Southern China Commentary

I 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.