GlobThink

I have recently published:

• the farewell letter No.1 (before China in 2006): this letter, which I sent to my colleagues in France when I came to China, talks about my expectations before coming to China
• the farewell letter No.2 (after China in 2009): this letter, which I sent my colleagues when I left China, talks about my experience in China.

These two letters are part of a psychological experiment. I would make a comparison between the two letters in order to make some conclusion about the expectations of those who come to China and their experience when they depart. This is an interesting experiment because it was not intended to do like this when I wrote the letters.

Topics of letter N1. (before China in 2006)

• China as an exotic country
• China as an ultra-modern country
• China as a huge country
• China as a an impressive culture
• China as a fast changing country

Topics of letter N2. (after China in 2009)

• China deep in my heart
• Unforgettable experience in China
• Now more familiar with China culture
• China helped me to challenge my own assumptions

Interpretation of the topics

The letter I wrote before coming to China reflects most of the stereotypes foreigners have about China. This means that at that time (2006), I did not really know China very well. I do think that, like me, most expatriates make the mistkae to identify China with the image of it that we get in the media. By the way, one of the stereotypes that was not in my email was “China as an evil dictatorship”. This topic deserves another post that I will try to write in the future. (But I have some posts about democracy in Hong Kong: post 1, post 2)

The letter I wrote after coming to China does not have any stereotype at all. The theme of the letter is that China helped me to see things from a very different point of view and now I am familiar with that, feel China deep in my heart and care about it. This was my experience and many colleagues agree with me. I think this is probably also the experience of most expatriates.

Result of the experiment

Expatriates expectations about China are mainly related to stereotypes; expatriates experience is more connected to personal development.

Image: This image of Oersed’s belongs to the Universidad de Oviedo