| Expatriates & Foreign Workers | |
|---|---|
| Feb 25, 2006 19:35 |   |
 | From this Forum I can see that many foreigners are working or looking for jobs in China. The local Chinese are facing tough competition now. Will this affect the local Chinese? |
| Feb 25, 2006 20:54 | #1 |
| Hi Pinetree, A lot of foreigners come to China to teach, and acutally most of them do not speak any Chinese the time they take the job offer. They sure contribute to the education in China, but they won't and they can't take the place of Chinese teachers in long, long time ahead. To be frank, many schools (from kindergarten to college) hire foreign teacher for a 'look', like any other profit oriented industries, they need to put something in their showroom. Having said that, however, I myself am thankful and grateful to those who happened to be my foreign teachers, they did a really great job, they left much positive influence on me, THOUGH, I did have the bad luck of having a bad teacher... ------------------------------------------------- Some foreigners come to CHina to make a fortune, then they come to offer CHinese jobs, you can see many joint ventures in almost every big cities... Even those who come to travel for quite a short time, they contribute to China's tourism. So, don't worry。:-) |
| Feb 25, 2006 21:17 | #2 |
| Rita, I haven't written any comments on this thread yet. U also believe that Dracula is Pinetree ?! I wrote a long comment on this but I realised that I was logged out halfway through !! Wonder who's mischief was that. So will re-write my comments after I recover from the effort. |
| Feb 25, 2006 21:33 | #3 |
| Oooops! I am sooo sorry, Pinetree, I made a terrible mistake. I guess it's because when I replied this thread, I had a glance at the right top of this page and you were online... Well, I can understand it if you feel bad about it, but I didn't mean it... Sorry!! |
| Feb 25, 2006 21:43 | #4 |
| From what I know, most expats are posted by their companies to another country to cover the shortage of talents/skills there. These expats are not to be there on a permanent basis but to pass on their knowledge/skills to the locals who will eventually take over from them. Normally this target is 2-5 yrs. In most cases, the remuneration terms of these expats are fantastically attractive and it is 1 that the expats will try to enjoy for as long as possible. As such in real life, most expats will try to extend their stay beyond the original plan. To do this, most of them run down the locals to show that they are still not ready to take over from them. To these expats, a posting overseas is also a chance for them to improve themselves and gain wider exposure and hopefully understand/appreciate the locals mentality/cultures better. This will help them in their decision-making when they return to the own countries/companies. To the locals, I think they gain nothing other than picking up some knowledge/skills. Most are misled into believing that these expats represent the ordinary people in their couontries that are courteous, rich, knowledgeable, etc. This is not necessarily so. To me, the better way for the locals to know more is to be posted out to other countries. There you can pick up not only their knowledge/skills + but see their lifestyle/cultures 1st hand and understand them better. But of cos, they would wanna do the same - so u find foreigners in China, too and enjoying themselves ! For those who come to work overseas on their own, I think it is due to the better employment/ business opportunities, volunteering works, love of the country's cultures,history,etc and many other reasons that are generally not unselfish ones - this is human. PS - The writer had been working as an expat in UK/HK/Chinas for almost 10 yrs not too long ago. He too enjoyed the benefits of working in these countries living like an emperor and tried to extend his stay beyond the original plan everytime, too ! |
| Feb 25, 2006 21:44 | #5 |
| No problem, Rita. Just love to tease - everyone. |
| Feb 26, 2006 02:35 | #6 |
| You keep asking others. What about your views on this topic, Wocca ? U have been in China for about 4 yrs. U must have some comments on this. Also the other foreigners/expats' views would be enlightening. |
| Feb 26, 2006 04:09 | #7 |
| People from the developed countries seeking jobs in a 'third-world' country -- if 'third world' is not a very out-dated phrase:-) -- won't be a mainstream; on the contrary, however, the 'braindrain' in the developing countries is the core problem that the government should really pay a lot of attention to. I believe people choose to work in China is not to escape the employment pressure in their own countries, largely, they come more or less for some kind of experience(cultures, traveling, people)... So the problem is that a large number of very well-educated people from the developing countris try every effort to move to the developed countries, this cause employment pressure on the rich country people a lot more. |
| Feb 26, 2006 04:47 | #8 |
| Well, 'third world' is the phrase I usually use for jokes only:-), so as I think about the people who first invented 'developed country' and 'developing country', especially when all of us witness that 'developed countries' today are developING very well, and many of the 'developing countries' develop so slowly:-) So as the 'cold war' ... diplomatic people love joking this way:-), we just should not be too serious. Deep in my heart, I don't think there is much difference between the people from these two types of coutries (now I have no words to describe these two types of countries, that's too bad!:-), the more foreigners I see, the more I feel like that... Have a nice Sunday! |
| Feb 26, 2006 06:29 | #9 |
| WOCCA | -General- | 2006-02-26 03:41:19 GMT-6 Reply this discussion Reply Back to Discussion list Back I'd rather see where it's going before jumping in feet first ... I can only really consider this topic from a foreign teacher's point of view. Basically,I agree with Rita's comments. As you are aware, I teach English as a foreign language to postgraduates at a university in China.There are 10 foreign teachers here.Many uni's have that number. We are employed because we ARE foreigners, and teach within the English Department of the university's Foreign Language School. When I went to school in a western country, we would have considered ourselves to be very lucky if our government invited native- speakers from the native-speaking countries of whichever foreign language we were then studying. UNQUOTE But you are a USAmerican, right ? So strictly speaking you are not native English. Is this why most "English" speaking Chinese speak USA form of English instead ? There is also a slight difference between English english & USA english. |
| Feb 26, 2006 08:01 | #10 |
| Hahaha !! One of the English writers proclaimed "English was not spoken in USAmerica for years" !!! |
Page 1 of 5 < Previous Next > Page:
Post a Reply to: Expatriates & Foreign Workers
Copyright © 1998-2024 All rights reserved.