<story><title>Life and death in Apple’s forbidden city</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>devrandomguy</author><text>Based on your name, I assume that you are not ethnically Asian. Do you find racism &amp;#x2F; xenophobia to be a significant issue for you in either Shenzhen or Taiwan? As a very white Canadian, if I wanted to explore, work and travel for years on end, and was willing to live at the same financial level as the locals, would that be offensive to them?</text></item><item><author>peterburkimsher</author><text>I went to Shenzhen and worked for Egoman, a Chinese company that made the first batch of Raspberry Pis, before that manufacturing got moved to Wales.&lt;p&gt;The dormitories look typical. I arranged to stay in one through a different friend; mine wasn&amp;#x27;t arranged by the company.&lt;p&gt;Now I&amp;#x27;m in Taiwan, and life is better here. Factories are newer and cleaner, and working hours are more sane. Chinese factories often set long shifts because there&amp;#x27;s nothing to do in the local area except work. Kaohsiung has much more local culture than Shenzhen, so the workers are more interested in time off, and happier for it.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been here for 3 years to get the necessary work experience for future visas. I&amp;#x27;m now considering other options, particularly New Zealand or Australia, where my girlfriend and I both want to go.&lt;p&gt;Please ask me if you have any other questions, I&amp;#x27;m willing to share my experiences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>davidzweig</author><text>China seemed to me like a pretty down-to-earth place, people are pragmatic and generally accepting of foreigners. There are many different ethnic groups. If you stick around a while and work on your Mandarin, I think you can find your place quite ok. Kunming is a nice city, and the surrounding area is very pretty.&lt;p&gt;Some photos from a trip here: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;goo.gl&amp;#x2F;photos&amp;#x2F;FawpURbZweNNQt288&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;goo.gl&amp;#x2F;photos&amp;#x2F;FawpURbZweNNQt288&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am working on some electronics and will be back in Shenzhen sometime this year, although I&amp;#x27;m not sure if I will stay on much longer afterwards, I don&amp;#x27;t know if it&amp;#x27;s that much fun to live there.</text></comment>
<story><title>Life and death in Apple’s forbidden city</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>devrandomguy</author><text>Based on your name, I assume that you are not ethnically Asian. Do you find racism &amp;#x2F; xenophobia to be a significant issue for you in either Shenzhen or Taiwan? As a very white Canadian, if I wanted to explore, work and travel for years on end, and was willing to live at the same financial level as the locals, would that be offensive to them?</text></item><item><author>peterburkimsher</author><text>I went to Shenzhen and worked for Egoman, a Chinese company that made the first batch of Raspberry Pis, before that manufacturing got moved to Wales.&lt;p&gt;The dormitories look typical. I arranged to stay in one through a different friend; mine wasn&amp;#x27;t arranged by the company.&lt;p&gt;Now I&amp;#x27;m in Taiwan, and life is better here. Factories are newer and cleaner, and working hours are more sane. Chinese factories often set long shifts because there&amp;#x27;s nothing to do in the local area except work. Kaohsiung has much more local culture than Shenzhen, so the workers are more interested in time off, and happier for it.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been here for 3 years to get the necessary work experience for future visas. I&amp;#x27;m now considering other options, particularly New Zealand or Australia, where my girlfriend and I both want to go.&lt;p&gt;Please ask me if you have any other questions, I&amp;#x27;m willing to share my experiences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mc32</author><text>TW are pretty easy going.  Take a short 4mo course (up to you to take more) of mandarin so you can go out and about without a translator.&lt;p&gt;You will not likely face any racism at all, unless you go into strange places.  But you won&amp;#x27;t get it from everyday people.  If anything they&amp;#x27;ll more than likely assume you&amp;#x27;re educated and have good manners.  They pretty much give you the benefit of the doubt.&lt;p&gt;Knowing (even basic) mandarin goes a long way.</text></comment>