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What is Culture Shock?
What exactly is Culture Shock? By definition, Culture Shock is the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone when suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life or set of attitudes. Symptoms of culture shock include the following: Depression/sadness, changes in sleep patterns, homesickness (extreme), and a tendency to be hypercritical. Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? Most likely if you currently live in or been to China before.
The good news is that culture shock is a completely normal reaction to a change in environment and there is no cause for alarm unless it begins to affect your health negatively or lasts for an extraordinarily long period of time.
Well the next question is if you or someone else you know is currently suffering from culture shock, what should you do to help you overcome it? Well to answer that question we must first understand how culture shock progresses. There are four stages to culture shock that many culture shock sufferers can relate to.
Stages of Culture Shock
I love it here! (Honeymoon Stage)
This is euphoric stage that majority of people go through when placed in to a new environment. The differences in the culture are fresh and exciting. This stage everything seems great. This could be part of the reason why culture shock can hit pretty hard in the next stage. For those who have visited China on vacation and loved it only to figure out that they can’t stand living here were most likely still in the Honeymoon Stage when they returned home after the initial visit. In most cases, visiting and living in a China can be a completely different experience.
Um, Why? (Frustration Stage)
At this point in the process you may begin to notice that some of the cultural differences you appreciated in the honeymoon stages have transformed into an annoyance rather than a source of excitement. At this point any small difference can be annoying and often reactions to these differences can be over the top. At this point, complaining can be at its peak.
Also this is the stage where one begins to feel separated from the rest of Chinese society. With many differences in culture one may feel that they have no one to talk to about these differences, at least no one that will understand where they are coming from. This person may tend to isolate them selves from society altogether or to stick exclusively to areas known to be popular to expats.
Been there, seen that. (Adjustment Stage)
This is the point where “recovery” begins. At this point you are most likely to become used to differences and although they still might bother you, you find new ways to lessen the annoyance or avoid the situation altogether. At this point you begin understand what parts of the culture push you over the top. Habits of locals that may have seemed backwards in thinking begin to make sense (in the confines of that culture) once you begin to learn more about the culture and history. This is a critical stage in the progression of culture shock as it sets the course for adaptation.
Zen Mode (Adaptation Stage)
At this point, you should have no problem having living amongst the locals and the differences turn from annoyances to just differences. Different habits are seen as just a different way to do things. Once you reach this stage, you may still hold on to your own beliefs and habits or maybe a mix from both cultures depending on the individual.
Common Situations
Staring
Staring will most likely be the first thing that you will notice when you arrive in China. Depending on where you are from this may be no issue at all or it may be a huge annoyance. Depending on the city, smaller cities unlike Shanghai or Beijing, people in China will stare you up and down as if you are a creature from outer space.
One thing to remember when this happens is that many Chinese people especially those from smaller cities have never seen a foreigner in person let alone travel out of China. Once you put yourself in their shoes it’s becomes a little easier to deal with the staring.
Stealth Photos (Or not so stealthy)
Another situation that you are likely to occasionally run into consists of the locals taking your picture. The reason for this is the related to the same reason mentioned above for the
Personal Questions
Chinese people are usually much more conservative than westerners are but you still will run into some questions about your personal life from strangers that you may be uncomfortable with. For example questions about how much money you make or your love life.
Comments about appearance
Another potentially awkward situation is when a Chinese person will make comments about your appearance based. It is not uncommon for people to be brutally honest about how they feel about your figure or overall appearance.
Queuing
Maybe one of the most infuriating differences in cultures is the lack of respect for queues. Do not be surprised to have people jump in front of you while standing in line. You will definitely need to learn “defensive queuing techniques” to keep your place in line.
How to Cope
So now that we know what culture shock is and what situations are most likely to run in to, let’s go through different techniques and ideas to help lessen the effects of culture shock.
Reevaluate Expectations
To help you with the emotions of living in a new country it is important to take a step back and just to look at the situation and reevaluate your new country fairly. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the locals to help you understand why such stark differences may exist. This should help substantially in helping you to adjust.
Find Others Like You
Just because you live abroad doesn’t mean that you have to be alone and in most cases, we aren’t. In bigger cities it is fairly easy to find foreigners who are in the same position as you are. For smaller cities, you may have to look harder to find others like you but more often than not, they are there. Find these people to provide some sort of a support group. This will help remind you that there are others out there dealing with the same issue of living in a different country like China.
Staying Close to Home
Stay close to home. This doesn’t mean to keep yourself locked up inside and become an anti-social person. This just means to make sure to keep in touch with people and things from home. If possible, have friends or family send you food or other things that you can only get from home. These small items although small, will work wonders in helping you cope.
Joining the Community
This tip may sound contradicting to the points above but it is important not to completely close yourself off from the immediate world around you. If there are things about the culture that you do not understand, make efforts to understand. Respectfully ask locals questions about why certain things are the way they are. The important point to remember is to remain respectful, most Chinese would be more than happy to know that a foreigner is interested in learning about their culture.
Culture shock is a natural phenomenon that all of us go through. The length of the aforementioned stages may vary depending on the individual. To understand early why you are feeling the way you feel is key to helping you progress through the stages. Your experience in China, good or bad, will be something that you will remember for a lifetime.
