As a follow up to the post on why we have decided to stay another year in China, I am borrowing a list of what China is doing right from Jeremy Goldkorn, a well known China expert.  While many of the items I had not thought about specifically, I found myself nodding my head and thinking “yeah, I have noticed that…”.

- Continuing to lift millions and millions of people out of poverty (that’s the big one).

- A culture of hard work, thrift, and diligence that emphasizes the importance of education.
- The fapiao, a state-issued invoice system that is a work of genius which allows a massive more-or-less unregulated informal economy to thrive and still contribute taxes to the state.
- Investing in Africa, seeing developing countries as potential markets rather than basket cases.
- Dreaming big.
- Infrastructure.
- Increasingly professional emergency response systems for bird flu scares, earthquakes etc.
- Internet humor, Internet-based literature.
- State atheism, broad state support of science over superstition and religion.
- Ecommerce: you can buy anything, get incredible service, and often same-day delivery in big cities.
- Real family values: China is a culture that supports families; you can take a baby anywhere and no one will give you nasty looks about crying, etc.
- Food.
- Basic health care system (You’ll only laugh at this one if you’re from a rich country).
- Acknowledgement of climate change and environmental problems at highest levels of government.
- Active state support for new energy and renewables.
- The Beijing-Tianjin Anti Dust Storm Reforestation Program.
- No liquor licensing laws.
- Ease of opening bank accounts, online banking.
- Visa policy that treats Nigerians and Americans (or in my own case, South Africans) the same.

The complete article that includes Mr. Goldkorn’s list as well as other well known China-hands can be found at:

http://www.chinafile.com/china-what-s-going-right

I just signed up for another year teaching China. It has been a good year.

It certainly helped that we moved from Beijing to Hangzhou, a smaller city (6 million people) with cleaner air (not great but better) and more nature. Lots of places to hike, lots of greenery, lots of water.

My job teaching elementary students is as fun as teaching kindergartners but the work hours are less and vacation time much more.

Our apartment is free and adjacent to the campus so we have fewer expenses and no commute. Consequently we can save more money.

But mostly the enjoyment and excitement of living here comes from watching China develop on a daily basis. Change happens here ten times faster than anywhere else I have ever lived.

I was once driving on a new road with my father near his longtime Oregon home and he said “I don’t know where I am, I guess it has been a few years since I have been out this way.”. In China I have that feeling all the time.

But is is not just roads and buildings that transform quickly, it is transportation, communication and education—everything.

For a country that was shutoff from the outside world and stagnant for over thirty years, it is amazing that it can adapt and handle so much change without the wheels flying off. Or can it?

So that is why we are staying, to observe how the China story ends.

I only have just started looking at China as China, not as China through an American’s eyes.

In many respects, China is becoming more westernized.  But in other respects, it is not mimicking the West as it has its own distinct culture.  It is also skipping a lot of the steps that the West took to modernization since so much of China’s development has occurred in recent decades.

A bicycle culture is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than a car culture and is something that is recognized a positive development for the future.  In China’s case, a substantial percentage of people already ride bicycles so the bicycle culture is mature enough to warrant spending on all those things that make bicycling easier.  Protected bicycle lanes, bicycle rental services integrated into the transportation plan and cities laid out in such a way to make bicycling the best daily transport option.  If the future of urban transportation is a healthy balance of two wheels and four wheels, China is already there.

Online shopping in China is huge and growing fast.  Taobao, China’s premier online shopping site (think a combination of Amazon.com and Ebay) recently held a one-day promotion marking its ten-year anniversary on November 11^th.  It racked up the single largest sales day of any company in the world, ever.  Taobao been successful because it did not have to overcome a culture of brick and mortar shopping built up over the last century in the West.  Taobao makes it so easy to shop online and has been accepted so readily by the population that brick and mortar stores are now the alternative shopping option.

International education is booming in the form of English immersion kindergartens, foreign language classes in all grades and a preponderance of after school English centers.  There is no pushback against foreign education even though the Chinese education system has a long tradition and has been very effective.  China is quickly adopting new educational options by not getting bogged down in debate based on decades-old biases and prejudices.

China is becoming a more developed China, not a more developed western culture in China.  This is hard for Westerners to accept as we are used to feeling like our countries lead the rest of world when it comes to modernization.  But the truth is, China is ahead of the West in many ways simply because there are fewer built-in obstacles to modernization.

Most of us get started out on our own in simple circumstances.  We may have had just a futon, boxes for furniture and some sort of device that played music.  We could move with hardly any notice and needed little space to get our life set up.

But over time we began adding stuff to our lives.  Furniture, electronics, books and more clothes than could fit in a duffel bag.

Before we knew it, we were paying for our own place to live, had increased our financial and time responsibilities to the point we spent more than we made and needed more time than we had.

Some of us, myself included, sold our stuff, paid off our bills, canceled our subscriptions and expatriated to new countries to start fresh.  Looking back now, it was amazing we were able to operate under the years of accumulated possessions and web of constraints and expenditures that had built up over time.

Our computers are on a similar trajectory.  If we keep them for any length of time, they acquire unnecessary programs, exorbitant updates and speed-sucking malware that clutter and slow them to a crawl.  Eventually they begin to freeze and crash.  Soon enough, you are looking at new computers.

But there are solutions.  Solutions that are easier and cheaper than replacing your trusted sidekick.  There are ways to get your computer back to simpler times, when it ran faster and was less burdened with the responsibilities of running so many programs and add-ons.  A quick Google search turns up companies like Simplitec who offer easy and affordable options to clean up your computer and get it working just as it did when you bought it new.

Your time is too valuable to be spent waiting for your computer to boot-up, open programs or go through interminable restarts.  Whatever you pay now to make it faster will pay back in time-savings within a very short period.

Suffice it to say, if there were a similar program to keep one’s life simple and running smoothly it would have kept me from being a serial expat….but then again, what fun would that be?

Like the US, China is just finishing up determining who their new government leaders will be.  Unlike the US, it was no surprise.  Apparently there is a saying in China that goes like this:

North Koreans know who leader will be the earliest because he never changes.

Chinese know who their leader will be five years in advance.

Americans know who their leader will be the night before.

We had lunch last week with two wealthy Chinese businesswomen and the discussion turned to how we select (or don’t) our respective leaders.

Their first question to me was “Isn’t six billion dollars lot of money to spend to elect a leader?”

Their second comment was “We know there is corruption in our government, but we also know that our leaders have spent their entire lives learning how to run the government because they never have to spend time getting re-elected.”

While neither said one system was better or worse than the other, the single most salient observation I came away with was how the women considered themselves separate from the government.  There is no muddying of the water by saying “my guy does a better job running the government” because most do not have “a guy”.  It is simply “the people” and “the government”.

There is only one party in China and its function is to run the government, not orchestrate massive years-long political campaigns.  Most people don’t identify with the party, they identify with the people.  The “us” and “them” relationship is between the people and the government.

While the women certain had criticisms of their government with regards to corruption and waste, they pointed out that the system is very efficient when making changes and that change happens quickly.  Based upon their responses, I did not get the impression these women think too much about the government because it is has little to do with them and in reality, they cannot change it anyway.

From my limited perspective, the Chinese government is not popular, or unpopular.  It is mostly a bunch of bureaucrats doing their jobs running the country.  How boring.

We get a fair amount of correspondence from people who are considering moving abroad and joining the ranks of the independent expat.  Generally they ask for information about particular countries, recommendations for second language programs and advice on matters of personal safety.

It seems odd to me that we seldom get asked about how to make money while abroad.  There are hundreds of websites promoting virtual online opportunities.  But in our experience, the people who do the best are those who can take their current job/business with them.

It is a big leap of faith to move to a foreign country. Leaping without a concrete plan of how you are going to sustain your move long-term makes it even bigger.  Don’t get me wrong—I applaud those who have the bravery to jump without nets and have certainly seen success stories come from acts of such fearlessness!

I liken such a move to getting a bank loan for college.  You are risking capital in an investment (education) that you expect to pay off in the future by acquiring skills that you can use to earn money so that you can pay back the loan.

Use a loan calculator to determine how much the money will cost you and how long it will take you to pay it back after you have acquired your new-found skills.  Putting it into the harsh light of dollars and cents should not dissuade you from making the move, but instead, make you more focused on how you want your new life to look.

Another important aspect of creating an expat income plan is that it gives you something to tell the doubting Thomases of the world why you are doing what you do.  The more you tell, the more you refine, and the more you refine, the better the plan.

Your enthusiasm will be balanced by math and should result in increasing your chances of succeeding abroad.

One of my favorite mentors when learning we were moving abroad advised us to “Go, go, GO!”.  I would amend his advise to:  “Plan, plan, PLAN, go, go, GO!”

We are moving the day after tomorrow.  Since this move is not international, I almost convinced myself that we can ship the items we have purchased over the past 16 months to our new home.

Thinking about moving more than a carry-on bag of clothes has kept me awake the last few nights.

Do I keep our French press?

What about our air-popper that I had to order online since they are not sold in stores here?

My wok is of mid-range quality and the surface is still good. Did I get enough use out of it to justify leaving it behind?

Our colorful assortment of pottery was picked up as seconds from the local art market. Will I be able to find something similar that I like as much?

Finally, it came to me at 3am last night. It is not the attachment or cost of these items that was bothering me. It was the thought that not only was I going to be hauling my stuff with me, I was hauling my habits too.

One of the greatest pleasures in the world for me is to start completely fresh.  New home, new stuff, new habits.

If I bring the French press, I will continue with my morning cup(s) of coffee.  Since we are going to the tea capital of China, I can switch to tea.

Though we purchased the air-popper to make a low-calorie evening snack, it has evolved into a buttery and salty delight.

Before I had my wok, I steamed most of our meals. I am going to try that for awhile.

Our pottery has migrated to different corners of our home as we use it as containers for our keys, toothbrushes, change, pens and host of non-essential items.

Plus, starting fresh means exploring our new town—and the best way to learn about a new place is to have tasks that require you to leave your house, such as buying new household items.

Old habits die hard, but not giving them a place to root in the first place seems like a good way for them to stay dead.

We have been working in an English-immersion kindergarten in Beijing and will be sorry to leave later this month for jobs in more southern pastures.  While the children we teach are wonderful, it is the diverse expat staff that has made this job truly memorable.  Or in the case of outings with our Aussie brethren, completely forgettable due to their seemingly inexhaustible capacity for alcohol.

Our expat staff breaks down into continental groups.  Australians.   Euros (From Europe and the U.K.). North Americans (from the US and Canada).

Because we all come from Western backgrounds, initially we view ourselves as very similar when compared to the Chinese majority here.  But the longer we are here, the more we realize how distinct each of our cultures are from one another.

The Aussie staff are the most humble and fun-loving but always get the job done, hangover or not.  This group has done a good job of picking and choosing the more positive aspects of Western culture and their proximity to Asia seems to have tempered xenophobic tendencies.

The Aussies tend to come to China as a supplement to their Asian Studies coursework.  Many stay on after finding English teaching jobs.  Most of the teaching jobs here don’t start until late afternoon which suits their schedule of late nights and sleepy mornings.

The Euros typically are better educated but more resistant to change and terrible at being spontaneous.   But due to their place in Western history, the rest of us tend to defer to them as more knowledgeable—and it is easier to defer than argue as they generally turn out to be right.

The Euros generally come here for jobs in finance or technology, which they often have found  on sites such as Eurostaff.  Once settled in China, they, like other expats, find that the market for English teachers is booming and switch to the easier hours  and less stressful position of a school teacher.

The North American staff is more capable of “winging it” when they are not prepared for a situation (often) and in general are less experienced than other staff due to the predominant American liberal arts education model.  The stereotype of the “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” American expat is reinforced daily—present company included.

The North Americans seem to stumble into China after trekking around Asia and find that their particular accent is highly desirable, whether or not they have the appropriate background for teaching.

While these are broad generalizations, it is a snapshot of my experience with this particular expat group over the last 16 months.

The most positive aspect of working with such a diverse group is that each of them provide a mirror for us all to understand ourselves better, whether we want to or not.

As we wind down our 16 months here in Beijing we are visiting all of our favorite haunts for what may be the last time.  Restaurants, parks, stores and strolls are being checked off the list.

We have done this before, several times.  It is certainly a possibility that we will be back in Beijing since we are moving within China but this time I am admitting that I might not come back here.  When we have left places before I have always said we would return but the more places I live, the more places I want to live.

It might be an age thing as I approach the half century mark, but I want to continue moving forward, not back.  I have lived in enough places to know that, for me, one to two years is the optimal amount of time to live in one location.

There are 196 countries (more or less) in the world and I have experienced less than 10% of them.

Must keep moving.

If one aspires to be a great architect, you need to travel to cities that have great works of architecture.  If one aspires to be a great fashion designer you need to hit the streets of fashion capitals and watch the people who are being watched by other designers.  And if one aspires to be a great economist, you need to go to Argentina.

I studied economics at university and found it terribly dry.  And yet, it is a fascinating science that affects all of us on a daily basis.  And no citizens are affected more often or more quickly than Argentines.

In the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, virtually every economic policy instituted results in some form of protest by the people.  Sometimes the subways are closed, other times main roads are blockaded by protesters and more often than not, upset citizens band together and start banging pots in central squares.

Currently, the government is trying to strengthen the peso by limiting the use of US dollars in Argentina.  For years the dollar has been Argentina’s unofficial second currency.  It is used as a hedge against inflation and for all major purchases like property and cars.  While there is always a black market rate for dollars in Argentina, right now there is nearly a 30% difference between the official dollar/peso exchange rate and the black market rate.

I wish I understood the peso/dollar discrepancy better so that I could buy currency online at axiafx.co.uk  and then resell it for a profit without actually being in Argentina.  There must be a huge opportunity even though this margin of difference is certainly no secret and every Argentine has been in this situation before.

Argentina is famous for its once-a-decade economic meltdowns, the last one occurred in 2001-02.  Since then, Argentina has climbed back up in the economic ladder and is now the second largest economy in South America.   Its enormous geographic size, expansive agricultural lands, vast natural resources and well educated populace make it an economic powerhouse but its political leadership always seems to leave it in the gutter at some point.

And it is not just the government that inspires economic protests.  While we were living there, someone cornered the market on tomatoes.  The price went up several times over the course of a week.  Finally, a national protest formed and for a week no one bought any tomatoes.  The result?  In addition to the television stories showing footage of mountains of rotting tomatoes, the price dropped back to where it had been prior to the market being cornered.

Though Argentina is well known for its passion for futbol, the size of its steaks, unending outdoor adventure and of course, the ubiquitous tango, I really do think the most interesting and relevant characteristic is its crazy economy.  But I suppose the slogans “Visit the land of perpetual economic imbalance” or “Experience the thrill of the Argentine economic rollercoaster” or even “Argentina, the world’s biggest casino” would have little appeal to the traditional tourist.