Hi Everyone,

I hope you are well.

I was thinking about different social rules that are true in China, but not necessarily true in our Western countries.

I was hoping we could list what we have seen, time and again. Perhaps it could help in our work lives and personal lives.

I know this forum tends to be mature, with no smart aleck comments, etc. that are rude "don't fall off the street drinking baiju" type deal.

I also have consulted GPT, DeepSeek, and Grok. I am guessing a few people have even written books.

Can anyone give me their take?


What I have seen is:

1. At the workplace, things almost always perform less than a Western standard. (Car company production efficiency, schools, etc.). It can be a personal choice to go above and beyond; just realize there is a low chance it will be rewarded.

2. "When a boss asks a favor, make sure you are paid or he agrees to give a favor back."

Traditional Chinese society is very reciprocal, and will give well. Other bosses just feel entitled and enjoy taking advantage.

3. Chinese society is more agreeable than the West. Feel free to help others out, just know when to put your foot down.

4. Consult a lawyer before signing any paperwork. Just like in the West, companies love waivers of release, etc. to later further an agenda.

5. In the workplace, government, etc. "no news is usually good news."

So, if you want to make a big change, make sure to do it with furthering an after-school degree, engaging in a lot of exercise, or something that does not draw any attention to yourself.

6. Chinese tend to "good gossip," and "bad gossip," about everything.

So, even if your boss or big company does not reward every good deed, many regular students, families, etc. tend to know what good quality material is. If you are exceptionally skilled, pretty, etc. people may even come to you.

7. China values stability far more than the West.

Even with the housing crises, economic downturn of China, etc. it is would be very surprising if China would collapse, the way the USA housing market did in 2008, or Brexit hurt the UK.

Rather, it it more "we eat chicken these days," versus "we eat steak these days."

Ne Zha 2 (2025)

I definitely recommend seeing the original first.  Otherwise, the . . . unusual status of the two main characters at the beginning will likely seem a little odd.

The first movie is well worth watching, but the second is better.  The animation quality is at least as good as major US animation releases if not better.  The story line is well written and includes some good plot twists.

Don't rush out the door when the credits roll.  Your patience will be well rewarded.

Sadly, we've got very few active members.  If we could just get a few more, this place would look a bit less like an empty shopping mall.

The issue, as I see it, is primarily 2-fold:-
1) We are all getting old(er). Past our prime(?) and with much less than our original joie de vivre
2) Many / most of us have moved out of PRC and therefore have a severe lessening of our interest in China and her happenings.




And ...
3) Jefe died. 

Was hoping to get in a few years of teaching as a semi-retirement job after age 50. Is there a lot of age discrimination for the jobs? Would mainly be looking to break even on salary.

Fewer competitors for the positions will probably make many employers less picky.  No more crazy qualification lists like "Must have a masters degree, 6-8 years of experience, and be no more than 24 years old." 

For a boilerplate list Dongfeng, and Luoyang should go on your list. Both next to each other, DongFeng has some amazing mountains and buddhist stuff carved into the rock, nice town as well with a well done tourist district.
Luoyang is the ancient capital and has loads of restored historical buildings, museums and so on, also you can get a day trip to the Shaolin temple one of the homes of Chinese Buddhism, but more importantly the 1980s kung fu films and of course the birthplace of hiphop.

If you were doing a 'must see' list those two are worth it. Agree with EL though, although China is developed now, you really need a decent amount of information except the location because it's not geared towards tourists in the same way as those parts of Thailand are where you have a huge choice of English speaking agents to sort you out, you need specifics