Yes China! An English Teacher's Love-Hate Relationship with a Foreign Country [Paperback]

Clark Nielsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2011

Yes China! is a story about... wait for it... wait for it... tacos. You thought I was going to say China, didn't you? Well, there might be something about China in here, but this is not your ordinary travelogue. Sure, I did the whole "traveling on a budget" thing and came face-to-face with some of the most horrifically poo and maggot-filled restrooms in existence, but the real reason I was in China was to teach. More specifically, I was there to pretend like I knew how to teach. Because I didn't.

So how does someone who had no interest in China and no experience in teaching end up spending a total of two years there? It was a spontaneous decision to go in the first place, but through the series of cultural mishaps that followed, the embarrassing dates, teaching successes and failures, cross-country adventures, personal revelations, and moments of thinking, "What the hell am I doing?!" I fell in love.

Yes China! offers a unique look into the Chinese classroom as I butt heads with everyone from elementary and adult students to their school administrators. It is as much about life in modern China--the food, the language, the customs--as it is about how the experience helped me grow up and move past my social insecurities, conflicting Mormon upbringing, and self-defeating mindset. And, seriously, there really is a section about tacos in here, too.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I'm giggling in bed, I haven't laughed with an author in a long time. Dozens of screaming Chinese kids versus one Mormon kid who sorta-kinda knows what he's doing. The way he—sparingly and tastefully—writes in accents makes parts of the book hilarious. I feel like I'm listening to a rollicking, self-deprecating story." -- The Uncustomary Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1463718691
• ISBN-13: 978-1463718695
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 5.2 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clark Nielsen is an American-born author and web/game developer who loves to travel as much as he loves to write. He has over two years of experience teaching English as a foreign language and has made several trips to China for that very purpose. Of course, now he visits China for other reasons; that's where his wife is from. The two of them currently work at a high school in rural Thailand.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great point of view September 27, 2011

By scott

Format:Paperback

I've never really wanted to travel to china, it's never been on my list of top 10 places I want to go before I die. This book changed that. I feel like I now have a much better understanding of a culture that vastly different from mine. I get to appreciate the comments about Mormon culture in Utah because that's where I grew up and feel like the author and i shared a lot of similar experiences.
The writing style of this book is much like sitting and listening to a good friend tell you a story. It's funny, happy, heart breaking and if public bathrooms bother you it's gut wrenching.
Just ordered another book by this author and I'm excited to get it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit immature and hard to enjoy the writing style September 23, 2012

By Czechone

Format:Paperback

Have to start this by echoing a couple opinions from another review here by "HombreTel". I too found the in class chapters somewhat boring and very repetitive, to the point they all seemed to be more or less the same chapter and eventually found myself skim reading them as the book went on. As opposed to some of the chapters about life outside class which were far more interesting.

I was also lost on the sense of humour in the book. The author was clearly trying VERY HARD to be funny but it seemed somewhat contrived, rather than a natural ability to write in witty way, and it came off pretty goofy and childish.

He also had an annoying and frequent habit of almost self-narrating within his own story by continuously making conversational style comments to what he'd written, such as:
- "If I didn't make any further attempts to talk to her (and can you see why?) she'd say ..."
- "... I almost lost control of my bladder (and, if you read the last chapter, you know how easily that could have happened)"
... and this type of "parenthesised commentary" happened regularly throughout the whole book, which made for a frustrating read and spoiled the flow of his writing, for me anyway.

Also, whether to prove his point about some Chinese people there not speaking English well or just for added "humour", he'd write their statements in an almost mocking manner e.g.:
- "The Chinese teacher stopped me in the hall ... "Ze students are bad students. I'm sorry. Zey not very good wis English"
... which happened a lot, and he did this literal transcription of his students' obviously not fluent speech also. Again this seemed a bit immature to me and not particularly respectful either. Can you imagine a newspaper article where they write out a quote of an accented English speaker in such a way ? Someone will take offense ...

Being a topic of great interest to me I've read a fair few of these "foreigner in China" books and I guess maybe this one wasn't quite what I was expecting in comparison to most of the others, which were generally more serious and/or didn't try so hard to be funny, or at least the humour was delivered differently.

It's not all bad though, if you can overlook some of the things that rubbed me the wrong way there are some interesting tales of life in China to be found. Strangely enough, the main thing I took from it was a bit of an insight into Mormon life and attitudes, which wasn't what I was bought the book for at all, but ended up being an interesting sub-theme nonetheless.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seriously funny August 27, 2011

By --LR

Format:Paperback

Clark is hilarious and honest! His book includes discussions about his English classes at most age levels, which are adventures of their own. He also interlaces chapters about his new surroundings and experiences out of the classroom. We get to listen in on his perceptions of China, the U.S., and maybe even himself.

This is a really fun read for anyone who is interested in China or breaking out of their comfort zone!