Laowai

***Posted by Brian***

I am the reason we are thinking about moving to China. It is the combination of professional opportunity and the truly extraordinary chance to be a part of a completely different culture, watch the economy develop and in the process, learn a whole lot about ourselves. That has been my experience working in China for nearly two years so far and I want to share with Kathy. I guess I am hoping to accelerate the business development process and make the model a little more personally palatable. That’s the idea anyway.

The truth is, I have a voracious appetite for the humor and mind-expanding moments that come from examining yourself through the eyes of a completely different culture. That and I am the world’s foremost purveyor of high quality Chinglish.

I bear some responsibility for the name of Kathy’s blog as well. See, when you go to China, you are a laowai. What I know is that this what they call you behind your back, never to your face. I call myself that and they laugh. It could be horribly derogatory – I really have no idea. But, probably nobody reading this blog will know whether I am committing a major cultural faux pas and just take my word for it.

Being 6’4″ let alone Caucasian, in China means you never will really go unnoticed. If you’re in the market for knock-off watches (“Hello Laahtch”), cigarettes (“Hello Smoke”) or prostitutes (“Hello Sex”), this obvious laowai-ness comes in handy. If you would like to just have a nice walk down the street like one of the 9 billion other faces, you can forget it. No matter how successful I might be at learning the language, mastering the culture and eating the food without losing too much weight, I will never really fit in. This can come in handy in business where they are hiring somebody with something they don’t have, and is fine so long as the Chinese still more or less like Americans. I feel no fear or in any way threatened when traveling in China, and not just the big cities. So here’s to hoping my government can shut its mouth about Taiwan, cease the ridiculous protectionism activities and quit crying about currency.