The answer to your question is that there is still an absence of really qualified and experienced Chinese executives to fill those job tops in MNCs, hence lots of older expats. At the other end of the scale there are lots of unqualified expats coming here to learn Chinese or ass around teaching English etc.

In the mid-20s educated and young professional bracket, there are lots of Chinese people who compete for these positions and are willing to take a lower salary, and can speak Chinese. Therefore their western contemporaries find it hard to find jobs and hence are fewer in numbers.

28, married, one kid (infant).

As I've lived here for five years maybe I've just become numb to it--or maybe it's because I haven't spent serious expat time anywhere else--but it doesn't seem odd to me at all.

At least it didn't until you wrote this post.

What I find is that there's not many foreigners who seem to be "middle class" in the sense that I feel myself to be. I make more than many Chinese (though less than quite a few too), but nothing compared to those here on expat packages. I ride a bike to work, almost never take taxis, rarely eat out, etc.

I mean, as it took me a while to get started in a more "professional" mode, at 28 I feel much more in the starting-out stage professionally, and I don't seem to know many foreigners who are at that level--which is probably related to your comment.

So, what do we do? I don't go to the bars and chase chicks, but at the same time, I don't have the funds to be able to afford all of the fun things that await many in the expat crowd here.

In fact, that's one of my biggest complaints with China (or, at least Beijing): there's not much entertainment or leisure options for those who don't make, at least in Chinese standards, a lot of money. In the states I can get a $1 cup of coffee and hang out and talk to someone for hours. Or go to the library, or a park, or a cheap local concert, or...etc. etc. Am I missing out on something here? I mean, what're the options for entertainment that are cheap (by Chinese standards)?

^^^^And thank God for that! Let's hope Beijing never turns into something like any of those places (ie the West).

babylion, you are obviously from China and have never went to another country. parks maybe free, but dirty and no room to walk, museums are over crowded and have boring history, peddling the boat-hmmm, that is called labor, and I would not pay for labor. in the U.S., when we provide labor, they provide money, it's usually called a salary.

babylion, a hint of advice, travel to other places, before you provide suggestions to foreigners. We have seen the world and we really know what we are talking about.

I can't really understand how you can be bored in China. I know a lot of stuff are frustrating, but still better then your rutin life at home.

There are 1000's of things to do.
Travel, you have Korea, HK, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand etc only a couple of hours away and then you have all of China. Many, many restaurants and bars worth visiting, Network and meet people from all over the world, I think it's very easy to meet new people here (ok, most of then are non-chinese...).

You need to get out more...cheers

I'd assume most of the early/mid twenty are either students or just finished college and would rather stay back home than moving to a new country that speaks a total different language.

As for entertainments?

Cultrual gaps my friend!

(You'd almost never find any good kareoke in the States/Canada!)

If I was earning the same money back home I would: spend time talking and hanging out in coffee shops ($1=RMB 7); go to listen to some cheap, good music; enjoy time in some parks or outdoors somewhere else; eat at cheap bars with outdoor/rooftop seating and enjoy the sun and beers with friends; hang out at some friends' houses and have dinner and watch a rented movie; go to free or quite cheap cultural events that have music, art, crafts, plays, etc. for people of all ages.

Some of these things you can do in China, some of the even cheaply (yes, some free parks--though I don't consider the concrete triangle between Chaoyangmen Road and Chaoyang Bei Road to be a park; I don't know about the cheap good music, though it might be available somewhere). But, it just seems to me for the most part to be less accessible here. Does your average poor college student in China have money to go to the coffee shop a few days a week? Can someone who does a labor job afford to go to a bar and listen to music they like and dance the night away (or even to go to KTV)? Does the same laborer even have a place to watch a movie? Are there a lot of publicly funded cultural events open to everyone (I can think of Miaohui's around the New Year...what else? I'd like to know).

I mean, I realize we're in China and that it's a developing country and a lot of this is economics, so many of the things I just mentioned aren't that feasible. It just seems to me that a lot of people don't get a chance to enjoy life here and I find it sad. I would like it if there was more of an effort made to provide free/affordable entertainment for the masses.

And, maybe I need to go out and look more. What kinds of things would be under RMB 35 (roughly US $5) in total--including transport, etc.--and that provide a fun atmosphere. Paddle boats is a good note, though it doesn't quite match with my personal preferences. What else? Again, I'd like to know.

I think the original poster has it wrong. All the people he mentions ARE NOT EXPATS.

An expat is someone who has emigrated to another country to live - for good.

People who come here for a job for a few years or to study are not expats. They are tourists.

I think the poster has missed completely one segment of society here. The (real) expat.

And to counter bobby liu - the people that you refer to - have not come to China because they are just working stiffs and do want other things. They could not hack it as a real expat.

So what is a real expat that the post has ignored? The entrepreneurs. I am 31, married and lived in China for 7 years and been visiting the place for almost 10. I started a company here after I finished university. I went to university here as a stepping stone to give me a visa and time to work out how to start a company. Who on earth comes to a wild and explosive economy like China to be a working stiff (Shunyi middle managers?) :-s

Myself and lots of my friends and clients are in late twenties to early thirties - run medium to large companies with lots of staff and have life styles even better than the short term working stiffs that your alluded to before from Shunyi.

We own business here, properties, shares in other businesses or friends businesses. We have excellent local guanxi to help business keep working and from my personal perspective - we get many a client that the poster referred to as "Shunyi manager" and scratch our collective heads everyday as we watch them flounder and try to manage like they are back in their home countries.

There really are two worlds here. The REAL EXPATS and then everyone else (sent for a job, hippy, student, paedophile, etc).

Cheers,
RF.

Then I assume you are not one of them...

To add on top of that (WE NEED AN EDIT BUTTON!@@)someone who has immigrated to another country to live for good is called an immigrant, not an expat.

Immigration refers to the movement of people between countries. While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels, modern immigration implies long-term permanent residence. Short-term visitors and tourists are considered non-immigrants (or known expatriate/expat).

That's more than two types. BTW, you should be a sociolgosit. Your insights are amazing.

My reaction to some of the things people have said in the above..

Whatever you can do in the west you can do here at max half the price.

The people here seem atleast as happy and content as the average western joe schmuck, if not more.

The people here have a wonderful belief in their country that most westerners do not (unless were talking about American gung ho retards). I find that very refreshing and envigorating, nay, compelling! They have every reason to defend their culture and society against foreigners who come to their country, only to whine and moan about how it is here.

It seems a lot of westerners have grave difficulties spending time without spending money, if only on rented movies (here you can buy any movie on the street for less than the price of a cup of coffee in the west btw).

Heres my advice to bored people of every variety: Instead of filling up your life with external stimulants, try filling it up with yourself..
Read some books, learn some tai chi and hit the park at 6 am, volunteer for a charity or NGO, learn the fekkin' language (should take you a lifetime), go to the bookshops or whatever and begin exploring the modern Chinese intellectuals, they love to debate and are just as smart as "you" are, join a few evening classes or courses around, there are tons of them, from Ballet to Chinese cooking, go to public lectures about everything, take a local part-time job (low or no salary ofc, but what do you need all that money for if youre busy living your life?), discover "history" isn't boring at all and is an academic subject that reaches far beyond "names and dates", start giving free language lessons (you'll meet a helluva lot of bright and interesting chinese people that way in no-time), hand out lingerie and lollipops to hot girls on busses ( ), WHATEVAH, the point is, it really isn't that hard to fill up your life for very little money, and all the more so in China

ps: and yes, we need an edit button!

The preview function sucks, Admin.

imao you need a spell check. "envigorating." apparently you still need another 1000 years to improve on your English.

in our country, we do not like copyright, because it's not good for businesses.

obviously, you are a girl, and foreign men invite you to places, as Chinese man could possibly not afford it. This is getting back at you, when you said "it really isn't that hard to fill up your life for very little money, and all the more so in China."

If you mean Chinese intellectuals, like Mao Ze Dong, please tell me where to buy his books? As they get sold out so easily.

haha.

stop being proud of your culture, there is nothing to be proud of.haha