Here’s my interview with 新民晚报, a news outlet based in Shanghai, China. I worked in Shanghai as a tech reporter at TechNode for 3 years and 5 months. I left the job to embark my 8-month project SeekRoad (https://www.seekroad.co)/, cycling from Shanghai to London. I recently wrote a book about the trip, “Cycling the Silk Road” (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0939ZG6BL)
1. What’s your business before you work in Shanghai? Why do you choose to work in Shanghai far from your country? Is there any interesting story about the decision?
I was a contributing writer for beSUCCESS, a Korean tech media. I attended “beGlobal 2014” where I had to video interview of 22 speakers in the event.
There, I interviewed the first Chinese startup founder in my life. It was Gang Lu. I asked him if he could spare little time after lunch.
I told him, that I previously worked in Israel, interviewing the 75 Israel startup founders there.
“I want to go to China, either work there or study there,” I said. “Would you give me an advice?”
“You can join TechNode, maybe you can start reporting in Korean. As I came to this event, I thought we really should start something from here,” he said.
This was a mind-blowing offer for me. I told him that I really want to.
“Do you want to work in Beijing or Shanghai,” he asked,
“Shanghai,” I said. I have seen the Oriental Tower in the pictures so many times, and the word Shanghai gave me an image of a fresh juice.
“Good, that’s where I’m based, too.” He smiled. “Let me introduce you to Tracey, our reporter.”
Six months later, I moved to Shanghai as a full time tech reporter of TechNode.
2. How do you overcome the difficulty such as language and custom in Shanghai? Is there any interesting story?
When you’re not good at Chinese, you need someone who you feel comfortable making mistakes. In my case, it was Manyuan, my university student intern friend. We arrived to work at 8:00, an hour earlier than the working time, and taught each other Chinese and Korean 30 minutes each. Lunchtime was always a stumbling block. It was difficult to understand what my colleagues are talking about. At a Chinese-style round table where we all sit together with Chinese employees, I always have Manyuan sit next to me, so I asked what others were talking about and looked up important words in the dictionary. Little by little, I started to understand the lunchtime chatter.
Soon, the Lunar New Year holiday came, and a 10-day vacation was given. After traveling alone in the Silk Road cities of Dunhuang, Lanzhou, and Xi’an, I came to Shanghai, and I thought that this would be enough to survive in China. But the problem was industry terminology. In the second month of joining the company, TechNode holds the award for the best startups in each category. At this time, all the reporters go to Beijing and hold a five-hour meeting to select the best apps, best hardware, and best investors of the year. Looking at each PPT slide with more than 10 startup names on it, reporters pick out good startups by saying, “I’ve written articles like this before, and I think this startup is doing pretty well.” I really didn’t understand anything during those five hours, and the frustration was great. It was the moment I realized how ignorant I was in industry terminology. During those five hours, I noted down the pinyin of the word I heard. Then I showed the dictated note-taking to the Chinese editor in the same hotel room. She corrected the Chinese words that I had dictated. For example, she corrected that rongzi is not a face (容姿) but financing (融资). She took a picture of my notebook studying vocabulary and shared it in the Technode group room. All the other colleagues encouraged me.
3. What do you think about Shanghai and local people?
I really love Shanghai. Shanghai is my favorite city after Seoul and Berlin. I love the French Concession of Shanghai. I love the time when I was walking on the tree-lined sidewalk. Second, I think of the Technode office based in Shanghai. And many tech meetings in Shanghai. When I was working in China, I really liked the company culture. I liked having a company Nianhui or going to a workshop. I also loved TechCrunch events. I liked that dynamism. Third, I love a Latin dance academy called Feixun (飞讯). Fourth, I love the Korean people in Shanghai who have always supported and encouraged me. Fifth, I love the many, many friends of different nationalities I met in Shanghai.
In fact, I always felt a certain distance from my friends who are local Shanghainese. A sense of distance that makes it impossible to be completely friends? Maybe because, they were using Shanghainese dialect?
4.What’s your happiest and unhappiest moment in Shanghai?
The happiest thing was when I had my farewell party in Shanghai. I also exhibited my paintings and sold some of them or even lent them out to friends.
Are the happiest moments the saddest moments? When leaving Shanghai with a bike. It was really sad. But it’s the moment I made my dreams come true. (I cycled from Shanghai to London in 8 months)
Also, when I performed a bachata performance with Laosha at TechCrunch. Then, while monitoring my appearance on camera, I realized that I really am not good at dancing. It was such an honor to be in charge of two panel sessions at TechCrunch in November 2017.
And I served as a bridesmaid at Cafe’s wedding, and the wedding, which lasted from 7 am to 12 pm, was also very interesting.
Oh, I was very grateful when I was presented with a plaque of appreciation at my last farewell party. I presented what I learned during the 3.5 years in Shanghai, where I shed tears. I received a cake topped with chocolate with my face painted on it.
The saddest thing was when I was so lonely. I could’t climb the stairs because of a knee injury, but I lived on the 6th floor. So, I stayed at a friend’s house with an elevator. At that time, my mind was weaker than my body. It was a time in my career that many people complimented me and loved me as a reporter, but on the contrary, my heart was always feeling lonely. The fact that I didn’t have a boyfriend in the 3 years and 5 months I lived in Shanghai is a little bit sad even now.
5.Do you think it’s easy to work in Shanghai? What’s the difficulty when you live in Shanghai? How do you fix it?
It’s easy to find work in Shanghai, if you’re really determined. I think it’s easy for foreigners to find a job too. If you can only speak English, you can work for a few startups, and if you can speak Chinese, you can get a better job. I’ve seen a few cases where some expats started a business and did well. They would operate lifestyle products and services targeting foreigners and earn money with WeChat public accounts or mini apps. It’s hard to remember the difficulty in Shanghai. There was a time when my cell phone and laptop were stolen, but the my colleagues were so helpful. They helped me a lot. Maybe the difficulty is the language part. You can improve your Chinese! If I have to say one more, it would be air pollution.
6. Is there any interesting story about living in Shanghai? Which story impressed you most? What’s your plan in Shanghai in the future?
There are so many interesting stories about living in Shanghai. Shortly after starting my career as a journalist in Shanghai in 2015, I interviewed Rogier Bikker about his project that promoted Chinese brands while driving a car from Shanghai to Amsterdam. Then in 2017, I did a podcast interview with Sam Cruz about his bike ride project from Shanghai to New York, which inspired me to prepare for my own bike trip. In April 2018, Dominique and David went on a bicycle tour from Shanghai to the UK. I also started my bicycle tour in June, after managing to find 14 sponsors for my trip. Personally, I think this story of realizing the dream of a bike trip is the most interesting.
After I get married, if Shanghai calls me, I want to come back to Shanghai. Fusion(飞讯), whom I devoted my body and mind to for a year and two months, is there. There, I want to learn salsa, bachata, and kizomba again. I want to sell my English book “Cycling the Silk Road” in Shanghai. I want to start a business in Shanghai.
7.What’s the difference between working in China and other countries?
I love working in China. Because it is a place where dynamic change takes place. It’s also nice to come here to have an ecosystem of its own. From WeChat to the entire Alibaba ecosystem.
I liked working in China more than Korea. There was such a thing as a Korean premium in China. In 2015, when I joined the company, the perception of Koreans was very good because of <My Love from the Star>. Even though I didn’t speak Chinese at all. Dr. Gang Lu hired me as an English reporter for Technode, and the colleagues were so nice me, the first foreign employee. They always helped me and explained kindly.
When the Chinese people heard that I was Korean, they almost unconditionally called me a Korean beauty, and actively talked to me. When I became a reporter who spoke both English and Chinese in my first year, I felt much better now than when I was working in Seoul, Korea, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Silicon Valley, USA. At that time, In those countries, I really thought that I’m “One of them”. Having worked in the startup industry in four countries, the impressions of your countries are: In Korea, you can’t be an insider if you don’t go to a top university, in Israel you can’t be an insider if you don’t speak Hebrew, in the US you can’t be an insider if you don’t go to a top US university and if you’re not white. However, I felt that I was “Only One” when I lived in Shanghai. If I spoke Chinese, I could join Chinese-only gatherings (TechNode colleagues, Rich Club in Shanghai), English-speaking groups (several meetups), and Korean-speaking meetings were hosted by me (Mageummo, Seesaw meeting)”
8.Have you ever communicated with other foreigners about Shanghai? What do they think about it?
Comparing China to Korea, the hierarchical relationship by rank is more flexible, openness is high, and in general, it is more casual environment.
With other foreigner friends, we sympathized a lot with how wonderful Shanghai is, how tasty the food is. How pretty the buildings are, and the feeling of walking through the French Concession.
But it was a pity that too much plastic is used for packaging in China.
Compared to Berlin, I think Shanghai is filled with consumerism. I think it’s a city with too much consumption.
9. What suggestions would you like to make to other foreigners who are planning to work and live in Shanghai?
If I were you, I would definitely live near the French Concession in Shanghai. It’s nice to make many multinational friends while going to many meetings and meet-ups. Shanghai is a great city for hobbies. I liked Latin dancing, discussing books, watching movies, and taking walks.
10. What would you like to say to the Shanghai government?
An eco-friendly movement should start in China as well. There’s so much garbage comes out of China. I think a lot of subsidies should go into reducing food waste and plastic.
For people who wants to know more about me, here’s my video CV.