Page Turners: Former Beijing Expats Look Back in 'Beijing A to Z'
“For three years in China we had the same ayi, a woman who came twice a week to clean our apartment, with a vengeance, for four hours a pop. You might think eight hours of cleaning a three-bedroom apartment each week is excessive, but it was very reasonable. Her monthly fee was RMB 900, or USD 145.
“The ayi – Mandarin for “auntie” – did more than house cleaning to enrich our lives and enlighten us to her way of living. Some of this was because she had time on her hands in those eight hours and she would not leave until her allotted shift was up. And some of it was because Chinese people in general have a different sense of personal boundaries.
“They think nothing of grabbing your arm, commenting on your weight, laughing at your Chinese, or expressing shock if you’re not dressing warmly enough. And that’s for total strangers.”
Based on the above passage, Bob Davis and Debra Bruno have clearly lived in Beijing. The husband and wife team spent three years in Beijing, departing in 2014, with Davis continuing more than 30 years of work with The Wall Street Journal here, and Bruno covering a variety of topics on a freelance basis, including for WSJ’s Expat blog. Neither spoke Chinese upon arrival (Bruno studied during her stay), but both were experienced reporters with a good sense of story. The result is a lighthearted by poignant look at the experience of foreigners living in post-Olympics Beijing.
Using the A to Z format, each chapter covers a single topic, with the excerpt above from “A is for Ayi.” The pair more or less writes alternating chapters. Other topics include the Great Wall, mafan, pollution, and rudeness. Writes Davis:
“Living in China, I got used to answering questions that would be considered rude, or at least inappropriate, in the U.S. ‘How much money do you make?’ a poor corn farmer asked me outside the one-room home where he and his wife had raised two children. Before I could answer, my Chinese news assistant said, ‘A lot more money than you do.’
“Asking about salary and wealth isn’t out of bounds. Chinese will regularly comment on your weight, your age and the way you raise your kids. You get used to it, but some comments are stunners.
“In 2012, near Chongqing in central China, a weathered peasant, who was standing around eating peanuts, asked me my age. When I told him 61, he laughed. ‘I’m 80, and I look better than you,’ he said. He probably weighed 100 pounds and was missing most of his teeth.”
The 129 pages of this electronic book go by quickly. Various experiences and incidents described by the duo will leave you either nodding or shaking your head. However, for anyone who has ever tried and failed to explain aspects of the Beijing expatriate experience to a friend or loved one, next time, try referring them to this book.
Beijing A-to-Z: An Expat Couple’s Adventures in China is available as a free download through WSJ+, a free addition to the Wall Street Journal subscription. Visit www.wsjplus.com for more details.
