About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

I just got introduced to that great big labor world recently — or pulled out of the job market, rather, with my recent gig at the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall. It kind of fits in well with my passion in Beijingology — or the interest in the city of Beijing.

Having worked there for about a full week, I’m beginning to spot the differences — the gaps — between the average “tu sheng tu zhang” (土生土长) Chinese co-worker who never left the PRC and the rather Swiss me. Here’s a run-through in no particular order:

• The Swiss uphold the law like you’ve never seen before. Frequent reviews of work ethics and work codes are frequent for your Swiss David Feng. In contrast, the vision of “laws first” is surprisingly absent in many a Chinese fellow co-worker.

• Mainland men appear to be commandeering, always in firm control of the situation and sometimes coming close to (heaven forbid!) “trampling” (so-called — note the presence of the quotation marks!) on the ladies. To them, men are above women. Swiss men, however (especially for your Swiss David Feng), treat everyone as nicely as possible and try to neutralize any possibility of being “above” women.

• Productivity is key with the Swiss. The Swiss spend much of their time working, while locals can at times “take it easy” and just hang out when there’s not much to do. To your Swiss co-blogger, work time is strictly work time (the odd tweeting excepted).

• The Swiss are serious, but they also get a bit humorous at times. Locals giggle a bit, too, but more often than not, the Swiss sets those fellow co-workers off.

It would probably take me until 8 AM next morning to finish the entire list, so I thought I might give you a little starter. For those of you from Western Europe (in particular), all of this might be a bit familiar to you (as in what the rather Swiss me actually “does” at the workplace).

We all speak Chinese. We can also speak a bit of English. We’ve the same job — make sense of Beijing for incoming guests. Yet even here, there’s a gap — between the way a Swiss does his work and the way the average Chinese finishes the tasks given.

Swiss, Chinese, or wherever you may be from — have a great start to the new week!