A Laowai
in China - A Foreigner in the Middle Kingdom
By Rick Kelty
I have
been living and doing business in China for the better part of eight years.
I arrived in the summer of 1991 as a "Foreign Expert in Business"
after being recruited by the Province of Shaanxi. I was to teach at the
Post and Telecom University in Xi'an, the ancient capital and home of the
Terra-cotta soldiers along with the many tombs and temples from the Qing
dynasty - from about 2000 years ago. As a Foreign Expert, I was allowed
housing and a special Resident Visa with my very own "special Chinese
passport". I was paid a high salary, by local standards, which amounted
to the equivalent of US$ 100 per month, 25% of which was paid in actual
hard currency the rest being a mix of local Renminbi (RMB) and Foreign
Exchange Currency (FEC) the later of which is no longer used.
I remember
being paid the first time and realizing that while in College I used
to make more in tips on a good night at the steak house I worked at, but
that was a different time and whole different place.
I was now
in China, the infamous Middle Kingdom, the land of the forbidden "Three
T's" - Taiwan, Tibet and Tianamen Square. This was to be the start
of my long and ongoing love/hate relationship with China.
I have long
since moved on from the University days of Xi'an and have married a local
lady and we have set up a wholly owned Chinese Consulting company based
in Beijing. I have never really left China since my first arrival and
during this entire period, China and the Chinese people have never ceased
to amaze me. To say China is changing, is an overused term and one that
is equally guilty of being a vast understatement. Gone are the days, at
least in the bigger cities, of Coca Cola being the only Western product
available. I can remember the feeling I had seven years ago when I first
noticed a package of M&M's (plain) on a shelf in a hotel. I
immediately bought them, it seemed as if they were old friends, and I ate
the entire pack, one M&M at a time.
It must
have taken me thirty minutes to finish them all. Now in China we have
Budweiser, Pringles and even Diet Coke. McDonalds and KFC can be
seen opening new restaurants on almost every corner. And I am sure it is
only a matter of time before 7-11 and Circle K are fighting for these same
corners. Progress has come to China.
Gone also
are the days of every person, whether it be in the Post Office, State
Retail Store or even a small restaurant, uttering the words "meiyou".
Meiyou (pronounced "mayo") roughly translated means - don't have,
don't want or can't be bothered. Even when one spoke near perfect Chinese
- a rare occurrence (at least for me) - to hear these simple two
words mumbled in response to almost any question I asked, was enough to
send even the most patient "old China hand" to the breaking point
of exasperation. Needless to say the first words I learned in Chinese were
meiyou.
This mastery
of meiyou was followed closely by another foreign favorite - "laowei",
which is the actual word for foreigner.The word laowei literally means
- old outsider, and is pronounced "loud" (without the d)
and "why". This was a word used by almost every Chinese person within
fifty yards of a foreigner, and after awhile it became almost as irritating
as meiyou. If you were walking on the street or standing in a store and
you heard this word, even without fully understanding the accompanying
words of Chinese, and without trying to feel paranoid, you always knew
they were talking about you.
Well times
have changed and the big cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and
especially Shanghai are thriving developed world class cities. If a person,
young or old, truly wants to experience another culture and become a part
of one of the worlds fastest and strongest economies, then China is where
you should go. With a little effort and patience, almost any "laowei"
will be able to master enough of the language and understand enough of
the culture to live fairly well. The crime rate is low, the opportunities
many and with the passing of each and every year, it has, and will, become
easier to live in China. Yes there are problems, as with all countries,
but there is also good money to be made with opportunities that no one
should pass up.
China will
continue to evolve and change, and as she does, she will gain the confidence
and economic power to set her own path for the future.
China is too
big to ignore as she has more than twenty percent of the entire human population
residing within her borders.
China will
not go away as she has shown the world great determination and sacrifice
for stability, and she has already weathered some storms that have set
other countries adrift.
For me,
China is similar to the Internet as she has become a puzzling phenomena
almost overnight, while at the same time, has commanded the attention
of the entire world? I suppose I could further the comparison by saying,
that China, like the Internet has the ability to pull me in deeper and
deeper, because the more I learn, the more I want to understand.
And after
having spent so many years in China, I have come to the conclusion
that China is something that no one person can ever fully understand or
master, but the challenge to try, is always there, and shall remain so
for quite some time. So I shall plod on in my quest to master this perplexing
Chinese puzzle.
My relationship
with the Middle Kingdom continues on...
