Charlotte Edwards-Zhang, who blogs at Chinese Potpourri, just had a nifty article published at Yoyo Chinese titled What to Expect When Dating a Chinese Guy. And I’m thrilled to have contributed my thoughts to the article, along with Jo Kelly-Bai of Life Behind the Wall. Here’s a snippet of the piece:
A decade ago, my plans for coming to China included teaching for a year, two…maybe even three, before returning to the US to start my teaching career.
Dating was not part of my plan, so when it happened, I was completely unprepared for it. Looking back, I would have loved to know what I was getting myself into or at least some advice on navigating Chinese dating culture.
Since my experience was limited to just my husband, I got some additional input from two American bloggers living in China: Jocelyn Eikenburg writes Speaking Of China and Jo Kelly-Bai writes Life Behind The Wall. Both talk about their relationships with their Chinese significant others.
Head on over to Yoyo Chinese for the full article! And thanks to Charlotte for including me in the piece!
P.S.: Yep, it has been another insane week as we finish up the move and I prepare for a big trip in China in a few days — hence the break from blogging. But I’ll be back next week, promise! In the meantime, please excuse me as I collapse into bed right now… 😉
#3 and #6 SO true!
But you guys didn’t mention the smooth skin! That is the most important thing in my book 😉
I cannot decide if I should laugh or groan over this.
But it is sort of true. The awesome Asian skin maybe deserves its own article?
True about the marriage aspect. I remember that the topic has been brought up even on first dates. From what I can see here the life of the Chinese middle class is on a strict and fast paced schedule. Apartment, date, wedding and child all happen in rapid succession, and around age 26 women worry about being old.
A couple of years ago I was not even aware that I was ‘dating’ a Chinese guy.
We had met by chance in an English corner, and I would be friendly and chat pleasantly to those who I met.
Suddenly this guy wants me to meet his family.
Then after me looking blankly (from shock), he said he wanted to marry me.
I don’t know how he thought I was interested.
I politely declined.
A couple of weeks later he brought his best friend to tell me why he was such a good match.
I avoided that English corner afterwards, which annoyed me because I liked going there.
Thanks for sharing this, Jocelyn, and for sharing your input as I wrote it!
I have smooth skin too hehehehehhe I’m serious. very smooth! silky smooth!
I stay in china for 3 years, but communication is still a big problem. My Chinese friends tell me to attend some online mandarin course,For example: Hnabrige Mandarin school, chinesehour, speakmandarin etc…Because I need systematicness chinese mandarin study. So anyone have good recommendation?