were too many small annoyances.  Being with my family on vacation and getting to go sight seeing, having more American style food at their hotel, and enjoying their company...I really did miss home.

I was fully integrated into living in China by the nine month marker.  By that, I don't mean I was Chinese or as good as a Chinese speaker, but I'd gotten used to it.  I just wasn't happy.  I've lived abroad elsewhere, but the tiny annoyances coupled with the pollution, censorship, and those long...LONG hours I had to work had worn me down and by this time, I'd decided on returning home when my contract was up.  I think it was a good decision, if only to get a dose of family and my own culture, but also to recover from my first year truly cut off from everyone I loved.  I'd made plenty of friends in China, both among the staff at my school and among my students, and I still keep up with some of them, but overall it was the right choice.

I kept on doing work as best I could though.  Never let it be said I am not a man of honor and my word and I kept up with my contract till it was time to go.  The writing was on the wall with news about Christian hate and discrimination on the rise, most of my favorite restaurants and food vendors closing near my home, and the general drudgery that had become part of my life.  I have to say, I enjoyed being a teacher and my staff and especially my students, however China wasn't a good fit for me.  The tiny annoyances and the frustrations with transport and long hours made it hard for me to find happiness there, mostly due to the fact I had no time...none for going sight seeing and none for after work activities...I just wanted to come home and crash.

My last few months in China were spent scrambling...trying to deal with their archaic banking system to send money home and reserving flight tickets and the like.  Very stressful.  Thankfully, my friends in China helped me out a great deal and I managed to work through it.

I've had my fair share of ups and downs here.  China isn't really a bad place to live, but you need a tolerance for the frustrations and things like the pollution, even without the poor hours I was working.  Either way, I stayed as long as I could, but it's time for another adventure.

Before I'm off, let me provide you with some more in-depth looks at China's pros and cons.

Pros:  Yes, China does have pros.  Despite what some Americans might think about the country, it's not some big scary totalitarian government...well, I mean it is, but you wouldn't know to look at it. 

The people here are frank for the most part and if you make friends in China, they will help you and are quite nice and not so fake.  They may not last when you leave the country, but they are nice for the duration.  My students are a great example of the kindness of the Chinese people, but I've experienced it from strangers as well, the odd mix of cordiality and no bones about it attitude.  People here, even if their poor English gives a bad impression, are actually pretty brilliant and have lots of views and ideas to share, many fascinating.

Prices.  Everything but electronics is dirt cheap in China.  Food, utilities, even the rent is much cheaper than in the US.  Now, you get what you pay for, to be certain, but it is easy to live well and save a lot of money in China.  You can live for under 5 dollars a day on food if you shop smart and even less in many areas.  Especially if you cook your own.

Delicious food.  Easily the best part of any stay in China is the culinary experience.  While they do overuse the corriander a bit in my experience, the food here is unlike anything you've had anywhere else in the world.  I've tasted things I'd describe as utterly delicious, decidedly weird, and all things in-between.  There are lots of unique flavors here and many can be bought on the cheap.

Cultural sites.  I've got to say, I have a hard time getting a bead on China's culture as a whole, but they've got some pretty and interesting cultural and historical sites, especially in Beijing, with the great wall being a must see and a true challenge for hikers and sightseers alike.  It's a place that's amazing if you know where to look.

Transportation: The subways here are cheap and can take you all over.  No need for a car or a bike at all.  They've been expanding at a steady rate and there are at least a dozen subway lines throughout Beijing.

Chinese Medicine.  You can and will get sick in China, but they have lots of great treatments that are natural and organic as well as pharmaceutical and artificial.  The medicine here can be quite expensive at hospitals, but traditional remedies abound and are quite helpful for getting over the many maladies you will accumulate in China.

Security.  While you're not immune to being yelled at from time to time or a pick pocket if you're not careful, violent crimes are pretty rare in places like Beijing.  The police do their job and there's security at most stores, big or small, so there really isn't a lot of violent crimes, thefts, or what have you.  Most apartments have guards or at least gates, and it's generally a safe environment.  Crime is...pretty unusual in China.  Not impossible, but unusual.

Cons:

Oh god, the pollution...the city is heavily polluted, to the point where some days it will look like a thick fog outside, but the fog smells of smoke, ash, and trash.  The water and the smells which litter everywhere are unpleasant at the best of times and the love of everyone and their mother to smoke makes it frustrating to find even a gulp of fresh air.

Complexity.  This country is needlessly complex.  Everything from paying bills, to dealing with banks, to even being allowed to live here is accompanied by pounds and pounds of paperwork, to the point that it will frustrate and exhaust you all at once.  The process for sending money home and getting registered to live at the police station are my personal choice for frustrating without necessity.  It doesn't stop at the paperwork either.  I pay for water at the bank, electricity with a card, drinking water at a dispenser downstairs, and rent by dumping money into an ATM.  In the states, I could do all that with a few mouse clicks.  Too complicated

Outdated.  Yeah, China is complicated, but they are way behind the curve in terms of technology.  Partly due to their censorship, partly due to reasons I do not fully understand, China relies almost exclusively on the Internet Explorer Browser and many grocery stores live and die from pirated versions of Windows XP.  Online banking is a literal nightmare of not just complexity but outdated idiocy and frustration.  Everything in China is behind the curve tech wise for the average citizen.

Sanitation.  I guess this could go hand and hand with pollution, but Beijing has terrible sanitation.  The bathrooms are often terrifying, when they're not just gross due to the constant smoking and awful smell wafting out of them.  Food bought off the street or even in restaurants can make you sick and are a pain to deal with and the water from the tap is not safe to drink.  Water in my sink came out brown more than once from the tap.

Censorship.  While not crippling, like a lot of things in China, the great firewall is annoying and tedious.  China blocks access to a large number of sites on the internet which are commonly used, such as google, facebook, and youtube.  This can be easily overcome with a VPN and a little patience, provided your VPN is a good one like Astrill, but it's needlessly complicated and unnecessary, as it just makes your life harder.

Speed.  Everything is slower here.  This goes hand in hand with complexity, but the internet is slower, getting food is generally slower, getting banking done is slower, the complexity, censorship and everything together mean that you will not be able to rush things in China.

Customer service.  It does not exist in China.  Or rather, it is the exception to the norm.  Generally at restaurants, you see the waiter twice, maybe three times.  Once to give you the menu, once to take orders, and once to give you food and your bill.  They do not care about your happiness and in most areas, with the exception of international places like banks, there is no customer service, especially restaurants.  If you are specifically paying someone for that service, it'll be there, but otherwise, expect little.

Transportation.  Yeah, you read right, this is a pro and a con.  The subways are cheap and useful, but they are often crowded so tight that it is hard to breathe, let alone move.  Frequently they too are outdated, with poor A/C or heating, dirty floors, and unclear readouts.  They are a chore to deal with.  Convenient, but also terribly frustrating.  The bare minimum of useful.  Also, the crowds make it very easy to spread disease.

Disease.  Yeah, I said China's medicine was good, but I was sick more in terms of days during my stay in China than in 26 years stateside.  My illnesses could be worse in the states, but I was always fighting of throat infections, strep throat, colds and flues, migraines, and the like...also food poisoning because of the sanitation problems.

Final Thoughts: Some of my words might seem scary, but here's the question most people want to know about...is China worth going to?

For a visit?  Certainly!  The cultural sites here are beautiful and while you still have to deal with the frustrations, it's a good experience.  The food is amazing and since you don't have work, you can explore and see parts of the culture, like I did with my family.  Chinese opera, stage shows, the wall...it's all worth a visit.  Best way to visit China is for only a few days/weeks, in my opinion.

For living or work?  Ehhhhhh...do your research and decide for yourself.  The frustrations in China are nowhere near impossible to overcome, but they can wear on you.  The government, frankly, is not scary, provided you don't go around waving a US flag and screaming about the political systems.  The government is not some looming presence over you.  It's just there, like the US government.  Living in China is actually pretty safe, all things considered, but generally, it does take some adjustment.  If you cannot adjust to the pollution, the complexity, or the archaic nature of their banking systems, you will have a hard time there, but ultimately, you CAN make China work.  If you don't live in Beijing, I'm not able to give you much insight onto what it would be like, but this is life in a big city in China.

For me...it was a good experience.  I learned a lot about myself.  But I'm in no hurry to go back.  I would, for my students, because they were great, but I'm looking forward to another adventure somewhere else, first.

It's been quite a journey, China.  I wish you good fortune in the future.