Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#71

Post by GordonS » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #55

gadders wrote: post #27

I have friends that are black that visited Guangzhou. They felt like something of a novelty. On one occasion they went for a meal and had a crowd outside the window staring at them, watching them eat. I think they may also have had people trying to sneakily touch their hair on local transport as well. So if you're a person of colour, your experiences may be different from the other descriptions here.

I'm white, male and have long, blonde hair. I had similar reactions. I must be in 50 people's photo collections. Only one person asked me before photographing me. He was about 14, and on a rare school trip to Nanjing from home somewhere in the north. He said he'd not seen a white person before. I think everyone that photographed me was a tourist.

I can relate to this, I have had similar experiences across China (including Nanjing), although much more rarely in Beijing and Shanghai

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#72

Post by are595 » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

dazhbog wrote: post #59

It is awesome! I've been in Shenzhen with my startup for a year now and its great.., I want to stay here forever. Apart from the slow internet through the VPN, weird but interesting food and the language barrier, its a very exciting and prosperous country to be in. Foreigners here are treated equally and sometimes treated way better than they deserve!! Regarding jobs, there are plenty, but it depends which province/c…

What does your startup do, if you don't mind my asking?

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#73

Post by kqia040 » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:26 PM UTC

I did an 8months stint doing some data modelling at a Chinese start-up in Beijing.

Visa was difficult but company culture there really respects people who are experienced and innovative. Most the workers there aren't really passionate about what they do (From my understanding, most Chinese startups don't give equity to their employees)

English is a huge advantage as we have access to an awesome global community of people.

Pay is surprisingly good, but living cost in Beijing is deceivingly high as well.

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#74

Post by kqia040 » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:27 PM UTC

kqia040 wrote: post #73

I did an 8months stint doing some data modelling at a Chinese start-up in Beijing. Visa was difficult but company culture there really respects people who are experienced and innovative. Most the workers there aren't really passionate about what they do (From my understanding, most Chinese startups don't give equity to their employees) English is a huge advantage as we have access to an awesome global community of pe…

There are plenty of expats in China. You could totally get away with not being able to speak any Chinese and still live comfortably in the big cities.

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#75

Post by danudey » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:29 PM UTC

dazhbog wrote: post #59

It is awesome! I've been in Shenzhen with my startup for a year now and its great.., I want to stay here forever. Apart from the slow internet through the VPN, weird but interesting food and the language barrier, its a very exciting and prosperous country to be in. Foreigners here are treated equally and sometimes treated way better than they deserve!! Regarding jobs, there are plenty, but it depends which province/c…

Very few places in the world pay as much as Silicon Valley, so I'm curious if your comparison with 'the US' is tech jobs in SF/NYC or tech jobs in normal places (i.e. 'not as highly paid' could mean 'only' $100k/yr for a devops position).

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#76

Post by Fej » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:35 PM UTC

cleric wrote: post #11

Hello. Im a Swedish Sofware engineer and I have been working in Beijing for the last ~4 years. As others have pointed out, China is huge, and I have no experience from working in Hongkong or Shanghai where the vibe is more international, or so they say. So what to expect? Smooth sailing, as long as you can deliver. There is a lot of companies that value English speakers in general, so dont be surprised if you get pam…

What's the deal with the pollution? Are you worried about your long-term health?

China sounds great and all (well, except for that whole "totalitarian government" thing) but I'd never trade my well-being for money.

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#77

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

msvan wrote: post #65

bogomipz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree. English in Beijing is not so common, but Hong Kong its very common.

My point is not that you will have enlightening discussions in English with the average Beijinger, but that there are lots of people who live in expat areas and mostly hang out with expats and Chinese people who speak decent English. Some spend years in China without knowing a lick of Chinese.

True. You aren't going to be talking about deep politics with a Beijing taxi driver without a good command of Chinese, but you'll totally be able to order a mocha frapiccino in English at Starbucks.

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#78

Post by univerio » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:55 PM UTC

johansch wrote: post #68

univerio wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely real. Normal, unobfuscated VPN will result in packet drops after a couple of minutes. Even obfuscated VPN will trigger packet drops if you send too much traffic.

Thanks for that - it's great to have a confirmation. Obfuscated/unobfuscated VPN traffic, what is the actual difference at protocol level?

Put simply, AFAIU, it's the pattern of TCP packet sizes. OpenVPN, for example, has a very recognizable handshake that makes it prone to detection. This post goes into some of the network-level details (not OpenVPN-specific): http://blog.zorinaq.com/my-experience-with-the-great-firewal...

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#79

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:55 PM UTC

dazhbog wrote: post #59

It is awesome! I've been in Shenzhen with my startup for a year now and its great.., I want to stay here forever. Apart from the slow internet through the VPN, weird but interesting food and the language barrier, its a very exciting and prosperous country to be in. Foreigners here are treated equally and sometimes treated way better than they deserve!! Regarding jobs, there are plenty, but it depends which province/c…

US citizens have the same yearly working visa renewal as everyone else. The 10 year visa applies only to tourism and each stay is limited to 90 days or so.

Re: Ask HN: Is it difficult for non-Chinese to work in China?

#80

Post by klibertp » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:09 PM UTC

wepple wrote: post #39

> Is there xenophobia? Are Americans looked down upon or treated differently? xenophobia, no. treated differently, definitely. often they won't know where you fit into the social hierarchy, because, you don't. You don't have any family or social history so they may treat you like gods or may somewhat exclude you. Language is a huge barrier. If you're in Shenzhen, there will be near-zero english. You'll have to learn…

> You'll have to learn mandarin, which will take many years.

Why would it? Is it really that complex a language?

How different is learning Mandarin than learning German, French, Russian, English or Greek? I understand that the writing system is probably much more complex and requires much more memorization than the other languages mentioned, but other than that, what about grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation?