Shenzhen, China: A Glimpse into the Past, a Step into the Future
A 20s Female Journey to ShenZhen
I moved to China in 2009, it was both a personal and career driven decision. Born in Belgium, raised in the UK, I realised from an early age that my ethnicity was part of who I am. It was imperative to maintain my cultural roots, and the inevitable that China would become an important player in the world. Through early childhood visits to China, developing an interest in Chinese history and current events, I made it a goal to spend an extended period in the ancestral homeland. Thus, I graduated into a recession, China was the fastest growing economy and the future, it was the best time to move.
I’d arrived in Beijing, it was a city that was both familiar and unfamiliar. It was familiar as I had visited before, but on the other hand, it was unfamiliar because with every visit, the city had changed. The hustle and bustle of a fast moving city was one to get used to. Crossing the road safely, required nous, I’d psychologically train myself to think ‘You're putting your life on the line, so don’t look left or right, just straight’, and that's how I operated. I concluded that the driver’s technique for getting through a crowd of people crossing the road was there were no pedestrians on the road. The other was squeezing onto a subway. As a Londoner, I was familiar with taking the tube during peak hours, however taking the Beijing subway was on another level. Random squabbles between people over who stepped on who was normal. So normal that on one memorable morning commute, a squabble between two women would spiral into a competition on who was married and wasn’t. Apart from myself who chuckled, no one seemed concerned, everyone had their face fixated on their smartphones. It was just another normal day on the Beijing subway.
I’d work for several PR companies based in Beijing, firstly for a fast growing boutique PR Agency and then for multinational companies. I joined at a time where the industry was experiencing fast growth, and it was noticeable with the number of new international clients pitched by the companies. I was hired for language skills in English and Mandarin which in this industry was critical to communicating with international clients and locals. There was a mixture of intrigue, excitement and the unknown. I was working in Beijing’s CBD area and on the exact road my mum had first worked as a factory worker 20 years before. Things certainly had changed since then, and I’d return to a market that was growing fast, with a consumer base whose taste was vastly different to the west, and willing to spend big. With new wealth came an indulgence in conspicuous consumption. Working for a PR Agency whose focus was on luxury and lifestyle brands opened my eyes and ears to the meaning of extravagant spending. On my very first day on the job, I’d hear the story of a Chinese customer turning up at an auto show with a trolley of cash to purchase a super luxury car. It was a story that I would never hear back home, and it was a sign of a society that was still in its immaturity. I’d also find that Chinese consumers’ taste for luxury cars was distinct, they were willing to spend more for a ‘bespoke’ experience, and I’d witness through attending the auto shows the latest models selling instantly to VIPs. It was a way of standing out from the crowd and to show their materialism, which was different to the environment I’d been brought up in where hiding wealth was key.
Fitting into a Chinese team wasn’t hard particularly as 2nd Gen Chinese, an affinity to the local culture enabled me to build a good understanding with colleagues and exchange experiences. It was compelling to hear how some survive. To save money on rent, my colleague searched for a ‘bedmate’ to share, and to my surprise, a list of women applied. Out of curiosity, I’d asked ‘So, how do you know the person that you are sleeping next to is safe?’ To which her response was ‘Of course, they’ve safe, I’ve chosen her, she’s nice and she cooks me food, she's a good cook’. I was taken aback by the complete trust that my colleague had with a stranger, I clearly had come from a place where ‘bedsharing’ was a strange concept. With fluency of the local language came greater responsibilities and exposure to the local market, this was particularly the case with smaller companies, where there were opportunities to work with vendors, events, and interact with not only international but local journalists. At times, my identity as a 2nd Gen Chinese came in handy, as communicating with local journalists wasn’t as ‘problematic and demanding’ as they would if they communicated with their local counterparts, and would be kinder, and that would get the coverage that we needed. Undoubtedly, one of the main obstacles in China’s PR industry was that it operated differently to the west. There are opportunities, but as 2nd Gen Chinese, the difficulty was to navigate the system, particularly with the gray areas of the market.
I’d experienced a company merger and the upheaval that brought with it, and the subsequent experience of working in a multinational company which had difficulties acclimatising (水土不服) to the market. The disillusionment with working in a corporate job came at the same time as the increased curiosity and fascination with the emergence of Chinese tech.
I’d witnessed and experienced the speed of evolution Chinese tech and the fundamental changes it was having both at work and lifestyle wise. I began to see my colleagues move away from QQ messenger, Weibo and text messaging which was what I’d begun with, and move almost overnight to WeChat which was introduced at the end of 2011. I would reluctantly purchase my first ever smartphone as a result of the changes and needs from work. I was resistant at first as I’d taken the view that my phone was still working, I didn’t need a new expensive phone and wasn’t going to be dragged into the frenzy of purchasing an iphone. When I look back, it was a historic shift that I was participating in whereby China was becoming the first country to be a ‘Mobile First Internet’ driven society. With new technology comes new behaviours such as the tonnes of packages arriving at the office to which the reception of the office would regularly be covered with parcels that came in all shapes and sizes, the most notable delivery was a gigantic heater which was wheeled in and then out by my colleague. I called it ‘Office culture with Chinese characteristics’.
Undoubtedly, the transformative impact technology had on society would leave me with a lasting impression on my time in China. Platforms like Taobao not only shifted shopping habits from offline to online, and became the main place to shop, it was a platform that changed the fortunes of millions of people’s lives. I’d see through work colleagues attempting to juggle work and selling goods on the platform, and personally purchasing off from sellers whose lives completely changed due to Taobao. One seller who sold oolong tea transformed his family’s tea farm by selling directly to the consumer rather than through the traditional path in which his parents could barely survive. Not only had it saved him from moving to the big cities for work but he was preserving a family tradition of tea plantation. Technology had not only created new jobs but it was preserving traditions.
Living in China was both exciting and challenging. Undoubtedly, working in China proved to be a steep learning curve and at times brutal experience, particularly in the PR industry. The long hours, learning the Chinese work culture, the office politics and navigating the industry was an experience that at times was exhausting (and it was) but looking back, it was a valuable lesson learnt and it mentally toughens you for the future. There are benefits as 2nd Gen Chinese to thrive in this market particularly with fluent mandarin and affinity with the local culture. In learning to network and build relations, you're likely to be alerted to new opportunities that others might not have.
Whether good or bad, the experience of moving to China adds a different dynamic to if I’d never moved. I was fortunate to experience the technological transformation in China which for me personally was inspiring and will forever change the way I think of issues. I’d say if you can survive and thrive in China, you can practically deal with anything that life throws at you.
