There are plenty of articles and blogs out there about the reasons to come to China, to live in China, and to stay in China. The bullet points include cheap living, a developing economy, tasty food, free-flow beer… But what about the reasons not to stay? We don’t mean to get all pessimistic on you, but we feel that we ought to present the other side of the argument. Thus, here are our five reasons to leave China:

Photo: Camzor

1) Health
Unless you’re a health freak, the chances are that living in China will have taken its toll on your body, as well as your soul. It’s difficult not to slip into lazy ways of living – 24-hour McDonald’s delivery, all-you-can-drink beer, oily food, sedentary office work… Cigarettes are dirt cheap here too, so sucking down a packet of Double Happiness a day won’t hurt your wallet as much as it will damage your lungs. All of this, plus the risk of being mown down by an errant truck or thrown through the window of a swerving cab, and health prospects aren’t so great. Then there’s the pollution, the risk of heatstroke in summer and chilblains in winter, not to mention venereal disease from ill-advised encounters, which only serves to make you wonder “Why? What am I doing here?” Dodgy dentists and maverick doctors don’t exactly instill confidence if things do go pear-shaped health-wise, so maybe we’d be better off heading home. Maybe.

2) Career
Most people think that coming to China will do wonders for their resumé, and in many cases it does. A couple of years’ experience abroad, with the added advantage of learning Mandarin, can be an asset to your career, especially now that China is such a force to be reckoned with globally. But if you’re here teaching English when you’d rather be doing something else, anything more than a year (or two at the most) might be damaging your prospects. It’s all well and good doing the “year abroad” thing, and employers will understand and admire this, but don’t take your eye off the ball. The financial crisis isn’t over yet, so anything less than solid work experience on your resumé can be a waste of time and energy.

3) Home comforts
No-one wants to live in an expat bubble; that’s just lame. But we’d be lying if we said that we don’t miss the familiarity of a supermarket back home – shelves upon shelves of food with labels we actually understand, favourite snacks, milk that won’t kill us… Imported goods shops are two-a-penny these days in most first tier cities, but the inflated prices make shopping there a treat not a habit. When you’re forced to fork out 60 RMB for a pot of Marmite or olive tapenade, you start to wonder if you’re living in the right place. Then there’s the clothing situation. For expats who don’t measure up to tiny local sizes, shopping for clothes can be a nightmare. And who wants to schlep all the way to the fabric market each time you need a new shirt? And don’t even start about “Western restaurants” – either they’re staggeringly bad (lasagne made with meatloaf?) or crazy expensive (100 RMB for a burger, you say?).

4) Personal life
The expat community is a transient one. Nary a week goes by without a leaving party or farewell dinner. Making friends is easy, but keeping them is harder. With so many people coming and going, it’s difficult to establish friendship groups and make relationships last, and this can jade even the most sociable. At least Facebook is blocked so you’re not subjected to reams of happy photos of your old mates down at the pub back home while you’re suffering yet another “What do you do here?” conversation in yet another expat bar from yet another identikit expat. Romantic relationships among expats are notoriously fickle things too. With so much sex available seemingly everywhere, fidelity can go out of the window, and meaningful partnerships are difficult to establish. Then there’s the culture clash: what works back home doesn’t always wash in China, and vice versa.

5) Communication
Both linguistically and culturally, living in China can be a drag. Sometimes we dream of being universally understood the way we are at home. Learning Mandarin isn’t always a solution either, as a) it’s nigh on impossible to be completely fluent, and b) some people are just determined not to understand you, no matter how perfect your tones. Then there’s the natural outcome of being separated from the culture that spawned you: not everyone gets your jokes and references, and you find that your brand of humour completely perplexes vast swathes of colleagues and acquaintances. As a Brit, I find that explaining the whole public/private/state school thing wears thin pretty quickly when talking to American friends, but the Marmite/vegemite battle is one I will always fight with Australians and Kiwis.

After weighing up the disadvantages of living in China against the benefits, we have to say that the pros outweigh the cons, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. While it’s never a good thing to moan too much, a bit of healthy cynicism and a dose of reality never did anyone any harm.

***

Related Links

7 Things in China That Could Kill You
Beat those Homesick Blues
Leaving China and the Challenges of Returning "Home"

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.