The China Option: A Guide for Millennials: How to Work, Play, and Find Success in China

A few months after her twenty-first birthday and shortly after graduating with an unmarketable degree in modern European history, Sophia Erickson was waiting tables in rural Massachusetts and contemplating years of student loan servitude. After a chance email exchange with an old friend, she bought a one-way ticket to Beijing. The China Option explores her experiences in China over the following two years as she learned to maneuver around Asia, went through various jobs in Beijing, and discovered the rich rewards China offers those willing to take the plunge. Her work experience in China ranged from teaching at Chinäs top-ranked Tsinghua University to working for a drone company to judging a talent show on Chinäs national broadcasting channel. She also traveled extensively throughout Asia and learned the ins-and-outs of finding happiness and fulfillment in China. An honors graduate of Oxford University and Phillips Academy, Sophia now lives and works in the Middle East.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE
TO BEIJING OR NOT TO BEIJING?

CHAPTER TWO
FACE

CHAPTER THREE
CHINESE BEAUTY STANDARDS
COFFEE CULTURE IN CHINA

CHAPTER FOUR
CHINESE TOILETS

CHAPTER FIVE
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE LAOWAI BIBLE
HOW TO DEAL WITH CULTURE SHOCK

CHAPTER SIX
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

CHAPTER SEVEN
RACISM

CHAPTER EIGHT
SQUARE DANCING

CHAPTER NINE
LEARNING MANDARIN

CHAPTER TEN
MASTERING MANDARIN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
ENGLISH BOOKSTORES
KTV

CHAPTER TWELVE
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
LGBT LIFE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
POLLUTION (AND OTHER HAZARDS)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TRAVEL IN CHINA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR