How China Changed A Young American.

This is a guest post by a young American businessman named Filly.

I arrived in China on July 15th, 2005.

After a long sweaty ride complete with baneful Chinese radio, I finally made it to the University where I would study my MBA, way out in what seemed to be an abandoned concrete jungle with half constructed subway pilings and 4×8 pieces of plywood strewn about for mud crossings. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “what the hell we are going to do in this place for eighteen months?”

Eighteen months flew by all too fast however. It wasn’t long until I found all the expat playgrounds and hang outs: restaurants, bars, and shopping centers, etc. I became connected to the grid so to speak. I was slowly coming to the realization that anything I wanted I could have, and that my dollar was going a lot farther than it had in the past. Do you know how habit forming that kind of situation is? I mean the girls, the booze, rock star foreigner gawking, the whole works. For a China rookie this can be quite habit forming.

Months before I graduated from the MBA program I was studying in Tianjin, China, I already knew that I was going to stay in China. I had for the most part adapted to my surroundings and the lifestyle seemed to agree with me. I also made quite a bit of progress with the Chinese language and couldn’t help but see potential on the career horizon; so of course I decided to bolster it with a few more years of immersion. At the time I set myself a goal to become a China expert, learning everything I possibly could about all aspects of culture and business.

Now, some folks are openly bearish on China and are quick to say that no non-native will ever be a China expert, and they may be right. But, China is not going anywhere in the near future, and I am convinced that contacts made here are only for the best no matter what country you are from. There will still be opportunities for many years to cooperate with the Chinese, and you sometimes have to bite the bullet and do it their way no matter how frustrating it can get. In any country and in any industry you have to stick and move—get while the getting is good.

On that note, I would say that China has forced me to always consider “gray area” or black market alternatives to get things done. I think someone even told me one time that if you aren’t doing something illegal in China you are getting screwed. Maybe it was me who said that?

Of course as a result of the recession and Chinese tax reformations, it is becoming increasingly difficult to take advantage of these gray areas; but to put it all bluntly China could force a person to really drop some moral values. After a long enough period of time in a different culture, the ethical absolutism and cultural relativism continuum can blur immensely.

At one point I tried to become as Chinese as possible. I thought to myself, I can become completely accepted here and wipe away my foreigner status; I will speak, eat, and sleep like a Chinese. Hell, there was even a time when a feeling of defensiveness used to wash over me when I saw another foreigner walking by. I look back on this now and can’t help but think what a moron I was. If China and other successful expatriates have taught me anything, it’s to always find opportunities to be the foreign face with an understanding of the Chinese culture; you will NEVER be Chinese. This is definitely true in business—you get paid more that way.

I find myself extremely bored when I go back home for vacations. Things just aren’t the same and after four years here in Mainland China, and I’m not sure that I fit in anymore at home. Let’s face it, for some of us China is a drug. We keep on coming back for more at one time or another, trying to figure out exactly what it’s all about. Sometimes we overdose and have screaming fits for weeks at a time. Sometimes we are so high on it that we forget who we are. If you find yourself in a different place, in a different time zone, could you become a completely different person?

Being in China has changed me in universally good ways as well. Anyone in a foreign culture learning a new language learns a new life; and it flat out expands the brain. Studies conducted by the Kellogg School of Management and INSEAD indeed indicate that living in a foreign country for extended periods of time improves creativity. Don’t all of you China cognoscenti find that dangerously encouraging?

Related posts:

1. Old Tianjin Is Destroyed.
2. Saturday Spew And Shout Out: October 3rd 2009.
3. Saturday Spew And Shout Out: October 10th 2009.