10 Things to Expect When Starting Your Life in China as an ESL Teacher

There are a lot of unique things to know when going to China to work as an ESL teacher, from living situations to new foods to an entirely different language. Generally, new ESL teachers undergo some culture shock when moving to Asia. The following list is excellent for preparing anyone for lift in China as an ESL teacher.

Cultural Exercises

Chinese people do aerobics, dances and stretches at the beginning of each day. When you walk outside, you may notice a lot of people hanging out in parks. They may be doing anything from coordinated dances to group Tai Chi to stretching exercises to sword forms. Chinese people take daily fitness seriously, so this is an important part of the culture. Likewise, it’s common to see employees line up in front of places of business each morning to chant or do stretches. As an ESL teacher and foreigner, you can join these activities when appropriate or choose not to do them with your company if you’d rather not. It’s entirely optional, but an interesting aspect of the culture.

Gift Giving

Gift giving is a big deal in China, and I really enjoyed being a part of it when starting my career as an ESL teacher. In China, gift giving is an important part of being social. Gifts can range from small, affordable items such as fruit baskets, clothing such as scarves, to expensive teas and useful electronic gadgets.

There are a couple of rules when gift-giving in China. Firstly, it’s common to wrap gifts so that the receiver doesn’t unwrap the gift in front of the gift-giver. This is to avoid embarrassment if the receiver’s reaction isn’t what’s expected. The receiver will instead call or write a nice thank you note in regards to the gift later.

Secondly, gifts are presented with both hands and accepted with both hands. A Chinese person may not accept the gift the first or second time it’s offered to display being unworthy of the gift. It’s the gift-giver’s job to continue offering, to ensure they are worthy.

As an foreign ESL teacher starting their lives in China, you don’t have to understand these rules. Chinese people make plenty of exceptions for foreigners and you’ll be forgiven for any lapses in following these rules.

Guidelines for Gift Giving

The following items shouldn’t be given as gifts, since they have negative cultural meaning.

• Handkerchiefs – A handkerchief is considered a gift of parting and so if given it is often assumed that you are saying goodbye forever.
• Sharp objects – Sharp objects are seen as cutting ties with a person. This can be seen negatively. So don’t provide gifts of knives or scissors on Chinese New Year.
• Shoes – Shoes are a bad idea as a gift. The word for shoes in Chinese is very similar to the word for bad luck or evil. It is also something that you stand on and wear away, which makes them a poor traditional gift.
• The Number 4 – The word for the number four is very similar to the word for death in Chinese. It’s considered unlucky. A person should avoid gifts that come in sets of four.
• Clocks – Clocks are the symbol of time running out. They are often viewed as a rude gift, especially if given to seniors.
• Pears – Giving gifts of fruit is common on Chinese New Year but you should avoid gifting pears. The word for pears is very similar to the word for parting or leaving and so can be seen again as a gift referring to saying goodbye.
• White – White is a color for death in China, so offering white objects as a gift is culturally inappropriate.

Pushing the Envelope

Working environments are pretty easy but there’s a bit of “pushing the envelope” in the workplace. The average Chinese worker is usually at the office for sixty hours a week, though much of that time is spent socializing and taking lunch breaks. Foreigners, however, only work around forty or forty-five hours per week, as per their contract.

As a result, a lot of Chinese companies will ask their foreign staff to donate extra time to projects and assignments. While doing this once in a while is fine, some ESL teachers starting their lives in China can become overwhelmed.

Just fulfill the terms of your contract and help out when you feel like it. Don’t feel pressured to overwork yourself and be firm and polite when you can’t take on extra assignments.

Saving Face

Saving face is hard to understand. In China, there’s a cultural feature called “Saving Face.” This is the cultural desire for Chinese people to maintain a positive self-image in their community and workplace.

The word “Saving Face” is an English term but Chinese people sometimes mention “to lose face” (die lien) and “for the sake of face.”

Culinary Culture

Food is a huge part of after-work culture in China. Expect to be invited out to eat often. There are tons of unique Chinese cuisines to try, especially in the hutongs, which are traditional neighborhood streets. ESL teachers getting started in China will be brought out fairly often to restaurants, cafes, novelty food shops and interesting traditional eateries. Each region of China also has a specialty food they’ve perfected.

Living and Lifestyle

The apartment and living situation in China is affordable, comfortable and a little different. It’s common to find great apartments quite close to your workplace, usually within walking distance. The apartments themselves are often furnished with everything a person needs. However, if an ESL teacher requires more furniture, it’s very cheap to purchase some from a local store.

There are a few amenities which aren’t really used in China. The kitchen sinks don’t generally have garbage disposal. It’s rare to find drying machines for clothes (though washing machines are common). And some older apartments have squatting toilets installed instead of western sitting toilets.

Chinese Transportation

The transportation system is top tier, but sometimes crowded. One of the greatest things about China is the amazing public transportation system. Major cities have well-developed metros, ride shares, bus systems, rentable bikes, rentable scooters and plenty of walking spaces.

The only struggle arrives during rush hour. Sometimes public transportation can be overloaded and too crowded. As such, it’s usually better to wait an hour or so for the major traffic jams to clear before heading out. An ESL teacher can usually stay at work for a bit longer or walk to a nearby cafe to relax.

Western Ads

Seeing western advertisements can be pretty funny. China has a unique relationship with advertisements, using screens in elevators or brightly-lit billboards near malls.

Sometimes, China will use images of western celebrities to market Chinese products. These ads will occasionally have translations pulled from online sources, so they can be inaccurate, nonsensical and fun to read. When I started out as an ESL teacher in China, my expat friends would play games during walks, looking for funny mistranslations in malls and shopping centers.

Expat Influences

One of the surprising things about life in China was the number of expats in my community. There were a lot more expats than I was expecting. China employs a massive number of foreigners, many who aren’t affiliated with the ESL industry.

Expats are nice to speak to since they often have great information about living in China. They can help newly arrived ESL teachers find online shopping deals, download useful apps and navigate to interesting places. While locals are helpful with this too, the large expat community of China is notoriously well-informed.

Asian Hospitality

Chinese people helped me with everything, at all times. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling the world, but Chinese people are very industrious about making ESL teachers in China feel comfortable. Between my company, Chinese friends and regular locals, I had help handling my visa, setting up my bank account, buying a phone plane, renting an apartment, finding western cooking ingredients, furnishing my home and navigating the city.

Overall, starting life in China as an ESL teacher involves a lot of culture shock and interesting insights on Asian life. But it’s also one of the most fulfilling experiences in the world, learning how to live anywhere while immersing yourself in a new society.