Living with the locals

Historically, very few Westerners in China have lived among ordinary Chinese people. In old China, most of them resided in exclusive foreign concessions and interacted only with their servants and Chinese officials. In new China, laowai were barred from renting private apartments up through the 1990s and thus led a bubble-like existence in special residential hotels.

All of this started to change before the Olympic Games. More foreigners began holding middle-level white collar jobs in Western, joint venture and even Chinese firms, started their own small businesses, or taught English in private language schools. While high level managers in Western Companies with fat expatriate packages rented flats in luxury apartment communities, these less affluent laowai made do with less expensive housing.

I am a case in point. I began working as a corporate trainer in a large Chinese SOE two and half years ago. Although my job pays fairly well, I initially could not afford to rent higher end housing in Beijing (and still set aside some money).