[jaxbot]

Thanks for the insights, much appreciated! To be clear, are you a westerner who made this move, or a Chinese native? If the former, how did the startup culture compare to the US startup culture?

>of Chinese descent and speak the language

What about westerns who speak mando? Is it workable or still too much of a culture shock? Is racism abundant?

[rlglwx]

I am a white guy from the states who speaks Mandarin. It's not really racism per se, it's just more that it's harder to win their trust if you're not one of them to begin with.

The startup culture is similar but the difference is most companies expect you to be putting in OT and weekend hours almost as a default. The idea of burnout prevention hasn't caught on, at least in my experience.

Also the dev practices are different as well, things that won't translate well if you'd like to bring your skills back.

[jason_slack]

I found that people didn't expect me to speak/read/write any Mandarin being white and from the states.

Elevator rides were interesting because they were crowded and I was taller than a lot of people. People would talk about the "foreigner" standing next to them. One girl told her friend that she liked my boots (Dr. Martens) and when I got off the elevator I turned and said: "They are so comfortable I walk 3 miles from my hotel to work each day in them". I've never had such stunned silence of 30 people in an elevator. :-)

[komali2]

>mando

Is it a regional norm around you to refer to Mandarin as "Mando?" Never heard of this in my life...

[awad]

As a counter-point I've always heard them shortened to Mando and Canto (as in, "do you speak Mando, Canto, or both?") amongst Asian-American friends. Never thought anything of it really.

[omosubi]

I've heard this a lot, especially when referring to both Mandarin and Cantonese, ie. Mando and canto

[philsnow]

I've heard chinese pop music referred to as either c-pop or mando-pop

[jaxbot]

My Chinese friends do. Not sure if regional. I think it's just the logical shortening when the other option is 'canto', but it doesn't really make sense.