Job Discussion Forums

[Seth]

The attraction of China is that it's a developing country with a huge pool of cheap labor and a high degree of political stability. When the government says something will be done in 20 years it will most likely get done because they don't have to worry about changes of governments, administrations, or the changing opinions of a voting public. This is attractive to corporations.

I've heard many Chinese (including Deng Xiaoping) say that they're proud of China because it's such a stable country, although sometimes they confuse 'stable' with 'oppressive.' They consider the shifting governments of Western democracies as being unstable, especially the US. You may not like the Chinese government but they are very consistent.

[Roger]

bliksem asked:
"Will China be the world's next economic superpower?"

We are mere bystanders, and a lot depends on politics that are beyond our grasp.

On the other hand, China seems to be doing what JAPAN did during and after its MEIJI period (from the 1860's on) - opening up to the world overseas, learning from Europeans and Americans, then copying and marketing their copy-cat products on the world market.
Unfortunately, the Japanese model also serves as a deterrent - Japan became ruthlessly aggressive and colonialist; it invaded Korea, Manchuria, China and other Asian countries.
The major difference between Japan and China was/is: The Japanese had a very powerful army that had an imperialist agenda that they forced on the Diet and even the emperor.
How powerful is the PLA?

However, we all know of the burning desire of the Chinese to show to the world how "great" they are. BOth the Japanese and the Chinese take pride in the fact that they sometimes manage to bully others, or to simply "say no" to the West (see those books published in Japan some ten years ago, and a similar one in China some 3 or 4 years back!).

Meanwhile, the economic construction is going at full speed, but it is done differently here in China from Japan: First thing, there is still a monopolistic power structure that plans China's future in five-year steps.
We all know how useless such planning is - the Soviets learnt it the hard way! The Chinese are a far shot from realising what really is wrong with this kind of planning. No one inside China - except non-Chinese - seems to worry about the banks' indebtedness. It is definitely staggering, even more staggering than the Japanese banks' indebtedness (which are horrifying enough!).
What drives the national economy?
Actually, foreign investment comprises overseas-Chinese investments and investments made by transnational businesses. Most funds from outside of China comes from Chinese residents, for instance Taiwanese, Hong Kong Chinese (united with the PRC, yet still categorised as a separate economic territory that gets lumped together with foreign countries); the share of truly transnational or foreign investors is considerably lower than 30%.
Still, these businesses are more productive, more innovative and more profitable than genuine Chinese ones. It is foreign know-how and technology that underpins China's export products.
But the pitfalls are evident too: since the CP decides who can invest, and to what extent, and for how long, and at what price/under what conditions - all of which are subject to changes according to the preferences of PC decision makers involved - there is still a kind of 'guided' investing taking place: The media are off limits for foreigners but the automotive industry has been one of the preferred investment sectors for the international community. The problem here is that the West has an oversupply of its own cars, and China is mainly interested in car manufacturing for export business to generate more foreign currency revenues - obviously conflicting goals! Although China is now encouraging its own nationals to become car owners (not a very enticing idea), it is easy to foresee an emerging oversupply of locally-made cars with a few years.
Ditto for the property market - ten years ago, there was a glut of office space; these days, there are way too many luxury villas and residential blocks on the market. I live in one of these monster estates, and in the past few years, half a dozen have sprung up nearby. The majority of buyers are people who "invest" their savings (banks pay hardly any interest!) with a view of reselling their property at a profit!

So, I do not know where we are headed! Clearly, the country needs more jobs for its idle peasants and blue-collar workers, but the world at large cannot absorb much more of Chinese-made light-industry products. And the CHinese themselves cannot afford to buy them themselves - at least 3 quarters of their population cannot.

Add to this the generational time bomb: China is ageing faster than any other nation, owing to its one-child policy. Those old folks, whose children now live a fairly modern, independent life away from their parents, will be left to their own devices as China is only now introducing an old-age pension scheme on a national scale.
Will China invade other countries to solve its domestic issues? Or will 100 million Chinese emigrate clandestinely but en masse?

We can't prophesy - anything is possible in this mismanaged society!

[cheekygal]

I'd say it is a cultural thing, being late. And another thing could be that they understand - without them we are helpless at times. It's so hard to find reliable chinese partners or people with great connections. So, the use it... here we are just to be patient and tolerant. You know that snapping at them wouldn't help )
I feel for you. Lucky in my situation if any of the coordinators at the school I work are late I can sort of educate them ... but in their case they need the job )
Still, take it easier *grin* Getting so upset might prove detrimental for your nervous system *smile*

In fact, why not educating them? We should inspire people in here to learn more about business manners and punctuality )

cheekygal

[NumberOneSon]

[smarts]

in reply to Roger's post particularly,

A not insignificant amount of foreign investment in China originates from the Chinese mainland itself. For example, local Chinese business persons accumulate wealth, setup a Hong Kong based company, divert funds to that Hong Kong based company and then have that Hong Kong company reinvest the funds in China in a "joint venture" thereby getting tax breaks and JV benefits that they otherwise would not be able to get as a domestic enterprise.

In terms of China in the world economy, raising the living standards and disposable income of "common" Chinese will of course be of benefit to the common Chinese, but more importantly, it should be a beneficial factor in stimulating and sustaining global economic growth.

Easier said than done.

[cheekygal]

Hmmmm... Some thoughts on moral education... You know, no matter how pissed I am at times with Chinese, I always stop myself with a thought that I personally came here for children and their moral and cultural [I mean manners and ethics] education ) Well, of course language, but how can you teach anything without giving into it?)
So, even if it takes time... parents look at teachers who teach their kids, they see their kids learning and you would be amazed, but parents get this desire to learn themselves...

-cheekybabe

[Peter]

We are all familiar( long term ESL bods) with the muddle that is so common when it comes to organization.

It is perhaps due to gaining face; somebody organizes e.g. enrolment.

Somebody else, of the same rank or higher up, wants to show he/she has bigger ones(whatever ) and issues new instructionx.

The resulting chaos id irrelevant

[Guest]

Roger
It is the beggars over here that I am having a hard time dealing with! When I go into the City by myself - which is only about once a week - the beggars come up to me - shove a bowl in front of my face and then continue to walk along side me jabbering away and elbowing and nudging me the whole time so that I nearly lose my balance. I have gone into shops to avoid them - but they are merely waiting for me to come out again. Once I went into KFC and sat down and had a meal but then I was confronted by the same bloody beggar waiting for me to come out. they are so aggressive over here. I don't think I will ever get used to it. In Vietnam there are more of them (and they seem like more genuine cases also) and they simply accept the fact that you are not going to give them anything. Also, the drivers neglecting to indicate is a bit annoying. They do not appear to understand the concept of staying within a lane either.

Finally, my last gripe is the fact that you are not told anything until it is nearly too late. I have been told at 6 p.m. that I am supposed to be attending a dinner right then! Things like that can tend to get to you a bit.

[Roger]

Hello, Rhonda!
Don't allow the beggar brigade to demoralise you! Some among them are genuinely down and out, but it is very true too that more than a fair share of them are con artists. Some make it to Hong Kong, and come back a lot better off than if they had worked on the mainland (it seems to work best if they masquerade as monks!).

The other downside of living here is the experience of being told of very important decisions at the last minute. This is never going to change in this country! FIrst of all, it often happens so because the instruction has had to travel a long distance down from the top via some intermediate staff to the FAO.
This means that the instruction may have in fact been issued a long time before, and you can safely deduce from this that if you have any special needs you have to communicate them via the appropriate channels, and your message will also be travelling inordinately long! For example in my previous school I had to beg my FAO to purchase teaching materials that had gone missing. She vaguely promised to relay my wish, then I had to remind her, and finally I learnt she would never do it because she had had a run-in with our school mistress before I asked for new materials. I then went to the mistress herself, who told me to tell my wish to the FAO... I tried a parallel line with another teacher acting as the go-between, but it got stuck between her and someone below the school mistress (I think the accountant who sometimes accepted requests on behalf of teachers). Well, it was a dead end, really, and eventually one of the reasons why I quit that job.

Another twist is for those FAO's to have a key to your school-provided dwelling place. They are known to enter your premises at any time of their own choosing. Although they know your home phone number, they will never take an appointment with you - they drop you a call, or drop by unceremoniously to broach the latest news.