由Josh · Gartner

和移居国外近年来充斥了进入中国，国家的口袋开发了一种分明地殖民地感受。 在上海的最时髦的部分nightlife由外国人控制居住半中国经验，和有些英国在非洲和印度做了在顺道访问的几年期间。 真实，殖民主义带来介意军事税收，断然错过从现代中国的某事，但是，但有是简单的看的难受的现实。

在北京被拆毁让路给上流上升的被做了传统住房巨大的一刈幅的草(和在别处)，但多少那被市场驾驶为高级`西部样式’住房？ 大金钱是由中国投资者(许多谁得到遮荫贷款)，但经常外国人是支付元为他们的那个。 我的大厦在北京的Dongzhimen地区大概是10-15%外国，而邻居(和有些更新的)复合体是离50或60%较近。 外部我的第15个楼窗口是什么的残余曾经是一更大，更加充满活力的hutong (传统邻里)。 单一故事房子整洁的列坐到东部，意味由中午他们在我们的阴影逐字地被安置。 正义的在他们之外是共产主义样式7层大厦块乱丢与字符拆，因为大家这里知道，表示大厦为爆破被采摘了。

Even in some second tier cities foreign domination is setting in for better or worse. In Dalian dozens of Japanese companies have established call centers taking advantage of the foreign language skills of local Chinese there as well as the city’s proximity to Japan. Certain neighborhoods are lined with Japanese restaurants that do not even have Chinese menus. Call it economic colonialism if you will.

And that’s just what you could argue is happening in the western half of Sichuan Province’s Chengdu. There are estimated to be more than 100 Fortune 500 companies with offices in the city, including Intel which invested nearly 400 million dollars there in its last round of China-binging (the deal now pales in comparison to its Dalian project). With that increased foreign presence, so too has the selection of bars, restaurants and hotels serving the re-located employees. Once one of the most traditional cities in the country, it now has one of the larger expat communities.

You may well argue that the good coming out of all of these developments far outweighs the negatives. And you would almost certainly be correct. Noted economists like Joseph Stiglitz have been extremely impressed with China’s ability to tweak the free market model to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Yet I am not arguing that FDI is bad, but rather using it to point out a broader overall trend. The inflow of investment, even as it reaches the point of irrational exuberance is undoubtedly a good thing.

The real question I am trying to look at is how well foreigners have integrated into a generally homogenized society (although one that is not nearly as much so as people generally believe). Think about the immigration debates in England, Germany, France and the US. Xenophobes have often cited the reluctance to learn the local language and customs to justify anti-immigrant sentiment.

In China efforts to ‘sinofy’ the foreign population is rarely given a second though. There is little push on either the side of locals or Westerners. Instead, most expat life in China takes place within the confines of familiarity. Even those who have made the effort to learn about the country and its culture often retreat to their own world of comfort, with western DVDs and bars, their Chinese ayis cleaning up after them, and local waiters and waitresses bringing them food.

Does that make us bad people? Certainly not. However the comfortable expat lifestyle in China still clearly hints of colonialism. Certainly it is less overt than what we have seen in years past around the world, and cultural hegemony has still not set in the way some might believe. And yet despite everything that rationally tells me nothing is wrong, there is nonetheless a lingering feeling in my mind that something is not quite right either. Perhaps the real problem is that I am apt to mistake liberal guilt for colonialism.

Josh Gartner, China Expat’s Daily Tea Leaves
ChinaExpat.com, ChinaExpat.com/blog/josh