An Expat Has Time to Reflect, Now That the Party’s Over

Post by madaxe_again » Mon, Aug 22, 2016, 9:43 AM UTC

GarrisonPrime wrote: post #84

madaxe_again wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same in the UK. Brits living and working in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. self-identify as expats. Tell them they're immigrants, and you'll get a violent response. Honestly, I don't get the distinction.

An expat remains a citizen of their origin country, or otherwise makes a temporary move. An immigrant becomes a citizen of their destination country, or otherwise makes a permanent move.

Not true. My cousins who were born in Hong Kong, are British by ancestry and Australian by citizenship, and describe themselves as expats, even though they've spent their entire lives in HK.

It's purely a "us vs them" distinction.

Post by mahranch » Tue, Aug 23, 2016, 8:18 AM UTC

DelaneyM wrote: post #29

mahranch wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't really understand your point. The point is the inconsistent enforcement of laws. And you can be assured that if someone was wealthy enough, the laws don't apply to them. I think that's what the author was talking about when he said 25 people who had tested positive for drugs were let go and not held. They were probably connected somehow, or paid a bribe. China is an incredibly corrupt country where bribes a…

> ...25 people who had tested positive for drugs were let go and not held. They were probably connected somehow, or paid a bribe. There are plenty of perfectly rational reasons why one might test positive for drugs but not be held. In the US, at least, your levels must be high enough that they are unambiguous when factoring in margin of measurement error, but any amount is enough to get a warrant or have just cause t…

> Jumping straight to corruption is unfairly stereotyping China, which, though it may have a problem, has many more honest cops/prosecutors than dirty ones.

When your country ranks 100th on the world's corruption index, it's not "unfairly stereotyping". It's a fact backed up scientific data and hard evidence. China IS corrupt. No amount of mental gymnastics is going to reason away all the hard evidence. I experienced it first hand, and I'm not some amateur traveler. Again, I've been traveling for the better part of 2 decades.

One of the first steps in correcting any problem is admitting you have one. China, Chinese nationalists and Chinese expats who jump to defend the country on internet message boards like this one and reddit have an impossibly hard time with that first step. It's going to keep China languishing in mediocrity for some time to come.

Re: An Expat Has Time to Reflect, Now That the Party’s Over

Re: An Expat Has Time to Reflect, Now That the Party’s Over