Enjoy your comments. Here is a commentary I wrote for Forbes to counter the NYT piece — I agree with much of what you said.

Should you look for work in China?

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/13/china-jobs-employment-leadership-careers-work.html

I hope you are using that TCM knowledge these days . . .

You wave that kind of fluff in front of a hardened expat who has been in his (hard) time, he is going to be pissed off. Moreover, the article was misleading, to say the least.

It doesn’t surprise me that people are giving this a blistering response for being the sort of starry-eyed piece one would expect from the China Daily, but at the same time, I think there really is a significant market for semi-skilled, inexperienced foreigners, particularly young people who are willing to not get paid much or even not at all. Many expats here toil thanklessly (but gloriously!) in jobs that would be considered prestigious, as long as you didn’t ask about the salary. One of the positions mentioned in the article is one I almost applied for, I know what it pays and it’s not much unless they’ve converted that guy to a ‘real’ employee. That they’re after experience is fine. Are they really getting it? I guess so. It’s a case by case basis, which is what the article glosses over. Like you said, there’s always a few really good stories – I think the one about the dancer is the best. And I HATE that photo – glorifying a twenty year old kid in CBD? The two guards riding behind him on the bike have it exactly right with their WTF? expressions.

I’m glad someone had the brass ones to actually write that it was seeming bullshit, because it kind of shocked me that these young tykes were actually speaking “fluent Putonhgua” after just a mere 2 years. Golly, Rachel DeWoskin of FOREIGN BABES IN BEIJING was having trouble with Mandarin even after around 5+ years (3 of which were spent on the soap opera acting entirely in Chinese and dealing with a Chinese crew and director).

Great going. Good to read your entries here — which I’d heard about at Dan Harris’ blog…

From Prague,
ADM