Survival of the fittest
When you're a stranger in a strange land, networks provide an essential social lifeline. Sport is a big one for expats. For some, the China move is relatively smooth. For others there's home country separation issues and the stress of adapting to a new work environment. Adjusting to a bustling city like Beijing or Shanghai, where nearly everything overwhelms, can be a challenge.
"For the working spouse, it is the most difficult because they're thrown immediately into the work situation," says clinical psychologist Dr Caroline Simons of Beijing International SOS Clinic Family Counseling Center. "There are the long hours, and there's the pressure of the move and cultural differences as well."
It can be also difficult for the spouse who isn't working, and the children because they have more time on their hands. "They don't have the social networks that they would back home, and they need to get that balance back," Dr Simons said.
Groups such as the Beijing International Newcomers Network or joining a school PTA can help bridge the social gap, she said. Sport, however remains a very popular option for connecting expats.
Expats play in a rugby tournament held in Beijing in March. Joining a sporting club is a good way to make friends in China. |
From Ultimate Frisbee, basketball, soccer, touch football and cricket to badminton, tennis, squash and the renowned Hash House Harriers, China boasts a wide field of sporting activities to lure the armchair spectator out of the apartment, into the game and meeting new people.
The World Health Organization says there is an important link between sport and good mental health, as it reduces stress and anxiety. Group sport also provides a sense of community and belonging.
Shanghai Cricket Club captain Australian Mal Collins, whose club is linked to rugby, Gaelic football and a netball club said he has made a lot of friends through the sport.
"Cricket is a great sport for people who have just moved out here and they don't know anybody," Collins says.
"They meet and they play cricket and they have something in common with a bunch of people they don't get from their work."
The cricket club has some 200 regular players of up to 30 different nationalities, with teams for men, women and youngsters. Including the players, there are upwards of 150 people who are connected to one of the six different teams at any one time. That includes spectators, family and friends. "There are a lot of barbecues," Collins says.
By default, extracurricular activities such as sport also have their own extracurricular activities.
For the Hash House Harriers, it is drinking beer - a somewhat contradictory activity to running, but fun and very social no less. There are weekends away, too.
Hashers are so-called "drinkers with a running problem" (the Hash mantra), and today there are chapters in just about every major Asian city, after it was founded by British expats in Kuala Lumpur in 1938.
Canadian Brian Hutson, arrived some two and half years ago totally cold not knowing anybody. Through someone at work, he heard about the Hash, joined, and today is GM of one of three Hash groups in Beijing he calls "family".
"Really what it comes down to, even though we talk about running and drinking and all that stuff, the reason why it is a great group is because we have a lot of fun," Hutson says. "I have never been to a Hash in all my time here when I haven't laughed, and laughed hard.
"It is great to know that every Sunday afternoon you can just go and the rest of the world doesn't matter."
While some expats make their sport contacts through word-of-mouth, many clubs have an active online presence. Forums, groups, listings on expat sites, even club websites make it next to easy to find a sport in China that suits.
"We receive quite a few e-mails from people that have just arrived and sometimes from people prior to arriving," says Nolan Harris, of Beijing Devils Touch, part of the Vermilion Beijing Devils Rugby Football Club.
"People often do a search on the web and have seen our website." Men and women teams make up the eight sides that compete in the Spring and Autumn season, with about 80 players of foreigners and Chinese.
And like many clubs, it has a regular meeting point, a bar. For the Devils, it's the popular Beijing expat haunt, The Den, where drinks are downed to fill the time in between Sunday matches, and the odd regional tournament.
"Touch is a great way to get out, have a good run around, meet people and make friends," Harris says. "It also has a healthy mix of expat and local players, which you don't always find in many sports."
(China Daily 05/18/2007 page20)
