Western expats in China & Chinese Expats in the West

choi

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A tale of two expats; Life is easier for Western expatriates in China than it is for Chinese expatriates in the West. Economist, Dec 29, 2010.
http://www.economist.com/node/17797134?story_id=17797134&CFID=158970494&CFTOKEN=97119423

Quote:

"Female Chinese expatriates, too, tend to have a better time than men, reckons Mr [William] So. (Perhaps they find the culture less sexist. Perhaps they are luckier in love.) Male Chinese expats who have left their families behind, by contrast, can’t wait for their tour of duty to end.

"A Chinese firm needs local sales staff to sell things to British customers, but it is often hard to recruit locals. They need to start with positive feelings about China, says Mr So, and it helps immensely if they have studied Chinese. But such people could earn far more working for a Western firm in China.

"The one thing about the West that every Chinese expatriate appreciates is the air. “It’s much cleaner,” says Mr So. 'Everyone comments on this.' British people are quite pleasant, too. They are very polite, Mr So continues. When you go into a shop, you do not get the feeling that anyone is hostile. 'But if you go into a pub and debate Chinese politics, it would be very hard,' he says.

My comment:
(a) A "blind corner" is British term for street corner.
(b) overall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overall
(section 6 Boilersuit: coverall in American English)
(c) nosh (n): "a light meal"
(d) grovel (vi): "to lie or creep with the body prostrate in token of subservience or abasement"
(e) wangle (vi, vt): "to make or get by devious means : FINAGLE"
(f) The stoppage in the last sentence means work stoppage.
(g) You will not find sex or scoring a friend of opposite sex in this article.
(h) Chinese often write they can not wait to return to China. I suspected that Beijing was behind the move to recruit professionals. The article suggests that many Chinese exdpats are anxious to go back.
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