Coping with culture shock

The term "culture shock" was coined by Kalvero Oberg in 1954. It's a good label for the psychological experience of adults during the time of cultural adjustment that accompanies a period of cultural socialization or acculturation (which is different from the enculturation process experienced by children).
The confusion and anxiety brought on by culture stress or shock may cause us to think, do or say things that are contrary to its purpose.

• Unwarranted criticism of the culture and people
• Heightened irritability
• Constant complaints about the climate
• Continual offering of excuses for staying indoors
• Utopian ideas concerning one's previous culture
• Continuous concern about the purity of water and food
• Fear of touching local people
• Refusal to learn the language
• Preoccupation about being robbed or cheated
• Pressing desire to talk with people who "really make sense."
• Preoccupation with returning home

Stages most people go through in adjusting to a new culture

• Fun: The excitement and adventure of experiencing new people, things, and opportunities.
• Flight: The urge to avoid everything and everyone that is different.
• Fight: The temptation to judge people or things that may be different as bad or foolish.
• Fit: Willingness to understand, to embrace, and to creatively interact with the new culture.
  

Coping strategy for culture shock: Survival techniques
How can we cope with culture shock? Having some information about culture shock is a first important step. Attempting to distance ourselves from ethnocentric perspectives will help. Then, to successfully cope, make sure your attitudes mirror those suggested in green and red in the top half of the diagram. As you work through cultural socialization, follow these tips on surviving situations where you are unfamiliar with verbal and non-verbal codes:

• Focus on what you can control - People in culture shock often feel out of control. So, don't worry about things you cannot change.
• Don't invest major energy in minor problems - People make "mountains out of molehills" even more quickly in cross-cultural situations than they do in their own culture
• Tackle major stressors head on - Don't avoid things
• Ask for help - Create a wide support network as quickly as you can in your target culture
• Write it down - Record your thoughts and frustrations in a journal. This will give you a healthy outlet for expressing your feelings.

Other tips on how to survive culture shock
There are ways to minimize, adapt, and deal with culture shock, and it is best to get moving to in order to do so. Below
are some suggestions for dealing with culture shock when it does occur:

• Get out and about, even if it is first in your immediate neighbourhood. Explore the layout to become comfortable with your immediate surroundings. Try to get to know a few neighbours. Do any speak English? Afterwards, stretch out to explore the local shops, restaurants and means of transportation.
• Identify similarities and differences. Identifying similarities will be of a comfort to you. Identifying differences will allow you to pinpoint what is causing the majority of your discomfort. How can you best deal with it?
• Begin to learn a few local words or phrases. This will help you with signs, menus, and some services, and will be appreciated by the people of the country.
• Find a club or social group to belong to. Be careful, however! Do not mix with a group that gets together and complains about their state of being. Find a group that is active in the community somehow, through shopping
  expeditions or site seeing. A church is also a good place to meet people, and there are often ones in many denominations as well as non-denominational.

Remember, you are a guest in another country. Avoid at all costs disparaging the host country's culture. Once you have gained an understanding of the country and its customs, learned a few phrases, become familiar with the neighbourhood, and made a few friends you are on your way to overcoming culture shock and becoming more self-assured about the place in which you live.

Adjusting to a new culture can be difficult and frustrating, but it can also be a wonderful, thought provoking time of your life during which you will grow as a person. Living in a foreign country will open new doors, introduce you to new ways of thinking, and give you the opportunity to make life-long friends.

Cultural things you need to adjust to when working and living in China:

• People spitting in the streets, elevators, corridors, tunnels and supermarkets etc.
• People littering everywhere, even throwing garbage out from a 20th floor window.
• People not willing to wait in line, constantly trying to get ahead of everybody else. This might be one of the reasons why there are so many traffic kills in China as this is common in traffic as well. You need to get used to people stealing a taxi in front of you or trying to get on the train, metro or bus before you.
• People not willing to wait until people leaving the elevator, bus, taxi and metro before entering.
• Preferential treatment because of relationships be it in hospitals, doctors, visa and immigration etc.
• Working more hours than legally allowed and if you complain you'll get sacked.

Many of these things are already changing as the young generation of today recieve a better education than their parents and grandparents did. Young Chinese of today are aware of environmental problems and what causes it.