In recent times, Gong Li, Jet Li and various other Chinese media and business people have successfully attained Singaporean Citizenship/Permanent Residence. They see the little island-state as a safe, stable, and well-developed surrounding for their new young families to nuture.
Gong Li became a Singaporean
Buckin the trend, Edward Lu is a 27 year old Singaporean living and working here in Guangzhou, China, who is also in the process of applying for a Chinese Permanent Residence. I have a chat with him to find out his motivations..
Interview with Edward Lu, Singaporean Entrepreneur in GZ
Junde(JD): Hoseh boh?
Edward(ED): Sibei swee. Can start the interview or not?
JD: Ok. Can you tell us how you landed here in Guangzhou?
ED: I was born In Singapore, and graduated with a Diploma in Business from Ngee Ann Polytechnic specializing in Leisure Management. I performed National Service for 2.5 years and came to China directly after that in early 2004. After working for a year in a Singaporean-Taiwanese venture company in Guangzhou, I established own company providing international logistics and trading services from China. Our company has offices/warehouses in Guangzhou, Yiwu and Singapore.
JD: Why are you going against the wave, applying for a Chinese PR?
ED: I do it mainly for practical business reasons. Firstly as a Chinese PR you pay less tax. Next, to set up new businesses, you do not need to partner with a local to register the company. Finally, you no longer need any working or travel visa to enter/stay in the country.
JD: Very practical benefits. How does one qualify?
ED: Basically, you need to have stayed in China for a few years, with a substantial local investment and revenue record for at least 3 years. Alternatively, you can marry a local person, and you get PR after 5 years of happy marriage.
JD: Haha, second route sounds more interesting. Do you intend to marry a local girl? How do you compare local Chinese girls with Singaporean girls?
ED: Why not? If the right person comes along. My career here has taken off and I’m definitely looking forward to my next phase of life. From my limited personal experiences, I find that the local girls I have encounterd are more gentle, and less career-minded. This is not to say that the opposite of Singaporean girls is a negative thing. Singapore is a modern, well-developed and highly competitive country and it is only natural that people would be more materialistic. I am a materialistic person myself too, but I get them cheaper in China :p
JD: If you get married here, would you like to have your children educated here?
ED: I would prefer the education in Singapore. Some say that our education there is very influenced by government propaganda, but I think it depends on the individual. I like the way I turned out and with some luck I’ll like the way my kids grow up and turn out in Singapore too. Besides, education without subsidy here is expensive!
JD: How about doing business here? How is it different from Singapore?
ED: To a certain extent, the Singapore retail market is saturated. If you sell 100 plates of Chicken Rice today, next month, you might sell 80 plates or 120 plates. It’s +/- 10%. Here in China, if you start of by selling 10 plates in the first month, next month, you might be selling 1000 plates. The growth potential is immense as you are not just catering to the whole Chinese market, but also to all foreign businesses who have turned their attention to China in recent years.
Edward praying for stability
JD: What about your personal and social life? Do you like it here?
ED: Yes, definitely. I enjoy the freedom I have here. I don’t seek to participate in politics, all I seek is my personal freedom. As a laowai (technically) out of my hometown, I feel less inhibited, I make more friends and do more things. I also get to smoke in public places and restaurants. The cost of living in Guangzhou is also much cheaper than Singapore, so we get to enjoy a better lifestyle while we’re younger. In Singapore we would need to have worked for a few more years before enjoying the kind of life we lead here today.
JD: So you’ve told me about all the practical benefits, and about everything you appreciate about living here in Guangzhou. How much of it is motivation for your Chinese PR application? What does the Chinese PR mean to you?
ED: Frankly, it’s more for practical business benefits. I am not someone who would forget my Singaporean roots. Although I do not have Chinese nationalistic fervour in me, I also do contribute back to society here. For instance, I am sit in the executive committee of the Guangzhou Singapore Club who organises social and charity events for the community here in Guangzhou.
JD: Would you encourage more Singaporeans, or expats in general, to follow in your footsteps, to apply for a Chinese PR?
ED: It is up to individual. But most of the foreigners I’ve met here during the past years certainly do enjoy their life and work here, so why not?
JD: What is your favourite KTV song?
ED: BETTER MAN by Nicholas Tse
JD: Thanks Edward for your time. Interested readers can also read 9 reasons why Singaporeans should work in China..
ED: Fuwuyuan! Mai Dan!
Fortunately, nothing of value was lost. But, I had some business cards in there, and ever since then I’ve received intermittently strange messages and calls trying to swindle me into something.
9 Tips for the China Expat Go-getter
Monday, November 2nd, 2009I just made a career move to Beijing*. I’d like to think that in my 12 months in Guangzhou, I’ve achieved personal and business milestones. As an expat go-getter (career) myself, I share what I’ve come to learn:
Here’s 9 (personal) tips for the Expat Go-getter in China:
1. New in town? Find your fellow countrymen/women.
If you did not sail from a country currently torn apart by civil war, chances are, that your fellows in a land away from home would have a few things in common - language, topics, taste in food etc. Chances are, that they would also be willing and happy to help you adapt to the new surroundings, and expand into social circles. Trust is the warm welcoming gift you receive from your fellows in a foreign land, and gratitude goes to your government who made it harmoniously so.
2. Variety of Social Circles
Once you’ve found your own countryfellows cliques, that’s not the end. There lots of peoples in China. Locals, locals from Guangzhou, inner China city migrants, northerners, and other expats. Make friends with them! A variety of social circles means that you get to experience/enjoy different day/night outs with different groups of people, you get a variety of business contacts and connections, and you get to sample all kinds of food.
3. Join a local Online Social Network
If you’re not the kind who makes friends with random patrons at a pub, the online social network channel works well. You get to preview photos, track chatter and view their relationship status, amongst other information, before you actually say “Hi”. It worked for me. I joined GZStuff, I made my first friends there, and things just took off from there and I had a really colourful year in Guangzhou. But be social media savvy, if you’re not too sure what that means, sit back, relax, and observe before you engage in any online hihi-ing or banter.
4. Volunteer to serve in your country’s Chamber of Commerce or club in China
This can be a quick ladder climb to a higher social status and networking connections, if you are sincere in your efforts to help the organisation.
Once you’ve consolidated your base of fellow countrymen support, and get along well with them, it’s time to take the home country connection one step further.
Typically, countries with a considerable business presence in China would have an official Chamber of Commerce, and sometimes a social club. These organisations rely on voluntary efforts of fellow countrymen to make business networking events, social parties, sports events and charity events happen. These volunteers are usually nominated and/or elected into an executive committee to serve for a period of 1 year. With good support from strategic friends, a newcomer should be able to get onboard to contribute.
The most tangible return is the exposure with status that comes with it. I served as the Vice-President of the Guangzhou Singapore Club, and I got to meet successful business folks and political representatives, and had the chance to be involved in the organising of small and big events. This, for a newcomer, is quite a deal. When you are at your regular business networking sessions, you’re no longer this newcomer who works at this particular company. You’re also the key appointment holder of this particular offcial organisation representing your country in China. That’s something. You’re somebody. It also gives you a fuller profile, that you’re not just a company man, but you’re a social and society man.
5. Network Network Network!
If you start off teaching English and seek a different progression, network! If you play classical piano, network! If you work at an night entertainment joint, network! If you don’t network, may your rabbits keep falling from the tree.
6. Decent alcohol tolerance
(Disclaimer: I am not advocating the consumption of alcohol as the way to greater career heights, although you can get high. If you’re under 18 or driving, please just drink Wahaha.) What I’m saying is, maintain acquired sobriety when consuming alcohol with business people.
Oftentimes in China, drink and business go hand in hand. Having decent alcohol tolerance helps you remain calm and collected, and maintain strategic plans while others lose focus. At one end of the table, a sober person also recognises and gives credit to the other drinking but sober person. They can tell that this person has is well sorted out, this impression can translate into heightened business dealings.
7. Don’t be pissed at life
Life is tough, the weather is hot, we don’t have to make life tougher and hotter.
Sometimes when someone spits near you, cuts your queue, or unintentionally pushes you on crowded public transport, it’s OK to just laugh it off and let be. I do that sometimes, it’s really not the huge loss of dignity if you don’t react. Live and let live. No need to fight every battle that life drops on your path. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind. See the bigger picture of your life in China. If life gives you lemons, add lemon to herbal tea.
8. Engage locals to help you navigate
Sometimes at a busy road where there’s an apparent zebra crossing (which drivers ignore), a newcomer like me might not know when to cross and avoid causing damage to oncoming cars in the process of doing so. So, this newcomer (like me) would sometimes wait for a local person, sometimes an old woman, sometimes some schoolgirls, to cross the road. They just walk and vehicles would slow down for them. We follow, and we get to the other side of the road, protected and safe.
The same principle applies to marketing efforts in your business. If you lack understanding in the risky business terrain, spend some money, engage a local to help you navigate. Expats can provide new perspectives and innovations but understanding of local culture is the foundation for everything new to be based upon.
9. Colours of the world
It would be inaccurate to assume people of some colour are out to scam you, or squeeze the tightest deal out of you, and some other western-light coloured people must be trustworthy. There’s good and bad in everyone - there’s a little bad in good people and there’s a little good in bad people. Don’t judge based on colour, take pinches of salt, manage expectations, and learn to manage people to bring good unto both parties.
Feel free to add on.
*I’ll still be writing for Guangzhouer.
Tags: china expat career, china go-getter, china networking
Posted in Business, Guangzhouer, Social Commentary | 17 Comments »