Unintentional comedy abounds when you are the only person in your office from outside mainland China. I over exaggerate. Truthfully, it is normally about as funny attending a funeral, and about as exciting as watching snails race, but that is just office life. Despite this, I found myself asking some interesting questions during my first few weeks on the job. I stress that I have only worked in one office in mainland China and that these questions only reflect my personal feelings and are in no way generalizations about Chinese office culture. So here are nine important questions and answers about Chinese office culture. In the true spirit of the Middle Kingdom, I couldn’t think of a tenth one, so I just didn’t include it.
1. How come no one every talks to anyone….ever?
I have found my office to be extremely quiet. This is impressive considering all of us work in one giant room. I don’t know if it is some kind of cultural difference, because I don’t want to break the silence and ask anyone…..( joke)
2. Why am I the only person that ever shows up on time?
When 8:30 rolls around and I look around the office, I notice something is missing. It just happens to be my fellow coworkers. The company gives us a flexible ½ hour (8:30-9:00), but the vast majority of employees don’t show up before 9:30. This cultural difference also affects social life. As you can imagine, I have started lying to friends about the starting time of events so they show up on time. It takes some adjustment to get used to, but you eventually learn to adapt.
3. Were all my coworkers that I was told were “fired” actually fired, or did some of them quit?
I don’t know the answer to this, but it is certainly one of the crazier aspects of working in China. The turnover rate for employees would make the head of any HR rep back in America explode. Since I started my job, six people have been hired and five of them have been fired. That is an 83% attrition rate for new employees. One guy didn’t even make it two weeks. I returned from vacation a few weeks ago to learn that two of my desk neighbors had got the axe. Truthfully, I suspect some just quit, but no one will give me details.
4. So, it’s cool to sleep at work?
Yes…Yes it is. How long and when is up to you. I have one coworker averaging two hours a day, but to be fair, he’s friends with the boss. I have started scheduling my phone calls around my 2pm siesta.
5. Can someone please explain the Holiday working schedules for me?
Hooray, I get a five day vacation. Wrong, you’ll be making some of those days up by working on the weekend. That’s right; it’s less of a vacation and more of reshuffling of the workweek. Make sure to check the official government website for details. Then triangulate that information with at least two other government websites. Odds are the information would add up, but whatever man. What do you think this is America?
6. Why does everyone try to bullshit everything all the time? Can’t they just say that they don’t know the answer?
My unfamiliarity with the concept of “face” made my first few weeks in China difficult. I’d ask a question about Chinese culture or day-to-day life only to have a Chinese friend make-up an answer. I’d embarrass myself later by repeating what I was told to someone else. I realized that my friend subscribed to the tradition of “saving face”, and he considered it less humiliating to lie than to say he didn’t know something about Asian culture. (see future blog post for more…..) It is easy to adjust to this cultural difference, but hard to keep from abusing these situations for their comedic value.
7. None of my male coworkers care about sports. So why do they all claim to love the Miami Heat or a successful European soccer club?
I have two short answers and a long one:
1. Bandwagon fans are everywhere, because people like winners
2. Many Chinese sports fans consider Chinese sport teams “inferior” to western teams, and talent wise this might be true.
Long Answer: A younger more idealistic me arrived in Beijing ready to support the local soccer team, Beijing Guoan. It didn’t take long to find out that many Beijingers don’t give a shit about Guoan, and view the Chinese Super League with distain. Most of those that hold this opinion love a successful western team, expressing their love by buying lots of gaudy and expensive merchandise. It slowly dawned on me that many sports teams have become global brands not unlike Nike or Adidas. If I had a dollar for every piece of Manchester United paraphernalia I have seen in this country, I’d be a millionaire. It is truly funny considering their relative lack of success this year.
8. Do we get “smog days”?
No, but that would be badass.
9. What is up with the Chinese fascination with Taiwan (besides the obvious)?
Aside from the obvious pre and post Chinese Civil War links between the mainland and Taiwan, there are several reasons mainlanders dream of visiting the island. Ask any normal Chinese citizen, who is not rich enough to get a visa, and many will tell you that they want to visit Taiwan. Truthfully, I am not even going to attempt to analyze this complicated relationship, but I will leave you with this quote. Some of the more open mainlanders have told me, “If you want to see well-preserved, traditional Chinese culture, go to Taiwan.” I was shocked by this statement the first time I heard it. I definitely plan to find out if it is true.
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