The China that the author describes is not the China I've seen. Housing prices may be high, but he neglects to mention that it's common for companies to provide housing to their employees. Yes, people will ask you about your money - but that's culture, and it's not impolite.
There are a lot of untruths in his article, but it's too long to pick apart. A big one, though, is about appreciation for foreigners. China does in fact have laws about foreigners, but most are designed to protect them and avoid international incidents. For example, several schools around the Shaolin Temple offer practical training in everything from hand-to-hand combat to spears to swords. Only three, however, have passed safety regulations to accept foreigners. The Chinese also likes to tell you that you're special, because they think it endears you to them, whether it's true or not.
I'll end by saying: it's hard to judge China through a western perspective.
> I'll end by saying: it's hard to judge China through a western perspective.
I have respected a lot of your contributions to this site and have historically been impressed by your comments, but this one I can't accept. It essentially boils down to a courtier's reply, except that there is no way to gain the experience necessary to comment according to your criterion.
I was a little distracted when I wrote this, I admit; it probably wasn't the most thought-out statement. I don't mean you should adopt another perspective (that'd be silly).
You're right - it's inescapable that we need some perspective on which to judge and formulate opinions, but sometimes we just need to take things in passively, and think--without forming opinions.
I'm not entirely sure whether this makes sense, or whether it just seems like philosophical nonsense.
Companies still provide housing? Are you serious? That went out with the 90s in the big cities! And even then, how many people actually work for the government or an SOE qualify for this housing provided by the company?
Its very easy to judge China through a western perspective; you just say "it was judged through a western perspective." Judging is always relative to a perspective and is useful to evaluate your situation. The author's article is not meant for Chinese, perhaps, but for other foreigners, and therefore its useful and not "bitterly biased."
Foreigner laws in China are designed to protect us? Ya, by not letting our kids go to any but the most expensive international schools? By making us re-register with our local PSB whenever we go on a business trip? By limiting how we can spend our money..which we earned in China and paid (high) Chinese taxes on? By making us pay social security taxes and then telling us we will only see that money at all if we work here for 15 years?
Why do Chinese always take criticism on China so personally as a face problem? Its common western practice to criticize something that you don't think is working right, we just treat China as an equal topic in that regard. Its not an attack, its just commentary.
I'm not taking offense in a patriotic stance. I'm offended because it's plain incorrect. I don't know if we're arguing the same thing, but I'm saying looking at China from a western perspective is misleading, and leads you to formulate judgments that are based on slanted information. It's much like how the average citizen believes he's knowledgeable about the economy.
It's still commonplace for companies to provide housing. I'm not sure how I can prove this to you, other than asking you to go to China, or read it in Chinese.
"Foreigner laws in China are designed to protect us? Ya, by not letting our kids go to any but the most expensive international schools? By making us re-register with our local PSB whenever we go on a business trip? By limiting how we can spend our money..which we earned in China and paid (high) Chinese taxes on? By making us pay social security taxes and then telling us we will only see that money at all if we work here for 15 years?"
Their schools and our schools aren't the same. If you sent your kid to a regular Chinese school, do you expect the same treatment as Chinese kids get? Is it okay for their teachers to hit your kids if they misbehave? Perhaps you'd like the rest of the kids to pretend like your kid was Chinese, even though their culture isn't as multicultural as ours.
I don't know what your complaint with the PSB registration is about. It takes two minutes, and other countries do very similar things. They're keeping track of foreigners in their country. USA, Canada - we all do it, just through different ways. Only difference is, there's an order of magnitude in population difference. I remember, actually, when I went to school in the USA, I had 10x more paperwork to fill out than going to China (I'm Canadian).
USA and Canada also limit the amount of money you can spend before you're horribly taxed. This isn't unique to China. I've never paid Chinese social insurance, so I honestly can't say. All I know is, I'm paying social security in Canada, and by the time I use it, it's going to be (probably) gone.
I think your information about China is quite outdated, or you are seeing it from a more biased perspective.
I'm a half-pat, and I don't get housing benefits; most of us don't get benefits beyond the the last two years, expats are different: they get juicy packages. Chinese employees get to contribute to a housing fund (as part of social security benefits), but as far as I can tell they don't get much from that; its basically state-mandated savings to buy a house in Beijing they'll never be able to afford. SOEs still give housing out (as well as government orgs like universities), but most people don't work for SOEs.
About education, the same problem applies to anyone without a hukou (foreigner or Chinese). Its quite ridiculous, we pay all of those taxes to keep society going and see nothing for it, and do you know how much tuition at an international school runs? I can't afford to even have kids unless I can swing a juicy expat package someday.
I'm ok with registering at the PSB when I move or once a year when my visa is renewed, but every month when I have to go on a trip? Even Switzerland's Controle de Habitant wasn't that extreme, annoying. And even worse, the policy differs between PSB offices, (Shanghai is better than Beijing) even in the same city (Haidian is better than Chaoyang)!
The paying of social security taxes for foreigners is a new thing this year, and they still don't know how it will work out. I don't mind paying taxes, I don't mind state funded retirement, or even the fake social health insurance. I just hate unfairness; every year the deal seems to get worse.
PSB registration does not take two minutes, literally or figuratively. I was at the ??? for about an hour two weeks ago. This one visit was one of many visits. Yesterday, I went to register at the local ???. I was the only person there. They processed all my documents (three passports) in one hour.
I should amend my statement above: PSB registration does not take two minutes for me. You are fortunate that it only takes two minutes for you (I am assuming you mean figuratively, though if you are being literal I am even more envious).
China is a big country. There are places in China where the administration is very efficient and effective. Most places are not. I say this from personal experience and from the experience of others who don't live in large, developed cities. Some generalizations are accurate, but like any generalization, the veracity may vary from your own local experience.
At a hotel where they are supposed to register for you it might take 2 minutes. But in my experience it takes anywhere from half a day to a week in smaller city. Half a day is the minimum because you get directed from one place to another and wait in lines. A week is how long it could take of you're missing anything they require such as a photo. Yes, it varies widely.
Hmmm... yes you can go to Intentional school. There are plenty in Shanghai. I bet you are not wealthy enough to get in?
Only Chinese people can understand the problems in China. It's a complicated society. You guys only see the surface of the soceity. Deep inside, every corner of the street is a community itself. Every village is a different society.
The one thing that people can agree on is that Chinese government puts too much time and effort in keeping GOP as high as possible, and neglect fairness. But it is hard to do anything useful: deep interest group involves in every level of the government. Bad.
>A big one, though, is about appreciation for foreigners. China does in fact have laws about foreigners
Non-Chinese are officially second class citizens(to use a western expression) if thats is what you mean by laws about foreigners . The Chinese do go about this in the nicest way possible of course but anyone who is not Chinese has little to no rights (in the way a Chinese person does).
I've recently returned from living in China (a tier 2 inland city) where I have been living with my wife (this is her hometown) for 3 years.
I found after running afoul of the administration in the college where I worked how fragile my stay in China really was. I had to leave the country (where my wife, her family, and my son were) within 10 days after losing my job.
Everything is fine in China as a foreigner, until it's not, and then it's awefull.
The China that the author describes is not the China I've seen. Housing prices may be high, but he neglects to mention that it's common for companies to provide housing to their employees. Yes, people will ask you about your money - but that's culture, and it's not impolite.
There are a lot of untruths in his article, but it's too long to pick apart. A big one, though, is about appreciation for foreigners. China does in fact have laws about foreigners, but most are designed to protect them and avoid international incidents. For example, several schools around the Shaolin Temple offer practical training in everything from hand-to-hand combat to spears to swords. Only three, however, have passed safety regulations to accept foreigners. The Chinese also likes to tell you that you're special, because they think it endears you to them, whether it's true or not.
I'll end by saying: it's hard to judge China through a western perspective.
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