I was luckily enough to get a three weeks holiday from work to go back to China for the Chinese New Year. It was the first time I went back for New Years celebration after I left home more than 7 years ago. Jenn were back with me as well and we both spent some time in Shantou and Wuhan.
There are always different thoughts every time I go back. Now that I have been working for more than two years in London, there are more aspects to be compared between life in the UK and China.
Can we do it now?
Regardless if it’s for business or non-business, things are expected to be done in an immediate manner rather than planned ahead. I can often have my schedule filled for the next week or two with clients meetin, and rarely had to change or cancel. However in China, a lot of things are expected to be done “Tomorrow” or even “Today”.
I spoke to a manager who is in charge of UK and Chinese market in a property firm once. I asked “how is your schedule for the next few weeks?”, he told me “it’s difficult to say, as Chinese clients don’t tend to plan things ahead but UK clients need to book meeting at least weeks or even months in advance”.
It’s not cheap anymore
Five years ago, when I was back home I did a lot of shopping, as things were much cheaper compare to UK. Now it’s still cheaper, but not as much as before. I can clearly feel the price is increasing for daily commodities, not to mention when you go for a night out in town.
Despite that, the average income is not increasing at the same pace of goods’ price. I can’t pull out any official figures here but from my conversations with friends or local business, 1000 – 1500 Yuan/Month seems to be a common standard for graduates from good universities. But of course, this is just the approximation in Shantou (Guandong Province). Income in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing is another story.
Holidays?
It’s normal to have weekends off with 25 days annual holidays in the UK. I’m not sure what’s the legal requirement on holidays but I guess it’s different depending on the industry. When I asked my friends about holidays, they told me if you are working for private business, annual holiday is around 5 – 7 days and you will have two days off in a month. I was surprised to hear the “two days off in a month” as that sounds pretty good! But later I was told those two days are the ONLY holidays in a month. Working 7 days a week is normal for private business. However working for state owned business is better, and working for government is the best choices.
Politics?
I often change the channel when I see there is a political discussion on TV. To be honest it’s not the most exciting programme to watch. In the UK, however, I know they are available if I want to watch. TV in China has more soup dramas and entertaining programmes. Not because it was new year period while I was there, it’s the same every time I went back and watch TV with families.
How about the Internet? Within my families and social circle, there is few people I know who is actively looking at political news on the net. The younger generation might have more exposure to information on the Internet, but definitely not for those who are over 35 (estimated).
The reason I want to point this out is that when I read about China in western media, economic, politic or human rights dominate most of the topics. But within China, those aren’t the common topics among ordinary people’s life. Propaganda or lack of interest? I don’t know. But one thing I’m sure is that when I watch TV, although there are some reports on social issues such as crime or employment, the majority are still entertaining programs and soup dramas. That kinda explained when the drama “Wo Ju” showed last year and provoked some social reaction on the rapidly increasing housing price, there were rumour saying some government officials once tried to ban it.