Getting into the expatriate state of mind

It’s been a rough couple of months. A number of friends have left to return home or travel, and more will soon follow.

Saying goodbye is often gut wrenching. If you work or study abroad for any length of time, it’s likely that you’ll go through the process of bidding adieu multiple times, and it doesn’t get any easier the more you do it.

But, of course, one person leaving means that another new person will likely arrive to take his or her place. But who knows the internal processes that a person goes through upon entering an entirely different dimension?

This question, among others, was tackled in the excellent The Question of Hu, by Jonathan Spence. In many respects, the protagonist of the historically true story, John Hu, is relatable to the average expatriate or foreign student that has been thrust into a world so vastly different to the one they came from that they are liable to push up against their very limits. Such intense change can, unsurprisingly, cause some interesting problems for both the foreigners and locals involved.

Hu, the gatekeeper of a church and a convert to Christianity living in China in the 1720s, has the idea that he is one day going to meet the Pope. When he hears that the story’s other central character, French Jesuit missionary Father Foucquet, is looking to hire a copyist and translator to help him translate the many ancient manuscripts he has accumulated during his time in China, Hu immediately puts himself forward for the role.

Unfortunately, much like many stressed Chinese HR staff dealing with foreign recruits, Father Foucquet has no idea what he is taking on in Hu, and as he leaves China in a rush, he has no time to properly evaluate his new charge. The two agree on a working contract, but Hu subsequently fails to carry out any of the agreed tasks.

The problems begin very soon on the ship back to France, where Hu throws temper tantrums and sometimes gets violent when he doesn’t get what he wants. I am sure this situation is completely unrecognizable to both the foreigners and Chinese HR staff working in offices across China today.

Hu’ s bizarre and erratic behavior escalates once he reaches France and he is eventually condemned to a period of time in an insane asylum.

This is not without modern precedent. An ex-colleague of mine in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, who for the sake of discretion we’ll call “Finbar”, once became so incensed by his dealings with the HR department that he kicked down a locked staff room door to demand talks with the startled and frankly terrified members of staff.

They didn’t go so far as to lock him in an insane asylum, but one can only imagine the private conversation they had after he left. Perhaps they concluded that the insane asylum was the very prison of his own mind.

Were Finbar or Hu crazy, or were they made so by circumstance? Did the collision of cultures prove too incendiary? Perhaps the answers lie in the journey itself. So, to all new arrivals: Welcome, and have fun. Madness is in the mind of the beholder. Contact the writer at simon@chinadaily.com.cn