Living in another country is a difficult, baffling, and sometimes maddening experience. All expats in China have suffered “Bad China Days”, those days where everything seems so complicated and confusing. I asked a diverse group of expats to share what they most disliked about living in China. Here are the results:

The Pollution

Surprise, surprise! One of the things all of the China expats I spoke to agree on is that they hate the pollution. They hate the perennial haze, the hacking coughs and the need to run an air purifier at home pretty much 24/7. While China has come a long way in terms of air pollution over the past decade, the average AQI is still well above most Western countries, especially in the winter when coal is used to heat homes in rural areas.

The Traffic

Nobody loves the traffic in China’s busiest cities; the stretch buses, cars, mopeds, tricycles, scooters and bikes, all grinding together like honking rocks in a bag. The general inability of people to stay in lane and be patient sends foreigners who drive here crazy, as does the unfortunate human traffic custom of charging onto the subway car before anyone can get off.

Open Display of Bodily Functions

While it’s true that there are certain things the Chinese find gross about us, many expats in China have a hard time accepting the common sight of adults spitting on the street and children in split pants running rampant and doing their business where they please. No matter how long we stay here, it’s hard not to wince when an old dude walks past us and unapologetically lets a loud, wet fart rip from his padded PJs.

Unbridled Bureaucracy

“You told me yesterday to come back today and now you’re telling me to come back again tomorrow?” We’ve all been here in our attempts to manage life admin in China. Whether opening a bank account, renewing a visa or even just adopting a pet, expats in China have to jump through a whole lot of burning bureaucratic hoops to survive here. In many instances, bureaucratic inefficiency is also happily married with a complete lack of flexibility — a kind of “computer says no” mentality. The two together are indeed a Kafkaesque joy to behold.

Indirect Communication 

Chinese people are known for having a whole lot of round-about ways to say “no” or “I don’t know”, particularly in a workplace setting where everyone wants to appear informed and willing. Often in an effort to “save face”, you’ll find yourself given questionable or completely wrong information, just because the person you asked doesn’t want to admit they can’t help. This can lead to countless misunderstandings with foreigners who tend to accept what they’re being told on face value. Silly foreigners!

For many expats in China, the things we find most uncomfortable, unfamiliar and difficult to accept are those we can’t see. We can turn away from a child pooping in the street and ignore the phlegmy expulsions of our cab drivers, but the differences in mentality are harder to pin down and less easy to avoid.

In a bid to mitigate this divide, some expats throw themselves headfirst into the local way of life, while others wall themselves up in compounds full of foreigners and have their companies or schools handle everything for them. Most of us, however, sit somewhere in between.

Wherever you find yourself on the scale of assimilation, just try to remember that it’s these differences and quirks that make China the adventure we came here to find in the first place. Failing that, here are some anger management tips!

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Keywords: Expats in China