Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
After living in China for 2.5 years, I'm seeing more and more the not so pleasant sides of China. The only reason I'm still here is that I'm building businesses, otherwise, I'd be out of here in the next 5 minutes!
Personally, I'm already looking at suppliers for our brand of products in other countries as we speak as I'm just sick of tired of all the BS that we had to go through just to place one order with them!
I thought it might be interesting to contrast this perspective with how you felt when first arriving to live full-time in China.
Quote: (09-20-2015 05:44 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
China is THE land of opportunties par excellence, in every aspect.
China is THE hottest market in the world right now and for the foreseeable future. The locals spending power is exploding, their thirst for foreign goods and everything exotic (read not Chinese) is insatiable. The Chinese have money and they are looking to spend it on foreign goods and foreign expertise. This is where it's GREAT news for us, foreigners in China. I've had way more job offers thrown my way in the 2 weeks that I've been here and even before I got here than in the past 6 months in Toronto! And mind you, these are not just boring, mind numbing, soul crushing cubicle J.O.B.S!
The craziest thing is that I've had these offers without even trying other than just doing a short introduction on the expat wechat group in HZ through a contact from the Enter China private community! I can't even imagine what I'd get if i were to actively start looking or even better, started attending networking events! It simply is mind blowing!
Whether it's importing foreign goods into China, building lucrative ecommerce businesses from China or taking advantage of the incredible opportunities that manufacturing in China affords us or becoming a connector between Chinese companies and foreign companies or foreign companies getting into China, the sky really is the limit here.
So far, I've been having a blast. People have been very friendly and nice to me, both at work and the people I meet every day.
Lots and lots of options! That's the beauty about China. There are options and opportunities everywhere. It's just a matter of picking one, focusing on it and not get sidetracked and distracted by other "shining objects" as they will be thrown at you every single day. Multiple times a day!
China is happening, it's a land of unlimited opportunities. In China, even as a relatively young and inexperienced guy, you can get access to or walk your way to interesting and fulfilling positions and career within a short time. Why? Because China is happening and they are hungry for Western minds, ideas, creativity, expertise and experience.
As soon as you walk the streets in China, you notice an air of excitement around you. A land filled with unlimited opportunities where dreams can and do come true. I have rarely been as excited as I am now and I've rarely felt as alive as I have been ever since I arrived in China almost 2 weeks ago. The excitement is very palpable. Not just in me but in anyone who's got any ounce of ambition in life.
Guys, I invite you to join me, on my Journey in the land of Endless Opportunities, CHINA!
I wonder how if feels to re-read some of the things your wrote two and a half years ago and how much your thinking still resembles your initial reaction to moving here.
I don't ask this to pick on you, but rather because I think there's some value to those who are considering China in their career plans.
Your excitement about moving to China is not surprising. Many of us who have lived here experienced a similar exciting upon first arriving.
The big question is how many of those "unlimited opportunities" panned out? How many of them resulted in people not keeping their promises and being stonewalled by local Chinese folks or other expats who were hoping that you'd do all the work and they could just sit back and count the cash. However, this discussion is off-topic for the purposes of this thread, so
I'll address in the original thread.
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
One MAJOR point that really needs to be addressed by western countries, is the fact that we Westerners should follow a reciprocal set of policies on things with China. If say foreigners cannot buy houses and land in China, cannot work on a spousal visa or working on our business while holding a legit and proper business visa, that we have to report to the local police station (like a criminal) each time we return to China while being in China legally, or upon arriving at a very commercial city by train, being stopped and told to go to the police station booth at that train station to check your passport, then the very same should apply to Chinese when abroad. As simple as that.
I've had similar thoughts. It may be a stretch for Canada (or any other country) to implement a different process of business registration for the citizens of different countries, but it would be more or reasonable to have reciprocal visa offerings. For example, the people of any country that does not allow Canadians to become citizens through in a straightforward and reliable method should not be allowed to become citizens in Canada.
If their country doesn't permit student visa holders to work 20 hours per week while studying, then Canada shouldn't permit them to work with a student visa either.
If marrying a citizen of a specific country doesn't lead to citizenship or at least permanent residency in said country, then their citizens shouldn't be granted the same opportunity in Canada.
Fair is fair.
However, this is all extremely unlikely to occur. The visa policies in Western nations are not dictated based on what is fair or a desire to pressure other countries to be hospitable to their citizens. The big driver seems to be the needs of the elite, who need plenty of skilled and unskilled workers willing to seek employment for the low, low wages.
Still, it's nice to dream. If Trudeau wanted to be respected by China, implementing such a policy (not just for China, but for all countries) would stop them in their tracks. The CCP and the Chinese business elite would not enjoy being suddenly unable to send their children to countries like Canada to build a life and hide their ill-gotten gains, just in case a quick escape is ever required.
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
Not to mention how hard it is to get the kind of food (say real proper bread and cheese or plain natural yogurt!) and other thing that we take for granted in the western world.
I hope you aren't being serious about this one.
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
It is time for the Western leaders and countries to grow a pair of balls and stand up to them and stop letting them pillage our resources, our lands, our expertise and knowledge and dumping their cheap fake crap onto our markets while they put all kinds of barrages and BS "regulations" to allow us to do business in their land and access to their market.
This might happen if our leaders gave a damn about us ordinary people.
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
Yes China is the biggest market in the world, however, it's only ONE single market, there are plenty of other markets out there that could be as lucrative for the smart entrepreneurs who have something valuable to bring to the market.
This is true and this is why my own business strategy doesn't specifically target China. It would be great to make money in China, but I've approached the idea of doing so with two goals:
(1) Create products that can easy navigate past all the BS efforts to make it next to impossible for non-Chinese to make money here. Digital products for example, are a great means of doing this. The Chinese can ban everything that they want to ban, including specific domain names, but my 90% of my customers would have VPNs, so there's really nothing to stop a person from selling a digital product in China, provided that they have a means of collecting payment (which is 95% of the challenge, but my strategy deals with that).
(2) Be prepared to walk away from attempting sales in China if it simply isn't worth the trouble. I'm seriously considering charging a "tax" in China to compensate for the excess barriers to entry there, because otherwise, there are far better markets to target.
That being said, there's a lot that can be accomplished here if you fly under the radar, so I've been creating products designed specifically to ease doing that.
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
Being on the ground, it's more and more obvious that the Chinese are becoming more and more cocky and arrogant. There's a very strong and palpable sense of superiority and nationalism that is fostered at all levels. The recent Lone Wolf movie, which was a blockbuster here is a great example of that.
What I like about the Chinese is that they are not particularly racist. They aren't making foreigners sit at the back of the bus and they are always more than happy to accept your business if you've got cash to spend. This isn't always the case in Japan and Korea (where people are very much racist).
They are, however, very nationalist. In fact, people just about everywhere are extremely proud of their countries. I've concluded that this is in part due to a desire to have a meaningful identity, in the same way that everyone sees themselves as above average. It's no shock that just about everyone in the world likes to think of their country or culture as ultimately superior to others.
Even for natives of countries that are clearly inferior, they'll come up with BS reason to subtly infer the superiority of their identity based on nothing more than the dumb luck that had them born in a particular country.
This is why people from Latin countries won't shut the fuck up about their "Latin passion" or why Americans like to make jokes (that usually make no sense at all) about Canada.
It's no surprise that the average person cultivates value from their national identity, because 99% of them don't have great lives. So, instead they draw a sense of personal value from being Chinese. The current national belief is that they are genetically superior to all other peoples and if the evil foreign powers hadn't "broken the rules of fair play" back in the day, they'd be 100% running the whole world today.
This not only explains why they can simultaneously live in a third world country and believe themselves to be culturally superior, but it also serves as a justification for any dirty business tricks they pull on non-Chinese folks, because as far as they see it, they are just helping to speed up the return of a natural balance to the universe (where China calls the shots and everyone else is grateful just to be tossed some table scraps from time to time).
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
Not sure if this is the best policy moving forward if they want to improve their image abroad and want to be the next super power culturally speaking.
They don't really give a damn. Aside from the loss of face (this phrase really means "revealing your inferiority") that comes with their tourist behaving badly, they don't value or enforce good behavior in their own society. This is a country where the only thing that matters is winning and winning constantly.
That being said, I have to give credit to all the Beijingers who have learned to line up orderly for subway cars. It's just too bad that they still insist on shoving their way on board before those coming off have had a chance to do so. Because #winning!
Quote: (12-27-2017 03:59 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
As to why that clown of Trudeau was received like a nobody is that because he is a nobody!
But try telling that to him.