# Second Thoughts - Moving to China



## Cupcake23

Hey all, 

Its my first time here. So I am a recent graduate (well, graduating July but done with exams) and I am getting a 12 month paid graduate internship in China ( I have options of either Beijing or Shanghai). I spoke to the people, and they only have great things to say (they even commented on how im 'petite' and would easily fit in with the Chinese ladies). My worry is: 1. I am of Black/African origin, and I have heard some terrible things about racism in China. How 'accepting' are they? Is it stone-age ish? Hows the culture there.. Is this true? 2. I am female, somebody told me its not safe there at all, and the laws are ridiculous. The lady i spoke to was really suprised that I am travelling alone, and said you are really 'brave', I do not know what the hell that meant but it scared the craps out of me. Will I be lonely? Am I doing the right decision? I am thinking of just forgetting it and dealing with the recession here!

ps: yes it is one of those internship programmes with fees, you pay and they help secure you a placement/interview. There is another one for India (Delloite firms etc). Again, These people seem really genuine .. I do not know to what extent they are being authentic. I am just worried. I would love to experience a new place/culture etc now that I am young with no responsibilities or baggage. The UK is in recession and there are no jobs for people without experience so this sounded really good... but like I said, i am a bit sceptical about the Chinese culture. Can somebody please answer me.


----------



## Cupcake23

I would also like to know, where would you reccomend between Shanghai and Beijing for a young black woman. I am sorry that I am stressing my race, but I heard these things are very important in China. I do not want to have bad experiences so that is why I am stressing about a few things. I am sorry if this comes out a bit shallow.

And just to add, It is a proper Business Internship (I have options for Consulting, Marketing or Human Resources) So its not English teaching.


----------



## bellakem

Hi
I have never been to China, but one of my older sisters visits there frequently. She has nothing but nice things to say about China and the Chinese people. She says it's mostly curiosity about her skin more than anything else. She says she spends a lot of time posing for pictures and being asked if they could touch her skin. They find it fascinating. She mostly goes to Guangzhou and Taiwan and says she would live there absolutely without fear. One of my neighbors friends is married to a Chinese woman and they live there. I met them on one of their holidays here. He says her father had a hard time accepting him, but he learned Chinese, started his own business and showed he wasn't a slacker and now the dad adores him, along with the little girl they have now. My nephew just graduated college and is looking to move to China or South Korea to teach English. I am not sure about other areas, but there seems to be quite a big community of Nigerians in China. If you do a google search of black bloggers, you will find at least one has been or lives there and can help with your questions. I don't know if l can mention names of blogs here..perhaps someone could advise and l will tell you.


----------



## cschrd2

Actually I have not seen racism in china over the 10 years I stayed there, surely not more then you have in other country. Typically at work Chinese prefer to work with Chinese, if you speak the language most of the barriers are gone. Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are much more open towards other races then Beijing. 
As far as safety china is much better then at home in bigger cities. Typical rules should guide you, don't show lots of cash of extreme valuable stuff. My daughter has travelled quite a lot alone throughout the country without any issues. 
Hope you will have a swell time, you will have your challenges but see it as a country girl in the US moving to New York.....


----------



## cschrd2

Just last week i met a couple of friends that indicated that in current police checks lots of colored persons are checked severely on ID and work permits. They seem to profile that because there were a lot of colored immigrant workers (native African) that were entertainmg men in nightlife. After something happend in Beijing some time back, the police started a crackdown on all foreigners working without a proper license. This is maybe the what your referring too.


----------



## JasJas

Hi Cupcake, this is my first post here also. So happened i saw your post before i am going to raise mine about leaving in Europe. I am chinese and currently leaving in Singapore. My opinion as below, hope it can help to address your concern:
1) Is there any racism for Black/African origin people? i think you can totally forget about your stress about race. Chinese ppl in general are very friendly to foreigners, as you mentioned that you are going to do business Internship in either Beijing or Shanghai which are the biggest city in china, local ppl there are so used to work with foreigners, they may still be curious about your mother country and culture, but they will not be as excited as their first time seeing white or black ppl 10 or 20 yrs ago  And do not worry that your skin color make ppl relate you to African works in Southern part of China, even they do not understand your language, they can tell from the way of your talking, manner, and behavior.
2) Which city to choose between beijing and Shanghai? for me they are like 2 persons with total different personality. Beijing is more on the side with rich traditional culture, you can feel from building, historical site and even local ppl's daily life, while Shanghai is more fast paced with all the modern skyscraper, as well as the living style, you may easily feel at home there. By the way, my french boyfriend did his internship in Shanghai few yrs ago and he start to fall in love with Chinese culture since that.....
3) Is safety a concern? agree with upstairs, apply the typical rule for single young lady everywhere, do not trust strangers easily, do not walk alone in the middle of the night, etc....among all the china cities, public security in Shanghai and Beijing are the best.


----------



## noahdzissah

Hi 

From reading ur post , I figured u are black and a female wanting to visit china and will be here for long. 
I am an african from Ghana . Live in shanghai for 5 years.

There are two things involved in ur situation. 
1. 
If u will be here on short term say 3-6 months , u will enjoy it cos u will be ignorant of their ignorance .
U will become fed up with all the staring and embarrassing questions such as why u so black , how did u get to china 
And because u are black , u will be considered as African . 

2. 
When u stay here for long , u get to mingle with other foreigners who has been here for so long such as me. I've been here for 5years .
When that happens u get to understand certain things they say that u thought were nice .
Things have changed though , gone were the days when no one wanted to sit by u cos of ur skin. 

So , in short , the fun depends on how long u going to stay and how much patience u have cos ..... U will need lots of that so long as 
U going to live in any of these cities.

Surprisingly enough , in my opinion it's better in the smaller cities than the bigger ones. 

Again these are my personal experienced and opinions. 你好!


----------



## GrahamWeifang

Hi Cupcake,
There is racial discrimination in China.
But you won't be aware of it.
The Chinese are far to smart to let you see or feel it.
As I see it, the African origin people are mostly living in South China, (very few in North China) but they don't seem to have a good reputation.
Unfortunately, this reputation is rubbing off onto the good ones as well.
From my experience, almost all African decent people live in Guangdong, prov. with Guangzhou drawing them all in for city work.

Graham


----------



## GreenGene

*Think Thrice!*

I will be brutally honest with you. China is a very racist country but they will not insult you - just avoid you. If you are anything but white or Chinese, you will be invisible to Chinese society and unless you find work with an International company, it will be very hard for you to find work. If you are oblivious and have thick skin, then by all means come and enjoy the historic sights and great food. If however you are sensitive to discrimination, have your partner meet you in Japan or Malaysia for a less stress-free holiday.


----------



## USAGary

The USA and UK are much more racist and unsafe than China. The Chinese are just nationalistic, they prefer their people to be Chinese. All foreigners are generally treated the same... politely and as a guest.


----------



## ikreton

I think you should explore the world on your terms, not other people's terms. Of course I say this not having gone anywhere yet.


----------



## lwx054

Hi, I can understand your feeling about china, but if you live here long, you can feel many Chinese ppl want to make friends with you, they are also interested in your culture


----------



## GrahamWeifang

Hi all,

Back to Ikreton's post, I think you should explore the world on your terms, not other people's terms. Of course I say this not having gone anywhere yet. 

Traveling and living in a place are so very different, one is often just skimming the surface, and the other, if you dare, lets you go deeper, and become more involved, and make strong ties.
There is the travel "rose tinted glasses" and of course, the actual living in a place, day after day, week after week, year after year.

I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to both travel and live in many countries.
Travel countries, now stand about 33, and real living countries for more than 2 years, now stand at 5.

I have lived in UK, USA, South Africa, Norway, and China.
I an whole heartedly say, I have felt more welcome, and more accepted in China than any where.

It's not perfect, but it good.
It's so good, I have no plans to consider moving any time soon, I say this also because I am married to a wonderful Chinese girl.

Then our newcomer, lwx054, "Hi, I can understand your feeling about china, but if you live here long, you can feel many Chinese ppl want to make friends with you, they are also interested in your culture "

In my opinion there is far more respect here than I have felt in any place worldwide.
The child upbringing is generally very strict, and respectful, some thing long forgotten in many places of the Western world. Dare I say that I put UK at near the top of the disrespectful children's list.

Strictness is something that is vital in good upbringing, I am sure we all agree, and this is adhered to very much by the family virtues, and close family ties in China.
Yes, there are exceptions, of course there are.

The west in general, seem to ridicule China, through the fear of the unknown, and also through the fear of domination.
It is hardly surprising, that China's relentless advancement is going to ruffle a few feathers along the road.

Any one considering moving to China will either like it, or dislike it.
I am happy, I like it, but it's not going to suit every one.
Sure you have to try to learn some Chinese, "Hello, how are you, my name is ______take a Chinese name, so your expanding group of Chinese friends, have a Chinese name to call you by.
It gives them a feeling that you are genuinely respecting China, and that you also to a degree feel that you are becoming an "Honoury" Chinese"
If you thought the Americans were patriotic, then it will be a surprise to you to realise how patriotic, China is.
But not every one, there are people, Chinese people that don't agree with much of the government.Typically, these will be rich business men, and you will learn that many of them, aspire to depart China.

So all I can say is, when and if you do decide to move to China, forget much of what you have read in many of the western media, come to China with an open mind, be prepared for a side shift.

Gra.


----------



## natesiy

There is great insight to the above posts. Having lived here for almost 10 years, I can safely say that times are changing (at least in Beijing). There WAS a lot of racial discrimination before. On the streets and at work it would be 50/50. I can safely say you would be on the extreme ends of things, people would be overly friendly or very distant. Hiring would also be 50/50. Some HR managers would love you, some would not. 

Now, Beijing has opened up to a lot of different nationalities and foreigners are becoming more commonplace (not common, but more commonplace) and these days you may not even get a second glance. You work, you live, you do your thing and you go home. 

In terms of safety, Beijing is one of the safest cities in the world that I have lived and seen. You have absolutely NO REASON to think twice regarding the safety here.


----------



## USAGary

If you come as a teacher then you will have no problem living comfortable on the wage.


----------



## ftfy

Do they respect Cambridge Certificates ? FCE, CAE, CPE?


----------



## USAGary

ftfy said:


> Do they respect Cambridge Certificates ? FCE, CAE, CPE?


All the ads I saw wanted native English speakers with a college degree. Some kind of ESL certificate and experience are a big plus.


----------

