Shanghai Expat
Published February 9, 2010
As I was sitting down to write this installment, I kept going back to a comment made by a casual friend during a business program attended by a group of people heading off to Asia for a look around, examining potential for collaboration on a number of projects. The fellow calmly asked me, in all seriousness, “What’s an expat?” At first I was puzzled, then amused, then taken aback completely. However the feeling of need to explain things to him was palpable as duty to the cause surfaced. What cause you inquire? Well, that would be the compelling desire to fully explain life as an overseas worker, a soldier of continuous travels, a corporate nomad on the quest to enlighten his or her organization relative to the business at hand in their foreign assignment.
Simply put, an expatriate is someone who is living outside their permanent home country, asked by an employer – or perhaps they are on their own in an occupation – conducting the responsibilities of a job in a foreign land. It involves buying groceries, attending social functions, meeting customers, developing business plans, finding housing and health care, and shopping. Perhaps it involves even attending a weekly worship service. And they are doing it on their own, quite possibly with family members present in this home life, totally outside the protective shell of their native language and cultural customs maybe. This individual, commonly referred to as an expat, is living life in every sense of the word, away from friends, support groups, and company direction in most every case – no matter what a home office boss might suggest.
I have been both an on-the-go, globe trotting project manager and corporate business development executive, as well as a full-time expatriate. While travels have taken me pretty much around the planet, I have been privileged to call the Asia-Pacific region my home away from home for almost two decades now. In particular, home continues to be Shanghai, China. It has been a place of professional endeavors, exotics excursions, and personal development for many, many years. Indeed, as an American, I have lived in a half-dozen U.S. metropolitan areas during the course of my career also. However the 20 million folks residing in the pulse-racing climate of Shanghai is a far cry from my boyhood existence in rural northwest Ohio. Life in China was never on my radar. And now, it is my most secure place of comfort – even in spite of the fact that I cherish my little blue United States passport and steadfastly hold onto my American citizenship.
What is it Like living in Shanghai?
People often ask me what is it like to be an expat, particularly in a place such as Mainland China, more specifically Shanghai. Okay then, let’s talk about it a little bit. The city is remarkably crime free and clean, if not sparkling on every street corner. There is a buzz to all facets of life there. As most everyone knows by now, it is being called the epicenter of the 21st century. Shanghai reads like a who’s who of global businesses, prestigious universities, financial institutions, and the expanding performing artist community, all of whom have set up shop in the mega-city on the east coast of China. Throughout Asia, the large international airports are something to behold, perhaps looking like Star Wars inter-planetary layover destinations, at least when compared to America’s often weary airport facilities. The architecture is stunning to say the least, the foods and dining establishments multi-cultural, from white-linen fancy to street cuisine, and all that is China continues to be a combination of the old and the new.
Mass Transit
The mass transit system is efficient, on-time, and inexpensive. You can purchase a mass transit card that functions similar to any bank card, able to be reloaded with cash at a subway station kiosk with minimal fuss. The cards are commonly used on subways, trains, boats, and even taxicabs. As the periodic funds dwindle, simply head back and place as much or as little cash as necessary for the time period of your transit requirements. Customer service windows also can be helpful, if your Mandarin Chinese is up to speed. I typically load up every weekend or every couple of weeks, keeping at least two cards in my wallet and briefcase each. Spares do come in handy now and then.
As you can see from the photos, everything in Shanghai is in both Chinese and English. Monitors provide for accurate information on arrival and departure times, sequencing, and schedules. Lighted maps give you a glimpse as to different routes for subways, for example. I recall when I first went to Shanghai there were only 2 or 3 subway routes. Now, as of the spring of 2010, there will be eleven train routes, taking anyone almost everywhere in the city. An average ride is about 3-4 Yuan (Chinese RMB currency), which at the current airport cash exchange rate of roughly 6.76 equates to a pleasant ride for 44 or 59 cents in U.S. dollars. Whereas a taxi starts at 12 RMB (it just changed from 11 RMB late in ’09), and one can go for several miles or blocks around the city within the range of about 15-25 Yuan (the currency names are interchangeable), or about $2.22 to around $3.70 one-way of course. Either mobility method is easy, cheap relatively speaking, no hassles (unlike Bangkok, Thailand bargaining tactics), and ultra-convenient. And rather similar to Tokyo, the shopping underground in the plazas and malls/shops that make up virtually any of the subway stations is remarkable.
Most of us “locals” use a combination of both means of travel, usually taking a subway the longer distances and then finding a taxi for the last couple of city blocks to meet friends or arrive at a client location. As with any major city, a rainy Friday evening at say, 5:30 rush hour makes heralding a cab a slightly bigger challenge, but doable.
I continue to be amazed at the capabilities of urban Asian commuters, a lesson that would serve us Americans very well, indeed. Sure, it takes a few days (not much more than that) to become accustomed to not driving everywhere in your own automobile, but there is no parking issue either. We all purchase groceries in canvas bags, taking two or maybe three or four sacks home with groceries in them, neatly tucked into the rear taxi seat beside us. The notion of 8-10 bags, hauled in an oversized steel cart, plus a couple gallons of milk and/or juice, loaded into the spacious car trunk at the big-box suburban grocery store is alien to us in Asia. Yes, they have large stores such as Ikea, French Carrefour, and Wal-Mart, but even then we simply shop more frequently especially as fresh produce remains the primary emphasis in food shopping.
Shopping
Swinging by the local grocer after work, with a bag stowed away in my briefcase, makes for a most pleasant experience with a delightful stroll home a few blocks away at the maximum. The plastic grocery bags can be used, but the environmental campaign to utilize reusable sacks is becoming not only popular but the norm. A charge of .20 RMB per plastic bag is a slight deterrent, while the main element of consideration is not to look like a “China Newbie” with such sacks – the real local resident has a set of canvas sacks always at the ready – usually with your favorite store’s logo on the side. They have even become a bit of a fashion statement in certain neighborhoods. Convenience stores such as Seven-Eleven and others also make shopping for food an easy task. We have major grocery chains in Shanghai, only now becoming more prevalent in certain predominantly foreigner neighborhoods, stocking a variety of fresh meats, produce and imported brands familiar to all of us back in our home countries. The enclosed photo illustrates one such store below ground, within the Jing An Temple subway station, near my own home. An international pharmacy, fully representing most of the West’s major toiletries, grooming care, and cosmetics brand names, is also next door to the grocery store.
Now, the big question is regarding your Mandarin Chinese language effort. Most young people have an excellent command of English, especially the city-educated kids and young urban Chinese professionals. The blue collar workforce (usually from the rural countryside), or older generation over the age of 50, and many in the service workforce struggle with any language other than Mainland Mandarin or perhaps the commonplace Shanghainese dialect. But clearly English is everywhere, from street signs to the common language among Europeans, Koreans, and Japanese visitors and serving as expats, too. Chinese language classes also can be found of any size and shape all over the city, and at variable tuition rates, depending upon what you wish to accomplish.