Living like a local

(City Weekend)
Updated: 2007-05-31 10:07

There are a lot of sites out in the Chinese blogosphere that try and bridge the gulf between cultures. Probably the most obvious include language and cultural blogs like Sinosplice and ChinesePod.com. Sites like these are great resources for China newbies trying to graduate from the training wheels of language and cultural immersion.

In my mind, though, one of the largest hurdles to negotiate when learning more about your favourite Zhonguoren is a disparity in disposable income. Everyone around the world likes to socialise, but no one, no matter your culture or nationality, likes to spend out of their league to do so. The contrast in wages between Zhonguoren and waiguoren colleagues on an equal rung of the employment ladder can make forging ties a difficult task. Even the curiously monickered "half-pat", a career-hungry foreigner who works for far fewer perks than those found in a traditional expat package, usually makes significantly more than local counterparts:

In the past, this was a significant issue as companies had only two options¡ªto hire and relocate expensive expatriate (expat) staff from overseas, or inexpensive, inexperienced local staff. In the last 5-10 years however, a third option has emerged¡ªthe "local hire expatriate," or halfpat. Attracted to China by either a sense of curiosity, or a strong belief in China¡¯s potential, the halfpat is generally a recent graduate or young professional who has moved to China without a predetermined career path.

With this in mind, I was fascinated to learn of the new internship that Fuzhou blogger Ben Ross recently initiated. After working in China for three years, Ben took on a month-long stint as a xietu (apprentice) in a local barbershop at the beginning of May. Ben receives equal pay, equal treatment and equally crappy tasks. Here is an excerpt of the impetus behind Ben's reasoning for this unusual career move:

It's (China) a place we come to expand our horizons, to learn a culture, to spend our copious free time studying Tai Chi and Chinese cooking or picking up girls at the bar. But for Fuzhou's working class, there is no such fun and relaxation, no time for hobbies and no money for Tsingtaos at the pub. Work is a way of life and a means for survival...

...How will this put into perspective my life in China as a foreigner, or my life in America as an American? How does the other half (or in this case 99.9%) live, and how do they respond to a foreigner trying to do the same? I hope to find the answers to these questions, and hopefully have a little fun doing it.

Ben is diligently recording his experiences in his blog, and here's his description of the often seen, but rarely documented account of a manager's pep talk to improve customer service in Chinese retail and service.

After the obligatory statistics and figures, the speech turned motivational... "What was your goal when you chose this job?" he yelled at all of us. Nobody answered. "Xiao Fang, what was your goal when you chose this job?" "Make money," he replied after an awkward pause. "Chen Lin, what was your goal when you chose this job?" "¡ make money?" "Jie Lun, what was your goal when you chose this job?" "Make money!" Mr. Zheng gazed across the room with a scowl on his face. "You're all wrong! If your goal was simply to make money, you should quit right now and go tomorrow to work at the karaoke bar. You'll make more money. There are lots of pretty girls there, and it's more exciting. Why do people choose this industry? You guys all know you don't make very much money. But why work here?... It is because you can improve yourself. You can learn something."

What makes this blog a refreshing read is that it isn't what you could call a run-of-the-mill expat blog bleating about how great that all-you-can-eat teppanyaki place was last Friday night.

After reading more of Ben's blog, you could accuse him of flippantly deciding to "slum it" for his own whims or for some kind of stunt. I believe, however, that Ben has found a direct, albeit eccentric way, possibly inspired by Orwell's Down-and-Out adventure, in which people of contrasting cultures and experience can relate to each other.