I didn’t get on a plane until I was 21. I’d grown up in a small town in the west of Ireland with the unfortunate moniker ‘Slash City’. Not the most exotic place in the world. So, when I did start to travel, I moved a lot.

The reason I could do this was mostly due to the mobile nature of technical writing and the opportunities gave me to travel. For most of my twenties I went from one contract to the next. London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Berlin, San Francisco, Sacramento, New York… and then Taiwan. Well almost…

What brought you to China?

In the 90s, Taiwan was hot. Hard to believe today but it had tons of technical writing work back then. And still does but to a lesser extent. So I decided to go… but changed plans and went to Beijing instead with some friends. It just seemed more ‘exotic’ and in the 90s was still not as explored as today. Since moving there, I’ve worked in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Is the IT industry in China growing rapidly?

It’s exploding especially in the area of mobile devices, ecommerce (now that credit cards are available) and gaming. Chinese love gaming.

It is also driven by a new middle class who have the funds to make high-end purchases, e.g. diamond-encrusted mobile phones, and other status symbols. China is very brand conscious, which partly explains the demand for fake items.

One of the misconceptions about China is that it’s a communist country. In reality, there is a very strong class structure and as Deng said, ‘to be rich is glorious.’

Most of the IT development is located in:

• Shanghai which has a financial hub and is home to Sohu.com and Sina.com. Both listed in the NYSE.
• Dalian where Intel has created the largest ‘fab’ for creating semi-conductors and others devices.
• ShenZhen where RenRen (Chinese Facebook) and QQ (huge gaming sites) have their operations.

Shanghai also has satellite towns dedicated to outsourcing with very modern infrastructures.

Beijing is the admin centre like Washington, DC in the US.

What cultural traits work for and against the Chinese technical writer?

You can look at it from different angles:

• Language: University graduates with English degrees would be far behind their counterparts in Europe and India. So, quality suffers from this perspective.
• Communication: Chinese students are brought up to listen and follow, so having a ‘discussion’ can become difficult as they may withhold opinions rather than share as it’s not seen to be appropriate. It’s the opposite of western kids who’ll sprout all type of nonsense, simply to have an opinion.
• Leadership: One downside is that it can be difficult to gauge the true status of a project as project managers may, for example, work over the weekend (with the team) rather than admit they’re behind schedule. The ‘listen and follow’ mentality can also disallow underlings from voicing their opinions, i.e. so the team lead doesn’t lose face.
• Innovation: one of the surprises when I moved there was that most everyone could build their own PC. They were disappointed I couldn’t. This stems from having to make do with less, so most have learnt how to find shortcuts and workarounds.

How do Chinese technical writers get training?

Some are English graduates who move into Technical Writing. I don’t know if any universities on the mainland teach tech comms modules. I could be wrong. Most learn from:

• Overseas Technical Writers – brought in to build a team and create writing and publishing guidelines. There are some lucrative opportunities for Technical Writers who can lead up these projects and provide the framework for Chinese Technical Writer, especially for US firms who’ve partnered with local IT firms.

• Online university courses – while not ideal, these courses give them guidelines on what’s required and where they can improve.

Is there a particular style guide writers follow in China?

Not that I’m aware of, though I’ve seen many copies of the Microsoft Style Guide For Technical Publications in different offices.

Is outsourcing a trend that you see growing or increasing in China?

Manufacturing has taken a hit recently due to increases in salaries and currency exchange rates. Also, countries like Vietnam are positioning themselves as better value, i.e. low cost, alternatives to China.

From an IT perspective, Shenzhen and Shanghai are leading the field.

BusinessWeek believe Shanghai is the No. 2 city for outsourcing specialties, such as business analytics, finance and accounting, product development, research and development, and testing. Service Providers include Accenture, Cognizant, HP, Infosys, Wipro, and Unisys. (See Top Emerging Outsourcing Cities.)

Likewise, ‘…the offshore service outsourcing business that Shenzhen enterprises undertake has exceeded 5 billion U.S. dollars for the first time; the contract value has amounted to a record of 5.08 billion U.S. dollars, which ranks No.1 in the country… other services outsourcing enterprises such as IBM, Evans, Da Zhan, Peng Kai, Freeborders, and CS&S are accelerating the expansion of business in Shenzhen’ (Shenzhen Becomes China’s Largest IT Service Outsourcing Base).

What cultural obstacles do you struggle with in working with the Chinese in a tech comm setting?

The perceived value of Technical Writing is very low in China.

What this means is that most local firms will not invest in Technical Writers and use developers instead. Or get a graduate with an English degree to write the guides but the end result is less than satisfactory.

Another factor is that in Asia it’s not uncommon for technical documents to be more focused on diagrams, i.e. images rather than text.

In Japan, I saw some wonderful documents — like the Google Chrome User Guide — that were mostly illustrations and helped you see what needed to be done more quickly. So, there may be cultural issues here as well.

Cost is also an issue.

Most Chinese IT firms are very spartan and cost-conscious, looking for ways to reduce costs at all times. So, paying for tech docs can be hard to justify with local firms.

Personally, I worked mostly with US firms that were short of trained writers on the ground or (occasionally) did bespoke consultancy for a few Chinese firms, but that was mostly to return favors rather than for financial reasons.

How long do you plan to stay in China?

We moved back recently so junior can go to high school in Ireland. He learned to read and write mandarin while we there, so it’s time for a different adventure now.

My suggestion to any Technical Writers thinking of going there is to link up with US firms, e.g. Intel, Microsoft, and IBM, and try to get a contract. Stay in the larger cities as you’ll be able to get creature comforts that ease the transition and also find it easier to navigate.

An alternative is to contact Chinese firms that have floated on the Nasdaq/NYSE and see if they need writers in their local offices. Sina and Sohu are two of the most prestigious – both based in Shanghai.

Finally, before you move… visit for a few weeks especially off-season and see if you like the vibe. It’s a great place but you have to take it on it’s own terms.

鹅、鹅、鹅，曲项向天歌。

白毛浮绿水，红掌拨清波。

悯农  李绅
锄禾日当午，汗滴禾下土。

谁念盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦。

静夜思 李白
床前明月光，疑是地上霜。

举头望明月，低头思故乡。

相思 王维
红豆生南国,春来发几枝?

愿君多采撷,此物最相思

《草》白居易
离离原上草，一岁一枯荣。
野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。

改变以往的时间观念，将周五晚上设定为周末休闲生活的起跑时间，周六则是活动时间，周日是身心放松时间，周日晚餐后则是下周工作的起跑时间，这样的安排，将会明显消除周一忧郁症。

从星期天开始，上班族就会感觉呼吸越来越沉重，第二天常常带着忧郁的表情去公司上班。

忧郁的星期一是上班族的天敌。

如何才能带着轻松愉快的心情有效克服掉周一综合症呢？

日前，我从日本人大前研一那里偷学一招，供大学借鉴使用。

他认为，最重要的方法就是做好周末的时间分配工作。也就是说，我们需要提前对周末生活做计划。

一定要从周五晚上就开始周末的休闲活动：

周五下班后，八点左右最好就能到家。千万别抱着轻松而无计划的快乐心情，无节制的看电视，在周五晚间把自己搞得很疲惫，以至于周六上午昏昏欲睡。这样的话，会让周六的宝贵时间白白浪费掉。

周五回家后，可以带着轻松的心情，好好收拾一周以来搁置的家务，好好和家人在一起吃一顿晚饭，有节制的看一段电视节目或看一部电影。

星期六，享受体力型的休闲活动；星期天，让身心充分休息。

容易让身心疲惫的活动，比如爬山、近郊旅游、逛街、尽量安排在星期六。而将享受美食、理发、美甲、按摩、和家人在家附近溜达等放松型的休闲活动，都尽可能放在星期天。

星期天的晚餐后，开始为周一的工作做准备。

吃完星期天的晚餐，洗完澡之后，就到了周日的晚上。

到了这个时间，人们都会想到周一的工作，但是心里还是继续想着：“现在是周末，所以。。。。”，也试着看电视或看书，但总是无法集中精力。实际上，星期天的晚餐之后，很难轻松享受休闲生活，而是自然地想起工作上的事情。这是上班族普遍的现象。

既然如此，我们不如吧周日晚餐作为周末休闲生活的结束标志。以此为划分点，开始为明天的工作做准备。

当然，这段时间内，最有效的工作就是确认未来的时间安排，例如未来一周，甚至一个月的工作计划安排。

如此一来，有了确定的计划和充分的休息，周一一早，工作将会明确而又顺利，效率也会极大提高。周一综合症自然被消除了。