China: My Home in Asia

China Daily website is inviting foreigner readers to share your China Story! and here are some points that we hope will help contributors:

My journey to this so called "Sleeping Giant" started when I signed a contract to work in the Chinese mainland. I accepted the job for the thought of being somewhere else, meeting different people and experiencing other culture. Before the contract, I had been to and fro in this country for already quite some times. But because of a very hectic schedules, I just end up inside the meeting rooms else hotel rooms. China caught the curiosity out of me. I had been in this country but it seems very far away. Knowing that I will be working and staying in China for years gives me a glimpse of thrill on what life is, inside China.

Sheila Rodriguez [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Coming from a multinational company, my first few months in China are a mess. The company I worked with is below my standard. There's so much to improve, that on my estimate, my so called 3-year contract is not enough. If I haven’t brought with me enough patience, I could see myself packing my still unpacked things again and heading for home. China's local manufacturing industry for me is very cost sensitive. The rest of the world already uses hi-tech machineries while China opted to use the simplest machines as possible at a lower cost. And this is where China has the leverage in today's market… cost. And China hits the business bottom line.

Working in China's production floor offers a different challenge, communication. I brought with me a Chinese-English translator but it’s not enough. In this country, I lost my freedom of speech and gained my freedom of gestures. I need to use almost all my body parts just to make my point be understood. And all the response I got is…smile. I just can't get it if the production people understand me or I just look funny with all my gestures. On a personal level though, the good part of being in a place where nobody can understand you and nothing you can understood is that you never know what is going on. It is just like being on your own world with your own time and pace.

Another thing worth to note is that work life in China is balance. Work time is work time. From my previous company, work and family time is work time. And I think I like more the Chinese work time definition.

Outside my work however, is another story, like any other expats in the country; I spend my holidays touring around, going to major cities and far out towns, tasting exotic foods that my stomach is capable of digesting and making new local friends. I could not find any other words than "great" to describe the Chinese. They are the nicest people I have ever met. As I traveled from one province to another, I am relaxed for I know that for my every stop there's always a Chinese who is eager to welcome and point me to the right direction.

Time flies so fast for me and my China's journey is about to end. On my first months I thought working in China was a mess. And yes it was. It was a good mess, for whatever I learned in this country, I got it from my work place. I traveled China's different cities as a tourist, but in my work, I become a traveler…living the place and at the end calling it home. The life I started to have in this country is ending and I will carry with me the memories and the thought that somewhere here in Asia…I found a home in China.

The author is from the Philippines and working as an engineer in Ningbo, East China.
The opinions expressed do not represent the views of the China Daily website.

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