For a living in China
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Maswood Alam Khan
In the United States Declaration of Independence, it was proclaimed that "all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Rooted in the declaration was also the idea of the American Dream that life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.
America, thanks to the American Dream, has thus been a dreamland for millions of people who had left their motherlands in the hope of settling in America in order to fulfill their dream of having a better life. In the long march to America there were millions of Chinese, too, who emigrated to America for a brighter future.
But the clock now seems to be running in reverse order. With economic recession engulfing the United States of America (US)as a dreamland is fast losing its luster as a beacon of hope for a better, richer and fuller life. Rather, some Americans are in fact dreaming for a living in China.
America remains mired in deep economic crisis. There is a growing consensus that it is hard to move up the economic ladder in the US. The majority of Americans, the so-called 99 per cent, is frustrated by the way American politics are now favouring the rich and pitying the poor. The economic crisis has put a substantial crumple in a keystone of the American dream and crippled their ability to climb the socio-economic ladder. While Americans' rate of socio-economic mobility has slowed in recent years, the pace of that in other nations like China, Canada and Denmark has accelerated. As an inevitable corollary of rapid decline of economic opportunities in the US, young and ambitious Americans are heading overseas. Their preferred destinations are now China, India, and even other emerging economies like Vietnam and Indonesia to pursue economic opportunity.
Many American youths are hopping from one college to another to acquire degrees that in many instances nowadays are being proven non-performing. Such overeducated youths are of late quite frustrated. Fed up with the economic status quo in the United States, many disgruntled Americans are leaving America for China, India and many other countries in the Orient.
Protesters who had encamped in Zuccotti Park for "Occupy Wall Street" movement the other day have already disbanded. Those who had chanted their familiar slogan, "We are the 99 per cent" have already returned home. Their protests have not brought any change in their fate. The protesters perhaps would do better if instead of wasting time by joining forces to occupy Wall Street they headed for China and other countries in the East for sourcing jobs.
Foreigners have been flocking to Mainland China as they once did to Ellis Island. These masses come in pursuit of making money. According to a census released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, about 600,000 foreigners were living on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2010.
America is overwhelmed by multifarious problems -- from high levels of unemployment, substantial inequality, high levels of crime and violence, extensive poverty and political dysfunction in Washington making life pretty difficult for working -- and middle-class people. Lack of tolerance, loss of privacy, high rate of crime and the lack of gun control are also responsible for Americans' frustrations with their country.
The effects of the Great Recession of 2008 have greatly affected the US, but they barely scratched China or India or even Bangladesh. Job prospects in China are abundant. Demand for those who can speak in English and Mandarin is pretty hot in China and so is the demand in India for those American entrepreneurs who have cash in hand to invest. Now perhaps is the time for also Bangladesh to attract Americans who are frustrated with American economy and are eager to leave America in quest of fortune and comfort in the East.
Seen from the US, the grass in China looks gorgeously green. Yes, the grass looks all the greener when your own turf really is sad and brown.
But, making fortune in China is not so easy for a foreigner. Unlike America, China is not an immigration-based society and there is no statue of liberty erected on the shore of China inviting men and women from around the world and promising freedom to one eager to be an immigrant.
The Chinese do not need, nor do they want, foreigners unless one can successfully bring business for China. Thus any foreigner trying to attain significant career and financial success in China may be required to put in, say, ten years of hard work, networking, language acquisition, etc. And then also, there is no guarantee that one will attain success after ten years of toil.
The majority of foreigners coming to China do not get lucky and at the end of the day, a foreigner in China has to swim upstream constantly, working much harder than s/he would in the west and accomplishing less. Contrary to a popular belief, China is not cheap at all. Living in Chinese cities like Beijing was once cheap; however, now the only way to live cheaply in Beijing is if you are willing to live like a dog, renting a dilapidated apartment that was never up to the western standards.
The writer is based in Maryland, USA. He can be reached at email: maswood@hotmail.com
In the United States Declaration of Independence, it was proclaimed that "all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Rooted in the declaration was also the idea of the American Dream that life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.
America, thanks to the American Dream, has thus been a dreamland for millions of people who had left their motherlands in the hope of settling in America in order to fulfill their dream of having a better life. In the long march to America there were millions of Chinese, too, who emigrated to America for a brighter future.
But the clock now seems to be running in reverse order. With economic recession engulfing the United States of America (US)as a dreamland is fast losing its luster as a beacon of hope for a better, richer and fuller life. Rather, some Americans are in fact dreaming for a living in China.
America remains mired in deep economic crisis. There is a growing consensus that it is hard to move up the economic ladder in the US. The majority of Americans, the so-called 99 per cent, is frustrated by the way American politics are now favouring the rich and pitying the poor. The economic crisis has put a substantial crumple in a keystone of the American dream and crippled their ability to climb the socio-economic ladder. While Americans' rate of socio-economic mobility has slowed in recent years, the pace of that in other nations like China, Canada and Denmark has accelerated. As an inevitable corollary of rapid decline of economic opportunities in the US, young and ambitious Americans are heading overseas. Their preferred destinations are now China, India, and even other emerging economies like Vietnam and Indonesia to pursue economic opportunity.
Many American youths are hopping from one college to another to acquire degrees that in many instances nowadays are being proven non-performing. Such overeducated youths are of late quite frustrated. Fed up with the economic status quo in the United States, many disgruntled Americans are leaving America for China, India and many other countries in the Orient.
Protesters who had encamped in Zuccotti Park for "Occupy Wall Street" movement the other day have already disbanded. Those who had chanted their familiar slogan, "We are the 99 per cent" have already returned home. Their protests have not brought any change in their fate. The protesters perhaps would do better if instead of wasting time by joining forces to occupy Wall Street they headed for China and other countries in the East for sourcing jobs.
Foreigners have been flocking to Mainland China as they once did to Ellis Island. These masses come in pursuit of making money. According to a census released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, about 600,000 foreigners were living on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2010.
America is overwhelmed by multifarious problems -- from high levels of unemployment, substantial inequality, high levels of crime and violence, extensive poverty and political dysfunction in Washington making life pretty difficult for working -- and middle-class people. Lack of tolerance, loss of privacy, high rate of crime and the lack of gun control are also responsible for Americans' frustrations with their country.
The effects of the Great Recession of 2008 have greatly affected the US, but they barely scratched China or India or even Bangladesh. Job prospects in China are abundant. Demand for those who can speak in English and Mandarin is pretty hot in China and so is the demand in India for those American entrepreneurs who have cash in hand to invest. Now perhaps is the time for also Bangladesh to attract Americans who are frustrated with American economy and are eager to leave America in quest of fortune and comfort in the East.
Seen from the US, the grass in China looks gorgeously green. Yes, the grass looks all the greener when your own turf really is sad and brown.
But, making fortune in China is not so easy for a foreigner. Unlike America, China is not an immigration-based society and there is no statue of liberty erected on the shore of China inviting men and women from around the world and promising freedom to one eager to be an immigrant.
The Chinese do not need, nor do they want, foreigners unless one can successfully bring business for China. Thus any foreigner trying to attain significant career and financial success in China may be required to put in, say, ten years of hard work, networking, language acquisition, etc. And then also, there is no guarantee that one will attain success after ten years of toil.
The majority of foreigners coming to China do not get lucky and at the end of the day, a foreigner in China has to swim upstream constantly, working much harder than s/he would in the west and accomplishing less. Contrary to a popular belief, China is not cheap at all. Living in Chinese cities like Beijing was once cheap; however, now the only way to live cheaply in Beijing is if you are willing to live like a dog, renting a dilapidated apartment that was never up to the western standards.
The writer is based in Maryland, USA. He can be reached at email: maswood@hotmail.com