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Lessons from China: A Westerner's Cultural Education
Jan Cross, a recent graduate from the University of Mississippi, is on a plane headed for Beijing, China, to teach English at a Chinese university. Struggling to free herself of her ultra-independent behavior, she intentionally places herself in a situation that forces her to depend on others for help. Jan gets much more than she bargained for as she experiences a culture that is worlds apart from her beloved southern town of Jasper, Mississippi, USA. Jan quickly learns that as a visitor and an employee, you don’t mess with the Chinese government or the university! The challenges of living and working abroad change her forever as she gives and receives lessons inside and outside of the classroom on life, social practices, international employment, and the deep bond of friendship. Lessons from China is a heartwarming exploration of China that innocently, and often humorously, takes into account the many differences and similarities to US culture through the eyes of a young American and first-time traveler.
- GenresChina
198 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Beau Sides
2 books2 followersI am the founder and president of Global partners in Life, a non-profit organization that helps orphaned children, special needs orphans, and disadvantaged youth with educational, humanitarian and medical needs in China. Since 2004, Global Partners in Life (GPiL) has been giving for the purpose of enabling young lives to prosper. Please visit GlobalPartnersinLife.org to learn more.
As a businessman, teacher, humanitarian, and husband I enjoy the business of making life better for those around me. It’s no secret, I enjoy people. Formerly, I served in the tech world successfully as a manager for IBM. As my interest in Chinese culture grew, I earned the title of teacher after serving on numerous teaching tours as an English language instructor at a Chinese university and other business and language schools in China. In China, teacher is a lifelong title of honor of which I will always appreciate and cherish. My passion is to serve others, and doing so as the president of Global Partners in Life has been a focus and a joy.
My first book, "Lessons from China" (April 2014), tells the story of Jan Cross. Jan, a recent college graduate and first time international traveler, moves to China to work as an English teacher, but ends up being the one to learn important lessons.
My second book, "Unseen Tears: The Challenges of Orphans & Orphanages in China" (August 2015) draws on my nearly 50 trips and teaching tours to China to paint an accurate picture of the challenges - and a glimpse of encouragement - for China's orphans.
I have enjoyed many years of blissful marriage with my beautiful wife, Leah.
As a businessman, teacher, humanitarian, and husband I enjoy the business of making life better for those around me. It’s no secret, I enjoy people. Formerly, I served in the tech world successfully as a manager for IBM. As my interest in Chinese culture grew, I earned the title of teacher after serving on numerous teaching tours as an English language instructor at a Chinese university and other business and language schools in China. In China, teacher is a lifelong title of honor of which I will always appreciate and cherish. My passion is to serve others, and doing so as the president of Global Partners in Life has been a focus and a joy.
My first book, "Lessons from China" (April 2014), tells the story of Jan Cross. Jan, a recent college graduate and first time international traveler, moves to China to work as an English teacher, but ends up being the one to learn important lessons.
My second book, "Unseen Tears: The Challenges of Orphans & Orphanages in China" (August 2015) draws on my nearly 50 trips and teaching tours to China to paint an accurate picture of the challenges - and a glimpse of encouragement - for China's orphans.
I have enjoyed many years of blissful marriage with my beautiful wife, Leah.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 14, 2024
This was fun. It reminded me of when I traveled to Hong Kong years ago. This book was spot on!
May 10, 2014
The author of “Lessons from China”, Beau Sides, appears to really know his stuff. (And if you doubt it, check out the Foreward.)
The plot describes a young teacher's experience in graduating college, and moving from Mississippi to China to teach at university for a year. She learns about the culture, and about herself. Along the way, she meets her co-workers, both native Chinese and expatriates like herself, students, and even a few people from the town.
The plot, in fact, is immaterial – the real purpose of the book is to provide information about what foreigners might expect to deal with during a non-tourist visit to China. Dealing with customs, the government, and preconceived notions can – no, WILL – be a challenge, and the book attempts to guide those about to go through the process by showing them what happened to a fictitious person in the same situation (and, we must assume, to the author during his first visit.)
My one complaint, and this is probably not the author's fault: It is very difficult to discover that this is a fictionalized account. I can't find anything on the front or back cover that reflects this fact. Only by noticing in the advertising blurb that the main character is not named “Beau” (or catching on in the first chapter or two), do you realize it's not a blow-by-blow account of the author's adventures. (Although it is obviously adapted from real-life experiences.) It doesn't lessen the quality of the work, but I would hope that the promo people would be more careful about that in future editions / works.
Rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars
DISCLOSURE: I won this book in an online contest (Goodreads FirstReads). An honest review was requested but not part of the conditions.
The plot describes a young teacher's experience in graduating college, and moving from Mississippi to China to teach at university for a year. She learns about the culture, and about herself. Along the way, she meets her co-workers, both native Chinese and expatriates like herself, students, and even a few people from the town.
The plot, in fact, is immaterial – the real purpose of the book is to provide information about what foreigners might expect to deal with during a non-tourist visit to China. Dealing with customs, the government, and preconceived notions can – no, WILL – be a challenge, and the book attempts to guide those about to go through the process by showing them what happened to a fictitious person in the same situation (and, we must assume, to the author during his first visit.)
My one complaint, and this is probably not the author's fault: It is very difficult to discover that this is a fictionalized account. I can't find anything on the front or back cover that reflects this fact. Only by noticing in the advertising blurb that the main character is not named “Beau” (or catching on in the first chapter or two), do you realize it's not a blow-by-blow account of the author's adventures. (Although it is obviously adapted from real-life experiences.) It doesn't lessen the quality of the work, but I would hope that the promo people would be more careful about that in future editions / works.
Rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars
DISCLOSURE: I won this book in an online contest (Goodreads FirstReads). An honest review was requested but not part of the conditions.
May 6, 2014
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway. I got into this book right off the bat. Then after about twenty pages, every time I put it down for a while to do anything else, I realized I was finding it really, really hard to pick back up afterward. I think my biggest issue was that the prose would be really nice and flowing and subtly descriptive one minute, and then get really preachy the next. It was like being constantly reminded that -- "Okay, that was a nice piece of fiction, now here's your daily cultural lesson."
Which is great; I'm sure this book would be really instructional and useful to professionals travelling to China for the first time. I mean, it was instructional and interesting to me, too. But, I was expecting more of a narrative fiction, more of a plot, than a step-by-step instructional lesson.
This just wasn't what I was expecting.
But, as I said above, it certainly has a place and would be really, really useful to certain people. And it isn't poorly written, either. Just not my cup of tea.
Which is great; I'm sure this book would be really instructional and useful to professionals travelling to China for the first time. I mean, it was instructional and interesting to me, too. But, I was expecting more of a narrative fiction, more of a plot, than a step-by-step instructional lesson.
This just wasn't what I was expecting.
But, as I said above, it certainly has a place and would be really, really useful to certain people. And it isn't poorly written, either. Just not my cup of tea.
January 30, 2015
I was surprised by how much I loved this book. The author, Beau Sides, does a great job with the story. This is a journey about a college grad who goes to China to teach English for a semester. The characters are heart warming and inspiring. Makes me want to visit China.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews