Expatriates in China : Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges

Focuses on the individual experiences of Western expatriates in China by merging academic knowledge and real-life testimonials given by interviewees. The author also draws on her own experience of living and working in China, to explore a range of challenges and opportunities met by Western expatriates.

The number of Western expatriates in China has grown exponentially over the past three decades, and their ability to manage cross-cultural relations has become increasingly crucial: to date, China ranks second amongst the international destinations for expatriation, occupying the top position in terms of challenges faced by expatriates and failure of assignments. 

Expatriates in China, aimed at both scholars and business professionals, draws from academic literature and explores the world of Western expatriates in the Chinese business context through the author''s first-hand experience as an expatriate in conjunction with testimonials from interviewees. This study analyses numerous factors that can affect Western expatriates and their performance in China from the selection stage until after repatriation: pre-arrival linguistic and cultural training, expatriate recruitment and selection, culture shock, matters of international human resources management, expatriate identity issues, work practices, understanding ''the Chinese way'' and the effective management of expatriate repatriation.