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Leaving China

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Re: Leaving China

#161

Post by charlieyu1 »

dirtyid wrote: post #141
jasonjei wrote: post #63

I used to travel to China all the time for work during my first job in 2008. Those times were super optimistic. Hong Kong was filled with Chinese pride, and it seemed inevitable that China would absorb Taiwan. China had just hosted the Olympics. I visited Hong Kong late 2018 after many years of not having been there. It was a very different place from the Hong Kong I had visited in 2009-2011. The energy was a bit dar…

>It almost felt like another Chinese city ... >If I were to live in Asia, it might have once included Hong Kong because of its unique British history OTOH this attitude is why PRC finally calibrating HK for PRC nationals/one-way permits instead of privileged foreign expats was long overdue. Mainlanders I know in HK find the new mix PRC/HK mix more preferable than UK/HK, less visible discrimination etc. Local nativism…

And the result is mass exodus of Hongkongers, especially the younger generation. 110K people moved to UK alone in the last two years. That's 1.5% of population, and UK alone. People are leaving the city faster than back in East Germany before Berlin Wall.

And why people born and raised in Hong Kong have to give way to privileged mainlanders who don't share any culture with us at all?

Re: Leaving China

#162

Post by [deleted] »

WheatMillington wrote: post #71
nonethewiser wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another woman I met on a plane said that the people who ran the school she taught at threatened to revoke her visa trapping her in China. She said she was leaving for "vacation" but was not going to go back. She was also visibly shaken. I know someone working as an architect in China and apparently his company holds onto his college degree. Hes concerned he won’t get it back if he doesn’t remain on good terms. I wa…

This reads like it was written by someone cosplaying as an adult. A college degree is not an irreplaceable piece of paper to be guarded with your life - otherwise it would live in a vault somewhere. You can trivially have the certificate reprinted.

[deleted]

Re: Leaving China

#163

Post by andrekandre »

hayst4ck wrote: post #81
ersiees wrote: post #3

Why do we call people expats and not rich migrants or something like that?

While there are very jaded views about cultural superiority and other things like that. I think the truth is probably less cynical. I can move to japan and marry a Japanese wife, work for a Japanese company, pay Japanese taxes, and speak fluent Japanese, but I will never be Japanese because my skin is white. People can move to America, and as long as you speak English without an accent, there is an assumption that yo…

  > I will never be Japanese because my skin is white.
for some reason i find this statement kind of strange... are you saying "japanese" to mean "fit in as japanese" or "japanese nationality"?

  > and as long as you speak English without an accent, there is an assumption that you are American.
n=1 but this has not been my experience....

  > and speak fluent Japanese
without accent?

Re: Leaving China

#164

Post by Animats »

WheatMillington wrote: post #71
nonethewiser wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another woman I met on a plane said that the people who ran the school she taught at threatened to revoke her visa trapping her in China. She said she was leaving for "vacation" but was not going to go back. She was also visibly shaken. I know someone working as an architect in China and apparently his company holds onto his college degree. Hes concerned he won’t get it back if he doesn’t remain on good terms. I wa…

This reads like it was written by someone cosplaying as an adult. A college degree is not an irreplaceable piece of paper to be guarded with your life - otherwise it would live in a vault somewhere. You can trivially have the certificate reprinted.

Less true than it used to be. Here's Stanford's duplicate diploma ordering portal.[1] It's a big deal, there's a lot of verification, and it costs at least US$100.

There's an easier way.[2] "But now it's easier than ever to purchase a fake copy of your diploma. At Same Day Diplomas, we provide high-quality copies of your college diploma. Our products are crafted to match the design, seals, and color of your university's diploma."

Which is why it's become much harder to get a duplicate real one.

There's online third party diploma verification, and it probably works about as badly as most other online credential services.

[1] https://studentservices.stanford.edu/diplomas/how-do-i-order...

[2] https://samedaydiplomas.com/blogs/news/oops-i-lost-my-colleg...

Re: Leaving China

#165

Post by woooooo »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #155
chasil wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a decisive level of bravery for your willingness to say this. I applaud you for your clarity on the country of your ancestors. It is a shame.

I see comment chains touching on this topic in nearly every post even tangentially related to China, and it's rarely ever that the main issue is mentioned. So I'll write this for the benefit of any passing reader with similar thoughts. In a country of 1.x billions, it shouldn't be surprising that there would be at least a few tens of millions of hardcore, actual socialists, who genuinely believe in some distant futur…

Is this based on political experience there?

My view from the outside was that it's really similar to climbing the ladder in a corporation, mouth all the platitudes but only suckers believe them.

Re: Leaving China

#166

Post by dragonwriter »

vgchh wrote: post #159
panza wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An expat is not an immigrant. It would be incorrect to call the author - who is an expat - an immigrant.

Resident Alien - I think that’s how USCIS calls people who do intend to stay but not immigrate

> Resident Alien - I think that’s how USCIS calls people who do intend to stay but not immigrate

Resident alien is a general term (not specific to the US) for someone who permanently resides in a country without citizenship; it is also an IRS tax term for someone who is either a permanent resident alien or who meets the “substantial presence test” so that they are treated as residents for tax purposes.

A permanent resident alien is another term for someone with a green card, which is for people who intend to (often, already have) immigrated before they qualify for naturalization.

Re: Leaving China

#167

Post by Timpy »

coldtea wrote: post #92
jasonjei wrote: post #63

I used to travel to China all the time for work during my first job in 2008. Those times were super optimistic. Hong Kong was filled with Chinese pride, and it seemed inevitable that China would absorb Taiwan. China had just hosted the Olympics. I visited Hong Kong late 2018 after many years of not having been there. It was a very different place from the Hong Kong I had visited in 2009-2011. The energy was a bit dar…

> Meanwhile, Taiwan’s value to the Chinese diaspora can’t be understated—it’s a bastion of a mandarin-speaking democracy. A bastion of democracy which has been a right wing dictatorship from its inception until the 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan)

I'm not sure how that's relevant, a quick look on Wikipedia and they are number 1 in Asia in terms of democracy index, number 10 worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

Re: Leaving China

#168

Post by tiny_ta »

nonethewiser wrote: post #125
tiny_ta wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your question because I have spent a lot of time in the past thinking about this :) > I’m genuinely curious because every person defines personal freedom differently. And great society is very subjective. I couldn't agree more! I believe that all of us have to give up some personal freedom if we want to live in a functional society. I may want to blast music from my rooftop at 3AM but I must curb that ur…

Are you really giving up personal freedom if you’re consciously deciding not to do something out of consideration for others? Usually it becomes a problem because you are infringing on someone else’s personal freedom. So it’s still about maximizing personal freedom in that case.

You're right. Thank you for adding a level of nuance for me to chew on!

Re: Leaving China

#169

Post by y0ssar1an »

The Chinese invasion of Taiwan is inevitable. When it happens, every Western company will suddenly have to pull out, just like they did Russia. The losses for Western companies will be tremendous. For some, it will be a mortal blow.

I can hear some of you saying "...but, but, China would never... because that would be so stupid...". It doesn't have to be a good idea! Russia's invasion of Ukraine a) wasn't a good idea, b) wasn't in Russia's best interest, c) had predictable devastating consequences for Russia's economy, and d) wasn't wanted by anybody (except Putin). Yet somehow it still happened.

It happened because autocrats are all the same. They're always surrounded by enemies, because neighboring countries don't want to be subjugated. Once the autocrat gets the domestic opposition under control their attention turns to foreign enemies. The CCP has always been fixated on Taiwan. The mere existence of Taiwan refutes everything the CCP tells its people about why they can't have nice things (like democracy and individual liberty).

The invasion will come when China thinks they can pull it off. Leave China now and protect your business.

Re: Leaving China

#170

Post by coldtea »

daemoens wrote: post #99
coldtea wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Meanwhile, Taiwan’s value to the Chinese diaspora can’t be understated—it’s a bastion of a mandarin-speaking democracy. A bastion of democracy which has been a right wing dictatorship from its inception until the 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan)

So it's still a bastion of democracy?

No, it's just an ex-dictatorship with a progress towards a democracy and skeletons in its closet...
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