Living in China as a Foreigner

Y: Welcome back to Listeners' Garden On China Radio International. Zhong Qiu you know there are now more than 400 thousand foreigners living in China.

Z: There are so many of them!

Y: That's true. So how do they like the life here? Here is Tom. Tom is very unique to many Chinese in that he rides a bicycle every morning with a cup of coffee at hand. He would not drive in Beijing, as he insisted when speaking to us:

“我绝不开车”

Z: Yes, I wouldn't drive in Beijing, either. It is risky!

Y: Tom is from Britain. He has been in China for three years and is now married to a Chinese wife. He is working in a English training school as a director. It's not the financial burden that prevents him from purchasing a car. Here he explains why he doesn't:

“没有规矩，家人的出租经历。”

Richard is from Australia. Like tom, he has also been in China for years. He said he liked China a lot, and that people are very nice to him. But talking about the traffic, he is also very frustrated.

“开了50公里就不开了，很多司机都是生手。”

So Richard has chosen to walk to his office every day. But also he found something surprising to him.

“出租车差点撞人没停，很生气。”

Y: About 400 thousand foreigners are now living in China. They mainly live in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Z: There's no doubt that they are angry about the big cities' traffic conditions. Even the Chinese common people like me are not satisfied with the traffic at all.

Y: Moreover, in general, public services are criticized by many. A survey was conducted among foreigners, asking them if they are satisfied with the public and government administrative services. The result is as follows: 3 percent of people are very satisfied. 15 percent describe it as 'just ordinary'. 41 percent chose 'not good' or 'very bad'.

Z: Yes, Yunfeng. You know I studied business English in College. One of my foreigner teachers told us a story he once experienced.

Once, he was preparing to sign a contract with a local government in China. They signed the draft agreement, the formal agreement, the draft memorandum, the formal memorandum. They signed four times over the same project but still the legal contract was not signed. The Foreign teacher concluded that the Chinese government considers achievements more important than efficiency. Well, I would say this is just the difference of style between eastern and western culture. I can't say that there is no red tapes in each process, but anyway, in general the work efficiency is improving with government's efforts to cut red tapes to promote transparency.

Y: Well, China has pursued the reform and open up policy for thirty years. But it seems to me that foreigners' comments on business services in China are not so good, either.

Here are Richard and Tom commenting on service in Chinese banks.

"It was not good at all."

Z: They have spoken for me too. It is a problem for all of us. The banks are always crowded.

Y: And more surveys were conducted among foreigners in Beijing to check out if they were satisfied about people's manners in public places. 4 percent said it was fine. 12 percent of people said it was acceptable. But those who disapproved constituted more than 50 percent of the total.

Z: So what kind of manners annoyed the foreigners most in China?

"spitting, queuing day"

Z: So if there are so many problems these foreigners dislike, why are they still willing to stay?

Y: Another survey was conducted asking foreigners' general impression of living in China.55 percent of respondents said they were satisfied. 39 percent said that life is acceptable, while only 6 percent disapproved of life in China. So why exactly do foreigners like it here in China?

"What China attracts me most is ..."

Z: Business opportunities! But I bet there are more reasons why foreigners like China so much.

Y: Yes, Indeed. We will talk about it next week in another edition of Listeners' Garden. Now we will take a short break. And when we come back, we will hear this.