Disclaimer: I apologize for not having written enough since my arrival here in Asia, partly due to the hectic schedule in Investment Banking, and the sheer distraction by checking out the city Shanghai which I am likely to come back to live for a while. Given the Great Firewall in China, it makes blogging/tweeting/updating on western SNSs significantly inconvenient. I have confirmed set up of my VPN now, so should be posting more consistently from hereon in – as you can imagine, what I have been seeing/hearing here are so fascinating that they deserve to be shared!

Feel free to check out my Shanghai pictures thus far here!

Having been in Shanghai for almost 2.5 weeks, I can say that I have finally settled in. Even as a Chinese descent who grew up in HKG for more than a decade, I have been embracing intense cultural shock, even though I am supposedly “home.” During the following weeks, I will share more insights around my rude awakenings, but today marked another wakeup call, one of which I had my Managing Director at DDB Shanghai (RAPP) to thank for, Ross Gearing.

Just like how you would never walk into a stranger’s house  to loosely start criticizing  the way the decor is laid out, or how the furniture pieces are arranged, or even how they treat their pets and children, expats should not arrive in China with the mentality to mold this country to be their own home destinations. China is a different house, and they follow a different set of rules – expats owe this nation of 5000+ years of history fundamental respect, open-mindedness, and humility in understanding that different is not inferior.

Ross eloquently framed this perspective this morning when we  were having a discussion about the social media scene in China, and how it is drastically different from the landscape back in North America. Guilty as charged – I have been stubborn to assert that the North American way trumps that of the Chinese, and with an open heart, I will share with you my learnings here in the Oriental shortly.

Besides, aren’t you supposed to always take off your shoes before entering someone’s house? Well that is very much the standard here in Chinese households, and I am checking my flipflops out for the remainder month.

East Meets West...inappropriately