Lessons From a Month in China

It’s been a full month since we arrived in Beijing, and here we are, settled in our new apartment across the street from our new (opening in September) school and embarking on a whole new life once again.  It’s been an eye-opening experience and one that has filled me with a great deal of appreciation.

Here are a few things that have struck me so far:

1) This is the land of opportunity. What I have noticed is the willingness to accept and embrace new ideas.  I happen to work for a company that is in growth mode (like most of China) and open to suggestions, but in general, it feels like this is a place that welcomes innovation.  I had an idea for a project, and boom–marketing team is on it, and it’s scheduled to launch in October with full support from the company. There was no reluctance or endless process of evaluating the idea–instead, it was embraced with great enthusiasm and trust.  I have never been treated with more respect, listened to more intently or encouraged more wholeheartedly.

2) Things happen very quickly here. Related to number one above.  Example:   one thing that has concerned me about teaching abroad–30 years ago and more so now–is that the beloved English books we all read to our children aren’t always the best teaching tools here for preschoolers–they are too wordy for beginning language learners and many of the scenes/activities depicted are culturally irrelevant to Chinese children.  Like many teachers, I end up making up my own stories half the time because what’s written on the page just doesn’t work in that setting.  So, I spent maybe an hour researching publishing in China online, pitched a top agency (the biggest one in China) and within a couple of days, I had a meeting with an agent/rights manager here in Beijing.  At that meeting, she said she knew of an editor at a large publishing company that would be interested in my ideas, so she called her right then and she showed up in minutes.  The editor loved my ideas and asked if I could put together 12 books rather than the three I suggested, then whipped out her smartphone and showed me a site with an interactive English lesson and asked if I could provide digital content as well.  Oh, and she tossed out this December as a likely publication date.  WOW!

3) People are kind. Of course, I know that there are kind people everywhere, but I guess I was not expecting that, in a city of 22 million people, I would witness so many little random acts of kindness.  I had always known/heard that Chinese people could be a little pushy/demanding–and I am sure that is true in many cases.  But I see a lot of tenderness.  It’s a delightful surprise.

4) It’s clean and green in unexpected ways. I knew the air would be crappy (it is about half the time) but I didn’t expect the parks to be so immaculate and beautifully maintained.  The landscaping along the streets is surprisingly beautiful–and downright artistic.  It’s not just rows of the same shrubs over and over again but mixed beds of very diverse plantings for all-season interest.  Our courtyard area is especially lovely.   This pleases me to no end as I was thinking that Beijing would be a sea of gray.  Green, green, green!  (In summer, at least.)

Oh, there are a lot of things I could write about, but I’ll stop here.  New opportunities, quick momentum, kindness and greenery.  Not a bad way to start.