Conspiracy Theory
August 28th, 2009
An American friend who’s been living in the same condo in Suzhou for at least four years now has new neighbors. Actually, he’s not had any neighbors in several years. He lives in a corner condo in Suzhou Industrial Park, in a neighborhood with other expats, albeit Asian expats – Singaporean, Korean, even Taiwanese – make their homes. The landlord of the place next door introduced the American to the new neighbors by happenstance, as the neighbors were moving in: my friend happened to just be coming home from work at the time. The two new tenants are Mainland Chinese, engineers at a mainland Chinese factory in the Suzhou New District, across town.
Immediately my friend’s antennae went up: Mainland Chinese? Chinese-owned factory? Suzhou New District? My friend’s company pays several THOUSAND US DOLLARS each month to keep my friend esconced in luxury, American-style: American washer and separate dryer in the garage; American dish washer and refrigerator (American-sized, of course); and all the American TV stations a satellite dish can support.
So, he posed the question to us all round the table who were enthralled by the discontinuities in the landlord’s story: what would a couple Chinese engineers making several thousand RMB each month be doing living in a condo in an expat neighborhood? Maybe, he suggested, they’re not really engineers!
He suggested that the next time any of us ever come to his flat while he’s home and knock on the door, he may not hear us: he’ll be too busy with his ear against a drinking glass he’s pressed against the wall adjoining his neighbor’s new home. To gather some “intelligence” of his own.
That his life should be so exciting.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Your friend should just get over it
No conspiracy theories required. Many Chinese professionals doing very, very well.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:59 am
Chinese professionals not working for near slave wages? They must be part of a Vast Chinese Conspiracy ™. Sooner or later they will capture him in the middle of the night, brainwash him, and basically turn him into the Manchurian Candidate…….WE’RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!
September 6th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Couple of thoughts
1) Maybe the engineers are really well-paid (though paying > $2000/mnth does sound high unless they both make good salaries).
2) Maybe the friend’s company is getting ripped off and the rent/mortgage isn’t as high as he thinks. Not too hard to imagine that the local liason is taking kick-backs for signing the company up to rent apartments at above-market rates. I’ve heard rumors that this has happened with my own company in the past.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Hi, Marty;
Yeah, you’re probably right with number 2 option. A Western friend of mine just started looking for apartments in Suzhou. He’d been texting a Chinese agent in Chinese language about a candidate. The agent texted to my friend, “Sorry, though, this apartment is only for Westerners.” In other words, the apartment owners know most Westerners have their companies setting them up in China, making rental fees, kick-backs and “commissions” of all flavors rife for inflated prices to Westerners.
Still, I don’t want to disabuse my friend with the new neighbors of the bit of excitement that he believes might have entered his life!
September 9th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Thanks Bill,
What are the typical rates for a ex-pat in Suzhou? I’ve been visiting Suzhou 4X per year for the last 3 years and really enjoy it there. I’ve even been trying to learn the language. I’ve thinking about asking my boss to work out there for a year. I wouldn’t get an expat package (we have 3 expats in a staff >2,000 at our facility) but given that > 50% of our engineering department is in Suzhou, it certainly would benefit the department. If I can do anything to rent out my own place, then my guess is that even on current salaries we’d do OK.
BTW, my wife would want to work if she came out to China. She is a patent attorney, specializing in prosecution (the writing of patents). Do you know if there are Chinese law firms that would be interested in the services of a US-licensed patent attorney? My thought is that since the whole process is electronic, a US-licensed attorney working with English-speaking support staff in China could significantly undercut costs in comparison with sending the patent to a US-based firm. Especially true since many foreign firms choose to work with US firms in NYC and LA, which charge the highest rates.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Gosh, Marty;
That’s an awful big question. Suzhou has certainly seen a deflation in expat packages the last eighteen months, especially among Americans. Companies have trimmed the packages dramatically or simply recalled the expats. So instead of the couple hundred-thousand dollar a year packages there are more hundred-plus thousand dollar a year packages.
The “half-pat” option puts you at a disadvantage in salary negotiations, since half-pats don’t have the same lifestyles as the expats who are here for just a couple years. Typically, half-pats have salaries that may be a several, incremental multipliers above local Chinese, but it’s tough to push the negotiation envelope when your life is here in China for the foreseeable future, especially if you have a Chinese family. And frankly, unless you are able to eat A LOT of noodles and live in a cracker box, living here in Suzhou as a Western with Western proclivities is as expensive as living in the Midwestern United States; ie, it ain’t cheap to live here no more.
As for your wife as a service professional, she’d likely be better off in Shanghai, which changes your marriage’s center of gravity, and perhaps even your idea of working in Suzhou. Suzhou still doesn’t have enough of a professional services sector to take advantage of the skill sets many accredited Western services professionals have.
Hope this helps.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Thanks Bill,
That helps somewhat. In reality I’d be looking to come for a year or so and could probably live with a deal that simply continues to pay me my US salary while I’m in China. I currently live in downtown Chicago, where condos sell for the equivalent of 15,000-20,000 RMB/sq m and rent for about 120 RMB/sq m. Last I heard, that was still above rates in SIP, at least for regular Chinese professionals. I don’t know what the expat places rent for.