Some expats seem to have never matured socially enough where they can carry a long conversation with others. I have met these types and they would rather just sit back in every conversation and not get involved with thinking about anything. They get away with this due to fitting the "right" look with the locals with the stereotypical foreigner image. Being one of the beneficiaries of a corrupt system it is obvious why they do not bother coming out of their own shells of seeing everything as "wonderful" and "dynamic". For some of us, that is a luxury we simply are not allowed to have when we live in such barbaric places.

Expat immaturity... This does not solely affect younger people that may have excellent burger flipping skills.

With the middle-aged expat types, not the standard younger English teachers but usually the guys that work outside of teaching, foreign lecturers in subjects outside of English, D.O.S/department leader types at universities, well... I am not going to describe this in a politically correct, professional way with any sources except my own life experiences, but my usual generalisation is something kind of like the following. A recipe for disaster, if you will:

Plus:

Then add:

The sad thing is that China can destroy the lives of a lot of foreigners financial, mentally and spiritually, whether they be a young English teacher or an older guy on a hefty expat package. Companies are aware of this trend, many will never consider sending a manager to China as their first expatriate posting. In one North-Eastern city, a famous American I.T company is rumoured to send spies around the the local bar areas to ensure that expatriate employees are not drinking heavily on week nights.

Another company that I know of, not only provides the standard cultural training that many larger corporations would provide as standard, but also when completing an assignment to assist with re-integration into western society and prevent reverse culture shock when they get home. Some companies also do not like employees to stay in China for too long and will tend to post them elsewhere after a certain period of time. Unfortunately that resulted in one guy that I knew of; who was one of the genuine good guys getting posted to NZ and I think will have very little chance to see him again.