Shanghai skyline
The offer of work in China came as a bit of a shock. A week later I was on a plane and heading into the unknown. I had little information about the project or the company I had agreed to work for. I knew of the client by reputation and previous projects from other countries, but nothing about what really lay ahead.
I landed, but the company failed to send anyone to meet me. To this day, I have no idea how I managed to find my hotel. The cheery receptionist informed me that the company had been kind enough to book me a room for a month – then asked for my credit card.
After taking seven weeks to get my expenses paid, I thought things were okay. Then, the reality of Chinese banking bureaucracy kicked in. As it was payment of expenses, I could not produce the five sets of income tax paperwork needed to get the money out of China and into my UK credit card account.
Three months in and the money final rolled in. The honeymoon period was over and reality kicked in – and it kicks hard in China. I found my team of safety staff very loyal and friendly. I was, however, taken aback by several events and learned very quickly to be wary of the underlying issues of corruption.
The differences in work practices in the UK and China are accentuated. I have had the pleasure to work with the finest construction professionals I have ever known and have huge respect for them. Conversely, I met some extremely senior individuals who were an embarrassment to the profession and would find it hard to remain employed in their home countries.
I’m learning all the time. Despite this being the 11th or 12th country I have worked in, I found a lot of similarities but also novel ways to solve age-old construction safety issues.
Hierarchy of fall prevention is unknown to most in China. Designers have no knowledge or interest in the safety that goes into building but are expert at issuing invoices. Worker training is basic, but has to be repeated often. I never did work out if the workers are genuinely unable to retain information, or playing a very clever game of “Oh, I forgot”. I did learn to love them for it, somehow.
I guess personal pride and accountability are measured differently in the UK and China. Action/reaction connections were nothing like I’m used to. Take the tragic events in Shanghai on New Year’s Eve. Someone thought it would be a good idea to throw dollar bill-lookalike vouchers into a huge party crowd without thinking of the consequences.
This is also typical for site workers and managers alike there. Action and reaction thoughts are divorced and it is hard to reconcile our cultural differences on this count. I guess the differences are what make it so interesting, challenging, frustrating, and rewarding.
Would I go back to China? There are lots of things to balance – pay is good and it is easy to get used to a higher lifestyle than in the UK. Colleagues are much more sociable than at home. But you have absolutely zero job protection rights. Mostly, life and friendships in the UK are put on hold. Lifelong possessions boxed up and placed in storage. My luxury car in the UK has been sold and I was using the bus to get to work in China.
But yes, I would go back. In fact, after two years on the original site, I moved from China to another Far Eastern country because I love the region and its people so much. The initial alarm bells changed, inexplicably, to peals of happiness.
Dr Bill Dixon is a doctor of construction management
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