8 ms·

Where are you from originally? What people usually do after their shift ends? Just return to their respective dorms? Are their any public spaces in or around t

Where are you from originally? What people usually do after their shift ends? Just return to their respective dorms? Are their any public spaces in or around the factory where people gather?

peterburkimsher 9y ago
I grew up in Geneva (born in Switzerland, parents live at France but work at CERN). But my passport is British by descent. I'm trying to go to NZ because it's the fastest way for me to get Permanent Residency. I can't have kids until I get PR, because British-by-descent only goes one generation. First I went to Xingda Hongye in Fushazhen, near Zhongshan, China. It's a long way outside the city, and there is seriously nothing to do nearby. There's a small café on-site, and people sometimes go for a walk down to the (polluted) river. Otherwise they hang out in the (male/female segregated) dorms, playing card games and watching videos online. A few people have laptops and play computer games. Some people also hang out in the cafeteria, or play some sports (ping pong is popular). There isn't a single social room though, so people just kind of scatter throughout the campus when they're off work. In Shenzhen, I stayed in a factory dormitory in Longgang, but was working in an office. It would take 20 minutes by bus to the nearest metro station (Universiade), which made it difficult to see my girlfriend at the time, because the bus would no longer run so late. I would go out to nearby restaurants to eat instead of staying in the company. There was a nice park nearby where I'd eat a bendon lunchbox. There was also a school, and some of the school kids were picking mangos from the trees on the side of the road to eat, for fun. They all wanted to take pictures with the handsome foreign boy, haha. All the people in Shenzhen are not local though - the city was purpose-built for electronics manufacturing, and people speak Mandarin instead of the local Cantonese because they come from all over. I made friends with a guy from Xinjiang (the Muslim separatist state) at a noodle shop, and he made some delicious noodles. The lack of Facebook and church made it hard for me to make many local friends though. QQ and WeChat are fine for one-on-one chatting, but hard to make Groups and Events. Another interesting thing to note is that many business owners (including my boss there) are Taiwanese. Despite the political tension, there are a few ways that Taiwanese can invest in the Special Economic Zone areas, and they do. Meanwhile in Taiwan, the workers mostly come from SE Asia (Philippines, Vietnam). That means the managers can speak much better English. The factory is inside a special compound (Nanzi Export Processing Zone), and does not include accommodation. There's 2 universities nearby, history going back about 400 years, and plenty of genuinely local people who are there to live, not just to work. After I leave work, I visit kids in the hospital with a Christian group, or study Chinese, or go to the CouchSurfing meetup. On weekends I go hiking, to music concerts (lots of indie rock here), hot springs, waterfalls, or church. There's a lot more happening here than in China, in my opinion.
- icu 9y ago
  "I'm trying to go to NZ because it's the fastest way for me to get Permanent Residency. I can't have kids until I get PR, because British-by-descent only goes one generation." Are you talking about passing on your British citizenship to a child born abroad? I'm interested to know how getting a New Zealand permanent residency helps?
  - peterburkimsher 9y ago
    Everywhere is "abroad". I have no connection to the UK. My girlfriend is from Taiwan. It's easier for me and her to go together to NZ than for me to take her to the UK. NZ PR is permanent - I can leave and go back any time. It also allows children born in NZ to get citizenship. Taiwanese or Canadian PR is not permanent - if you leave for a few years, you lose it. Therefore I would need to get citizenship before having a "home". Citizenship takes 4 years, NZ PR takes only 2 years. I just want to earn the right to live in a country with the woman I love and have children together, without always worrying that one of us will have a visa denied and be forced to move.
    - icu 9y ago
      Yeah New Zealand is a fantastic country for raising a family... but I'm biased as someone who grew up there. Having said that I personally think it is a low horizon trap for many entrepreneurs which is why I left. In NZ there is a saying along the lines of, "entrepreneurs don't go further than the 3 B's: the Batch, the Beamer, and the Boat."

Where are you from originally? What people usually do after their shift ends? Just return to their respective dorms? Are their any public spaces in or around the factory where people gather?

peterburkimsher 9y ago

I grew up in Geneva (born in Switzerland, parents live at France but work at CERN). But my passport is British by descent. I'm trying to go to NZ because it's the fastest way for me to get Permanent Residency. I can't have kids until I get PR, because British-by-descent only goes one generation. First I went to Xingda Hongye in Fushazhen, near Zhongshan, China. It's a long way outside the city, and there is seriously nothing to do nearby. There's a small café on-site, and people sometimes go for a walk down to the (polluted) river. Otherwise they hang out in the (male/female segregated) dorms, playing card games and watching videos online. A few people have laptops and play computer games. Some people also hang out in the cafeteria, or play some sports (ping pong is popular). There isn't a single social room though, so people just kind of scatter throughout the campus when they're off work. In Shenzhen, I stayed in a factory dormitory in Longgang, but was working in an office. It would take 20 minutes by bus to the nearest metro station (Universiade), which made it difficult to see my girlfriend at the time, because the bus would no longer run so late. I would go out to nearby restaurants to eat instead of staying in the company. There was a nice park nearby where I'd eat a bendon lunchbox. There was also a school, and some of the school kids were picking mangos from the trees on the side of the road to eat, for fun. They all wanted to take pictures with the handsome foreign boy, haha. All the people in Shenzhen are not local though - the city was purpose-built for electronics manufacturing, and people speak Mandarin instead of the local Cantonese because they come from all over. I made friends with a guy from Xinjiang (the Muslim separatist state) at a noodle shop, and he made some delicious noodles. The lack of Facebook and church made it hard for me to make many local friends though. QQ and WeChat are fine for one-on-one chatting, but hard to make Groups and Events. Another interesting thing to note is that many business owners (including my boss there) are Taiwanese. Despite the political tension, there are a few ways that Taiwanese can invest in the Special Economic Zone areas, and they do. Meanwhile in Taiwan, the workers mostly come from SE Asia (Philippines, Vietnam). That means the managers can speak much better English. The factory is inside a special compound (Nanzi Export Processing Zone), and does not include accommodation. There's 2 universities nearby, history going back about 400 years, and plenty of genuinely local people who are there to live, not just to work. After I leave work, I visit kids in the hospital with a Christian group, or study Chinese, or go to the CouchSurfing meetup. On weekends I go hiking, to music concerts (lots of indie rock here), hot springs, waterfalls, or church. There's a lot more happening here than in China, in my opinion.

icu 9y ago
"I'm trying to go to NZ because it's the fastest way for me to get Permanent Residency. I can't have kids until I get PR, because British-by-descent only goes one generation." Are you talking about passing on your British citizenship to a child born abroad? I'm interested to know how getting a New Zealand permanent residency helps?
- peterburkimsher 9y ago
  Everywhere is "abroad". I have no connection to the UK. My girlfriend is from Taiwan. It's easier for me and her to go together to NZ than for me to take her to the UK. NZ PR is permanent - I can leave and go back any time. It also allows children born in NZ to get citizenship. Taiwanese or Canadian PR is not permanent - if you leave for a few years, you lose it. Therefore I would need to get citizenship before having a "home". Citizenship takes 4 years, NZ PR takes only 2 years. I just want to earn the right to live in a country with the woman I love and have children together, without always worrying that one of us will have a visa denied and be forced to move.
  - icu 9y ago
    Yeah New Zealand is a fantastic country for raising a family... but I'm biased as someone who grew up there. Having said that I personally think it is a low horizon trap for many entrepreneurs which is why I left. In NZ there is a saying along the lines of, "entrepreneurs don't go further than the 3 B's: the Batch, the Beamer, and the Boat."