Mobile Working in China Summary

Yikes! For some bizarre reason I didn’t write a country summary for China, the place I ended up spending most of my time. It probably has something to do with being caught up in the Olympic frenzy and spending the last weeks of my time there and first week away from there in a drunken stupor. I really enjoyed China though and think it’s worth a stop for mobile workers, so here’s my wee review.

Pros

• Cheap to live there – Sure, Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities are probably more expensive than they used to be and they’ll certainly be more expensive than small towns, but it’s still possible to live very cheaply in the big cities. The small towns are even better value for money and if you stick to villages you can live ridiculously cheaply.
• Friendly people – I have heard people say mixed things about their experiences with Chinese people but in my case I had nothing but a great time with them both at the Olympics and in my travels.
• Free wifi is common – Wifi is free in Starbucks and many cafes and restaurants in Beijing and I would assume other large cities as well. I was amazed at how common it was for places to have wifi and I don’t think I came across a single place that charged for it. Plus, guesthouses and hostels that don’t have wifi will often let you use their connected computer for free.
• Tasty food – I loved the food in China despite the occasional mystery meat or serving of 99% fat and bone. There’s a lot to sample and in Beijing there are lots of options if you want Western food. The street food in China that I sampled was always cheap, usually delicious and rarely resulted in emergency trips to the loo.
• Interesting business opportunities – I got the impression that China is a few years behind most of the rest of the world when it comes to the internet. People are still scared to use their creditcards online so, according to a local friend of mine, there aren’t many Chinese language ecommerce sites. I see this as an opportunity to be able to get in early with Chinese language sites if you have the necessery skills because I think its only a matter of time before online shopping becomes as huge in China as it is in the rest of the world.

Cons

• Slow internet connections – Internet use in China is monitored and this means that connections are slow. They’re pretty reliable and I never had problems with them disconnecting but they certainly weren’t fast.
• Blocked websites – The Great Firewall of China made sure that certain sites were off limits. While I was there I had problems viewing Blogger, You Tube and even Feedburner for some bizarre reason. I got around it when I needed to with proxy sites but it’s annoying and even slower than normal when you have to do this.
• Pollution – I didn’t notice it as much when I was travelling in Southern China but in Beijing it’s impossible not to be affected by the pollution. If I spent the day walking around Beijing I would always wake up the next morning with a sore throat. On the worst days, apartment buildings next to my own would be shrouded in smog and seeing a blue sky was a very rare thing.
• Difficult to get around the country – The transportation in China is good with cheap airlines and extensive train and bus networks but DAMN… its just so big. So getting anywhere can be costly and time consuming. I felt a bit stranded in Beijing and it didn’t help having to make visa runs all the way to Hong Kong.
• Visa issues – Speaking of visas… things seem to be business as usual these days now that the Olympics are over but things went haywire during the months leading up to the Games. Its sort of disconcerting knowing that the government can decide one day to make visa changes that could make your life miserable or even force you out of the country completely.
• Language barrier – Chinese is a hard language to learn and, in most cases, I got by just fine with a bit or miming and arm flailing. But because of the language barrier, accomplishing simple tasks can become very time consuming and frustrating. More people spoke English than I expected though and, if all else fails, there are always language students who would be happy to help you out in exchange for some conversation time.

There seem to be a lot of cons on this list but don’t let that scare you off because I loved my time in China. I would head back to Yangshuo to work in a second, although when I was there in July it was a bit too humid for me. I still havel lots of other places to explore and I have no doubt that I’ll be back there again at some point for several months or longer.