Why are the old China hands leaving? Simply because this isn't the old China they used to know. This is not your rice paddy, ox cart, people in Mao suit China anymore. This is not a third world, basket case, China from the Mao days. This is not a place where 1 US dollar bills are gold, where being white grant you ungodly privileges. This is not your dad's China.
This IS a newly industrialized country. This is a place where things are happening. Where wealth are made and lost. Where the opportunity and traps exist in equal numbers. Where people are chasing after the proverbial American dream. Where the challenges, be it environmental, social, or economical, are so huge it will take a billion people to solve them.
Ask not what China can do for you - ask what you can do for China.
The key to your success, is in what you have to offer to China. Party cadres, government officials, business elites, down to the old hundred names are interested in the development and re-emergence of China. What you bring to the table is your international perspective and the know how to make that happen. As long as you have something to offer, someone will be interested in working with you. Will be you cheated along the way? Probably, but the reward at the end of the rainbow is worth the risk.
China wears people down like a break pad on a down hill rally. It is a place where 200 years of industrialization is taking place simultaneously. By my personal estimate, China is equivalent to America's Gilded Age/Progressive Era/Great Depression combined with the New Deal coming soon in October.
I would like to thank the last generation of expats for they have contributed much and endured even more. I want to welcome the next generation of expats for they will experience something even greater.
China is like a never ending roller coaster. In order to not puke, tell yourself:
Stay hungry. |
