'Expat experts' supplanted by 'sea turtles'
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There are also haigui freelancers who are returning to dabble in business like my golf buddy Wen. He's an American lawyer who waited until he had had a son in his adopted land before returning with his boy and two daughters.
Wen had to shake off his own bout of culture shock, but his combination of cultural, linguistic and technical skills has made him a dollar millionaire.
Does this really portend the end of the lowly foreign expert? Certainly, and thankfully, there will be no more guys like Crazy Mike from Montreal. A couple of decades ago this new recruit was billed as the Rousseau of French editing. His first morning on the job he discovered China's national drink, baijiu, could be had for pennies at the company canteen. He was drunk before noon.
Crazy Mike became a legend. It was the fact he was hired in the first place that left us flabbergasted. Within minutes of meeting the guy we foreigners could easily tell he had eaten too many lead pencils and just wasn't all there.
The ranks of foreign experts also included a slightly saner group of mainly middle-aged men who came to work in China for the sole purpose of finding a bride. They all put in a year at their unsuspecting work unit and they all left mission accomplished.
These are extreme examples of the many oddballs who once posed as foreign experts, though there were also many foreigners who were conscientious and tried to make a contribution.
Perhaps it's the end of the casual sojourner to China that is nigh. We from abroad can flash our credentials and experience and even our nationality around, but now a part is needed that says you know something about China.
Can you speak some of the language, understand its recent history and empathize with its challenges, conundrums and contradictions?
After the novelty wears off, will you be able to resist sneering and walking around with a puffed up chest?
China has been through an entire generation of foreign experts and it hasn't always been a great experience for either side.
Now with increased competition and higher-level need, those with ulterior motives no longer need apply.
The author is the founder of R.D. Communications. billsiggins@ realdogcomm.cn
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