To me that is one of the saddest damn things to see. What you describe as more long-term FTs in China who feel some need to pull this 'old hand' badmouthing and denigrating any new people. Surely its part jealousy, they can do it because Chinese fall for it (in fact they are being played themselves) and I have a theory its because some of them remember the 'good old days' and have some sort of resentment about it. They want it to be 2008 again when they arrived and it was a fresh golden world?

A foreigner once told me about this other phenom which he referred to by an older British comedy show sketch but its "The Only Gay in the Village" syndrome. which made me laugh.

The reference is to a character in a small UK town who had some obsessive need to be unique and so special and decided to become a flamboyant gay man who delighted in being noticed and given both good and bad attention. Other villagers assumed he'd be so thankful to be introduced to another gay man so they'd bring their gay cousin to the village hoping the two would certainly bond together, support each other etc. No! The gay villager was absolutely offended to a point of outright hostility and insisting the newly introduced gay was a phoney, a false gay and would then ignore him entirely at all times even crossing the street to avoid the 'usurper' lol

I actually experienced this when we first moved to a little neighbourhood in our new city and a local who'd been there for something like 8 years literally would ignore me on the street. Some foreigners give a little wave or nod. He seemed to almost 'scorn' at me then 'scoff' loud enough I could hear it. Finally, I got him in a lineup and tried chatting. He was all but offended some 'usurper' was trying to take his title or something. Eventually he'd speak to me but ONLY on the condition it was the context of him condescending, telling me 'how it is', establishing he was 'the only foreigner' and i guess king of the street.

He finally seemed to meet his match when (gasp) a foreigner and chinese wife moved in with not one but TWO mixed babies. It seemed like 2 weeks later he moved. Apparently vanquished and undoubtedly finding a new neighbourhood where he could once again be 'the only gay in the village' ughhh.

Anyways, I'm also in the phase where I have no other mission now but getting out.