Moving to a new city is never easy. Whether it’s your first posting or your tenth, you will still be leaving your familiar surroundings, leaving friends and family and starting a new adventure. Moving to China can be even more overwhelming, due to the immense linguistic and cultural differences you will most likely encounter.
Culture shock is a term we have been throwing around for years, and in China I would say everyone goes through it to some degree. But there are a number of ways you can be prepared.
First of all, if your company is willing to provide you with a research trip beforehand, be sure you take it. When you’re on it, make sure you visit the areas and locations that will be important to you, and see if you can picture yourself building a life there.
Also, if your company offers you cross cultural training, take this too. Even if you’ve lived in other countries before or you have been travelling here, you will be thankful you did.
Remember that China is so vast that areas can be very different. Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Suzhou offer many expatriate-oriented "luxuries" such as imported milk, cereal, meats, cheeses and western-sized clothes and shoes. Other areas are far more local, and you may need to bring items you just can’t survive without with you.
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