Archives November 2008

The China job market is still booming. People all over the U.S. are losing their jobs as corporate cutbacks, layoffs, and budget cuts threaten their bottom lines. The job loss trickle down of the economic slump, although having pierced the Asian markets triggering stock drops, has not yet reached the China job market. Although the Chinese economy is in the red big-time for the year, jobs are available in many different companies throughout China’s major cities, both foreign and domestic. I myself have just transferred from a Chinese company to a rapidly growing (Hong Kong registered) Australian company.

A very reliable source, my Mother and her avid reading of Readers Digest, argues that my Generation – Generation Y – is the first generation to consider the possibility that there are other countries better than the United States. Now, I am by no means saying that China is the answer nor am I saying that that statement is true. But I do agree that I have pondered the possibility for reasons and tangents I will save for another post. Either way, if you are interested in experiencing a culture, environment, and job market that is unlike anything you have ever seen and are looking for an experience that will benefit you in years to come…China may be the right place for you. The top 5 best ways to make this happen are:

1) The ultimate and absolutely best, and safest way, to work in China is to be sent here by your current company. Although this may not be true if you are interested in learning about the culture, language, and gaining personal growth through ridiculous endeavors. However, if you want to live in a developing country in which pretty much everything is dirt cheap with the exception of your luxury apartment, personal driver, maid, and chef – which your company pays for anyway, this is the wet dream of almost everyone who is here under completely different circumstances. Also, you usually will be paid a ridiculous sum of money plus hazard pay to move here.

Shanghai

2) Teach English. If only a job is what you want, about 1 billion await for you my friend. Open any search engine right now and type in, “teach English in China.” If you don’t find anything you probably should never reproduce, or teach, because you must have spelled something wrong. You can get paid anywhere from 4000 RMB a month in rural areas, 6000-8000 in large cities of China, and 10,000+ if you have a degree and ESL certification. This is pure, and should be, untaxed profit. Usually you would receive travel, living, and apartment money as well. It is a great way to learn Chinese and decide whether or not you could stand living here long enough to have a career before you gouging your eyes out and your head explodes.

3) Next, you will have to turn to the website job posts. www.asiaexpat.Com has one of the better online listings for different job offerings in specific cities and their local websites are frequently trafficked. They have a large array of many different fields from the entry level to the executive. For the most part, do not expect to be paid the equivalent of foreign salaries through these jobs, but they offer great starting points and experience for those who are new to the international career world.

4) Then you have other career and expat living magazines and websites like That’s Shanghai, The Beijinger and so on and so forth. These provide tips on living in the cities, services available, dating, and pretty much anything you can think of. However, these sites have not been used for headhunting as much as they have been in the past.

5) Last, and by far not least, another great way to get jobs in China is relationships (关系). This is a huge aspect of Chinese culture. Almost every Chinese business deal hinges on being friends first and trusting one another. This aspect of Chinese culture has affected many expats living here as well. This invaluable means of advancing ones career happens very frequently to expats who reside in a city for a semi-extended period of time. Most people don’t stay here forever, which means that there are constantly openings in companies all over China.

If you are interested in moving to China or have questions about living, working, or finding work here. Please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to help you out. You can also read more about our lives in Shanghai.

The Shanghai music scene mirrors China’s rapid growth and development over the last few decades. As one of the largest financial and commercial hubs in the world, Shanghai is also a culturally diverse metropolis. From Mexican mariachis to glow-stick waving raves, the city hosts a variety of international music for the entertainment of expatriates and locals alike. The Shelter, a converted World War II bunker, provides a rave atmosphere for unhinging your joints and flailing to Chinese techno. Meanwhile, Zapata’s cervasas and tiki huts offer a relaxing place to unwind after a long day of work.

Famous in SH

Although the city’s entertainment venues primarily focus on the clubbing and dance scenes, several live music bars have gained devoted patrons. One of the best places to find these hot spots is through That’s Shanghai, a monthly magazine that provides a listing of restaurants, bars, and music events throughout the area. This comprehensive guide provides everything you need to please your literal, and creative palate. Music events in Shanghai range from subway singers to local Chinese and expat bands, to international celebrities such as Kanye West and George Benson (performing this September).

Tucked away down a back street near 华山路 (Hua Shan Lu) Time Passage has become one of my personal favorites. Besides having ridiculously cheap beer, there are live music performances almost every night from local Chinese cover bands playing anything from classic rock to modern pop. It is difficult not to be impressed by the local talent. Bands will take the stage speaking little or no English, earning looks of skepticism from most of the first-timers and non-Chinese. The set begins with a strange adaptation of a song everyone faintly recognizes. ‘Something in the Way’ by Nirvana, is sung in perfect English by a Chinese man completely unaware he is singing, “But it’s ok to eat fish, because they don’t have any feelings.” Doubtful that he cares about the fish, or its feelings, the band finishes with an equally impressive Neil Young or John Denver song; they bow and walk off the stage to the sounds of wild applause from former skeptics.

Without a doubt, modern Chinese pop has been tremendously influenced by American culture. Simply turn on the T.V. and you will see Hong Kong rock stars, Chinese pop stars surrounded by an entourage of backup dancers, and Chinese rappers break dancing in front of brightly colored sports cars. Although the music culture resembles that of the U.S., it is also undoubtedly unique to China. These distinctions are partially due to China’s wide variety of cultures illuminated through a blend of ethnic minority music, traditional Chinese instruments and Western influence. Shanghai provides one of the most diverse and interesting stages for continually expanding original music genres. Behind the flashing neon lights of the Shanghai financial district, and down back alleys in neighborhood bars stirs talent just waiting for discovery.

-posted by Mike.

In Shanghai, at 7:30am on the 5th of November (8pm on Tuesday on the east coast of the USA), over a hundred tired but eager Americans sauntered into Malone’s Bar, an American establishment, to watch the CNN election results. We had taken the day off work to gather together as strangers to witness what many of us knew would be a historic occasion. As the bar slowly began to fill with diverse faces in an array of colors and ages, I began to shake with anticipation (perhaps from the coffee, but also from the idea that this day could change American history forever). By 8am CNN was gearing up for the close of the first east coast polls, and the first projections came in amid cheers.

A young black lady in an Obama T-shirt handed out posters of the candidate while circling the bar, patting recipients on the back with a friendly, ‘good for you’ whenever someone raised their hand for a poster. In China, where racism is strong, her very existence in the city was encouraging.

A full breakfast platter was 88Rmb, an auspicious and lucky number in China, and a sign for the candidate’s performance later that day. We ate heartedly, drank tea and American coffee and watched as the results rolled in amid holograms and virtual capital pop-ups.

In my life there have been two political experiences that have made me shake with emotion and a precise fear of the unknown. The first was in 2001, when I stood outside an empty classroom wondering where the other students were before a tired and red-eyed boy filled me in on the morning’s details. The second was sitting in an over-crowded American bar on the 5th of November, 2008 when Obama was announced the victor and a stranger nearly knocked me to the floor while hugging me, his whole body shaking, tears running down his face. Men and women cried, screamed and then—there was a silence like I had never known as two years of emotion and waiting after 8 years of being embarrassed to be called an overseas American, flooded into the room and silenced us all.

After the silence returned to cheers, and then silence again, we filtered into the sunshine (by then it was nearly 1pm) and wandered around the city, bold and unafraid to be called Americans.

Obama takes Ohio!

That night at a celebration party on the Bund we were served Obamatinis and The Change has Come Cocktails with CNN in the background and a mood that was somewhat more serious than the morning, but still a tinge of excitement and unity. Even those who voted for McCain were out chatting happily about change. The change did not imply from a republican to a democrat, but from a failing sense of what it means to be American, to a reminder of what we as a country stand for.

The thing most impressed on me was the willingness, vocalized loudly and clearly, of Americans back home and abroad to work together to rebuild America. It is not, as some suspect, the worship or idolization of one man, but instead a return to the ideas that America was founded upon. I am happy that America now has an African-American president, but for me the real triumph is not that aspect, but the fact that he is a symbol for the reinvigoration of a faith most of us had lost in our country. I felt pride not in Obama, but in Americans. The person who hugged me at Malone’s that morning was a gay man whose faith is indeed in change as an American concept, not in Obama himself. That is what is unique and beautiful, and why I feel like last Wednesday is a day I will never forget, much in the same way I am unlikely to forget 9/11.

Since that emotion-charged day, I have watched as headlines across China have praised the choice of our next leader. What the Chinese admired about Americans is now returning: an unwavering faith in humanity based on principles of freedom, equality and the pursuit of happiness. Across the world we are seeing headlines of the same nature, the world is ready to be wowed once again by American idealism and American dreaming. The world wants us to exist, to live and enjoy freedoms and happiness to prove that a sort of utopia can exist on earth. Though a bit hyped up, I do believe that this I what people are looking for in our country across the pond, and what I hope we can prove by banning together and imagining ourselves responsible enough to create the future we design.

…and he wins!

Today I’m proud to say I’m an American. Something I have not said in a long, long time.

-posted by Lauren.