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Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

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Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#101

Post by jimrhods23 »

49531 wrote: post #70
jimrhods23 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I turned a blind eye to the power abuse, human rights violations and corruption" I'm not sure how you can compare the US, which does have it's problems, but is one of the least racist (and offers many more opportunities to people that start with nothing) countries in the world to China, one of the most corrupt and authoritarian. In China, for example, you need to include your head shot on your resume and I've known…

You don't see reports like that about the US because of US hegemony, and most things that do come up is usually by the UN and isn't taken seriously. I'm not saying china is perfect by any means, but things ain't great in the US either. They just seem normal to us because we're used to it.

"You don't see reports like that about the US because of US hegemony"

I've see so many negative news reports about the US, that if it were even 1% as bad as you say it is, it would be shoved down our throats.

"They just seem normal to us because we're used to it."

When you live outside the US, you will quickly see the amount of poverty and corruption that just doesn't exist here. It's why I moved back and have no plan leaving again. Corruption in many countries is normal and accepted. It happens in the US, but it's certainly not accepted.

Have you seen what the EU is doing lately in terms of the freedom of speech on the Internet? China has already cracked down considerably and many other countries are using the same technology to suppress free speech and the EU is in the process of passing laws that do the same.

"I'm not saying china is perfect by any means,"

'not perfect' is an understatement. In terms of freedom, China is a horrible place to live. If you have money, it's great. You can buy yourself out of anything...including prison time.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#102

Post by wolco »

bdamm wrote: post #51
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're going to get away from this. By living in and working in China, paying Chinese taxes, and supporting Chinese companies, you are directly supporting an authoritarian regeime.

As a Canadian living in and working in America, I have a similar although less dramatic moral difficulty. The fact is that the American government is curiously abusive compared to your average developed national government.

As a Canadian we can only wish to have some of the freedoms the US offers. Property ownership is a right in America but in Canada it's a suggestion. In America you have freedom of speech in Canada you don't have that right but no one will both you practice.

Think Canada could do better as the world's police force? Would have Canada handled 911 differently? Would Canada have invaded iraq? Would the middle east be better off without that war? The US takes a lot of heat but by not doing anything would things be worse.

I don't think Canada is ready to handle that responsible. You need to be mature enough to do the good and bad. Canada just wants to do the good anything else that would taint that imagine in the collective mindset wouldn't be acceptable by the dominate few media narrative.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#104

Post by empath75 »

driverdan wrote: post #8

Why would anyone willingly move to an authoritarian dictatorship?

Money, adventure seeking, curiosity, lots of reasons.

For most people, most of the time, one can have a somewhat ‘normal’ life even in the worst dictatorships, even in the middle of active war zones.

Having an American passport is a tremendous asset because you can just leave for the most part, unless you get caught up in politics, for some reason (a small risk for most people if they don’t go out of their way to draw attention).

I spent quite a bit of time in Nicaragua which has an authoritarian communist government and on the surface, it seems like any other Central American country. I’m sure I’d notice more problems if I got political, but just being there exploring for a month or so, it seemed okay.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#105

Post by educationdata »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #81
educationdata wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to add: Even if you are ethnically Chinese and speak the language, don't go back to China unless you really cannot find a decent job in the west. Especially if you are young and educated in the west, here are the things to consider: - It is not very hard to find a STEM job in the west, and the pay is good. - Your parents are healthy now, not much to worry. It's better to get a green card before they get…

> get a green card before they get old parent age and green card -- how do these two things relate to each other?

If your parents get old and sick, you have to go back to your home country to visit them more frequently. It is much better to have a green card. You don't want to worry about your visa, your job security, and your parents' health at the same time.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#106

Post by hahamrfunnyguy »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #81
educationdata wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to add: Even if you are ethnically Chinese and speak the language, don't go back to China unless you really cannot find a decent job in the west. Especially if you are young and educated in the west, here are the things to consider: - It is not very hard to find a STEM job in the west, and the pay is good. - Your parents are healthy now, not much to worry. It's better to get a green card before they get…

> get a green card before they get old parent age and green card -- how do these two things relate to each other?

Because when your parents get sick and you have to go back to China, it might be hard getting back to the US AND still be able to meet requirements to get a green card.

Once you have the green card, you can travel freely back and forth.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#107

Post by ralph84 »

philsnow wrote: post #77
zukunftsalick wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HK has uncensored and fast internet. The language barrier can be a issue but English is still widely spoken, even in remote areas of HK like where I live. I know enough Canto for numbers, food and the rare times I get a taxi. I can't ready anything though. There's a big question mark as 2047 looms closer, which is till when China promised to keep HK the way it is now (capitalism, different currency, open, legal syste…

> There's a big question mark as 2047 looms closer, which is till when China promised to keep HK the way it is now (capitalism, different currency, open, legal system and so on). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Hong_Kong_protests They're not going to wait until 2047. Already many (most?) elementary schools in HK speak Mandarin instead of Cantonese.

Some elementary schools also have a non-trivial number of mainland children who cross the border every day for school. Birth tourism for mainlanders was big in HK (they've cracked down on it now) because Chinese born in HK automatically get HK permanent residence.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#108

Post by hahamrfunnyguy »

echevil wrote: post #54
illuminati1911 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unless you’re of Chinese descent and speak the language, you won’t be able to advance in most companies." There is no such issue when working for international or western companies and/or startups. Also a local mobile games company is not a good example to generalize with since games industry is known for being pretty horrible here. Internationally as well. While there are some things many westeners might find annoy…

I guess language barrier is the main issue here? In western companies, it's also hard to advance to high/exec levels if someone cannot communicate in English well.

I'd say it's more like being brown in the US and trying to advance into C-level roles ... possible, but you may encounter resistance depending on the company and region.

Re: Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience?

#109

Post by jaxbot »

sealthedeal wrote: post #69
zukunftsalick wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I know you could potentially earn 180k as a junior per year but then you potentially have to live in the US.

180k as a junior... no way

At Google I made around that my first year as a new grad (total comp, not salary) and far more than that in following years (again, total comp).
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