No place like home
By Mu Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-27 09:31 Comments(6) PrintMail Large Medium Small
Brother Sway, who owns a food business in Seattle, has been
drawing much attention with his stand-up talk show, Don't
Come to the US. Provided to China Daily
Though record numbers of Chinese students are choosing to study in the United States, if they stay they often find they are small fish in a big pond, Mu Qian reports
Brother Sway, who is from Beijing but now resides in Seattle and has been in the United States for 20 years, has recently become well-known through a stand-up talk show called Don't Come to the US.
In the show, that can be seen on all the major video-sharing websites, Brother Sway numbers the disadvantages of living in the US for Chinese people, and sings a song based on the 1960s revolutionary song Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman, but with new lyrics: "Don't come to the US. The US can't compare to China. The food and drinks here are terrible. From morning to evening, there is nothing for you but work."
Since moving to the US in 1988, Brother Sway, also known as Ray Tsway or Cui Baoyin, has studied at a university and tried to make a go of various businesses, such as a Chinese restaurant and travel service. Now he owns a concession food company.
"Most Chinese people who manage to come to the US are here for a bigger dream and a better future. Owning a profitable food business is a good enough living for most Americans, but it is not what I came to the US for," Brother Sway says.
"My social status is lower than the one I had before I left China. From being a white-collar worker in China I have become blue collar. This is the case with so many Chinese in America."
A netizen's comment on Tsway's talk show illustrates the feelings of many Chinese in the US when comparing their lives now to that in China: "Had they listened to Brother Sway's advice earlier, many Chinese talents would have had their undertaking in China instead of muddling along in the US; they would have been professors, doctors, or managers in China, instead of ending up being a laborer or a small boss; they would have married their childhood sweethearts instead of trying to get along with foreign spouses or living alone."
A Chinese student educated abroad at a job fair held in Xiamen,
Fujian province. Mo Feng / For China Daily
Tsway says that he enjoys his life in the US, yet at the same time feels a sense of loss.
"I could have done bigger things, had bigger achievements had I stayed in China," he says. "I left China to pursue a better life. I had no idea that China would have developed so fast, and grown so strong and powerful."
After releasing Don't Come to the US on the Internet, Tsway's e-mails grew to 200 a day with comments from people in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada and Australia.
The show seems to be appealing more to overseas Chinese than to people in China. On YouTube, which is not accessible within China, the video has received more than 100,000 clicks, while on Youku.com, the Chinese equivalent of Youtube, it has about 60,000 clicks. Most comments from overseas Chinese are supportive of the show, while some comments from China question why Tsway is still in the US when he sees so many disadvantages.
You Jiajia, a 25-year-old woman who has just moved back to China from the US, says that she can understand Tsway's ambivalent feelings since she has been hesitant about whether to come back or not.
You got a master's degree in economics from New Mexico State University last year. Most Chinese students chose to stay in the US because of the better environment and income, but having worked there for half a year, she finally came back to China last month.
"The job I got in the US was not very helpful for my future career," she says. "China will be developing fast in the next 50 years, and I think there will be many opportunities in China for me."
Many Chinese students choose to work in the US in order to get a green card, but You considers the long process to be a waste of her youth. She is now planning to work either in Beijing or her hometown of Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province.
Statistics from the Institute of International Education show that in the academic year of 2008/09, 98,235 students from China were studying in the United States, up 21.1 percent from the previous year.
According to the China-US Joint Statement released last November while President Barack Obama was visiting China, "the US side will receive more Chinese students and facilitate visa issuance for them".
This has been seen as a good news for Chinese students who plan to study in the US, and experts estimate that the number of Chinese students studying in the US will further increase this year.
"The number of Chinese students in the US will surely exceed 100,000 this year," says Sang Peng, president of Beijing Overseas-Study Service Association. "The unsatisfactory performance of the Chinese higher education system and the increase in Chinese people's incomes are driving more and more Chinese students to go abroad."
As more Chinese students study overseas, the number of haigui (overseas returnees) is also increasing. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of Chinese students who returned from overseas in 2009 saw an increase of 56.2 percent compared to the previous year, exceeding 100,000 for the first time.
"It is foreseeable that more and more Chinese students will return to China after studying overseas, since it is difficult for many Chinese to integrate themselves into the mainstream societies of foreign countries," Sang says. "For many overseas Chinese students, their best choice is to come back to China, where they can enjoy an elite status."
Xiao Kechao, a senior student of Peking University, who has already been admitted by Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences for graduate study, says that for him returning to China and staying in the US after study are both possible.
"I go to the US because I will get a better education for my major there. As for the question of work, it's now too early to decide. I'll see what happens," he says.
By Mu Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-27 09:31 Comments(6) PrintMail Large Medium Small
Brother Sway, who owns a food business in Seattle, has been
drawing much attention with his stand-up talk show, Don't
Come to the US. Provided to China Daily
Though record numbers of Chinese students are choosing to study in the United States, if they stay they often find they are small fish in a big pond, Mu Qian reports
Brother Sway, who is from Beijing but now resides in Seattle and has been in the United States for 20 years, has recently become well-known through a stand-up talk show called Don't Come to the US.
In the show, that can be seen on all the major video-sharing websites, Brother Sway numbers the disadvantages of living in the US for Chinese people, and sings a song based on the 1960s revolutionary song Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman, but with new lyrics: "Don't come to the US. The US can't compare to China. The food and drinks here are terrible. From morning to evening, there is nothing for you but work."
Since moving to the US in 1988, Brother Sway, also known as Ray Tsway or Cui Baoyin, has studied at a university and tried to make a go of various businesses, such as a Chinese restaurant and travel service. Now he owns a concession food company.
"Most Chinese people who manage to come to the US are here for a bigger dream and a better future. Owning a profitable food business is a good enough living for most Americans, but it is not what I came to the US for," Brother Sway says.
"My social status is lower than the one I had before I left China. From being a white-collar worker in China I have become blue collar. This is the case with so many Chinese in America."
A netizen's comment on Tsway's talk show illustrates the feelings of many Chinese in the US when comparing their lives now to that in China: "Had they listened to Brother Sway's advice earlier, many Chinese talents would have had their undertaking in China instead of muddling along in the US; they would have been professors, doctors, or managers in China, instead of ending up being a laborer or a small boss; they would have married their childhood sweethearts instead of trying to get along with foreign spouses or living alone."
A Chinese student educated abroad at a job fair held in Xiamen,
Fujian province. Mo Feng / For China Daily
Tsway says that he enjoys his life in the US, yet at the same time feels a sense of loss.
"I could have done bigger things, had bigger achievements had I stayed in China," he says. "I left China to pursue a better life. I had no idea that China would have developed so fast, and grown so strong and powerful."
After releasing Don't Come to the US on the Internet, Tsway's e-mails grew to 200 a day with comments from people in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada and Australia.
The show seems to be appealing more to overseas Chinese than to people in China. On YouTube, which is not accessible within China, the video has received more than 100,000 clicks, while on Youku.com, the Chinese equivalent of Youtube, it has about 60,000 clicks. Most comments from overseas Chinese are supportive of the show, while some comments from China question why Tsway is still in the US when he sees so many disadvantages.
You Jiajia, a 25-year-old woman who has just moved back to China from the US, says that she can understand Tsway's ambivalent feelings since she has been hesitant about whether to come back or not.
You got a master's degree in economics from New Mexico State University last year. Most Chinese students chose to stay in the US because of the better environment and income, but having worked there for half a year, she finally came back to China last month.
"The job I got in the US was not very helpful for my future career," she says. "China will be developing fast in the next 50 years, and I think there will be many opportunities in China for me."
Many Chinese students choose to work in the US in order to get a green card, but You considers the long process to be a waste of her youth. She is now planning to work either in Beijing or her hometown of Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province.
Statistics from the Institute of International Education show that in the academic year of 2008/09, 98,235 students from China were studying in the United States, up 21.1 percent from the previous year.
According to the China-US Joint Statement released last November while President Barack Obama was visiting China, "the US side will receive more Chinese students and facilitate visa issuance for them".
This has been seen as a good news for Chinese students who plan to study in the US, and experts estimate that the number of Chinese students studying in the US will further increase this year.
"The number of Chinese students in the US will surely exceed 100,000 this year," says Sang Peng, president of Beijing Overseas-Study Service Association. "The unsatisfactory performance of the Chinese higher education system and the increase in Chinese people's incomes are driving more and more Chinese students to go abroad."
As more Chinese students study overseas, the number of haigui (overseas returnees) is also increasing. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of Chinese students who returned from overseas in 2009 saw an increase of 56.2 percent compared to the previous year, exceeding 100,000 for the first time.
"It is foreseeable that more and more Chinese students will return to China after studying overseas, since it is difficult for many Chinese to integrate themselves into the mainstream societies of foreign countries," Sang says. "For many overseas Chinese students, their best choice is to come back to China, where they can enjoy an elite status."
Xiao Kechao, a senior student of Peking University, who has already been admitted by Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences for graduate study, says that for him returning to China and staying in the US after study are both possible.
"I go to the US because I will get a better education for my major there. As for the question of work, it's now too early to decide. I'll see what happens," he says.
