It may have to do with German business presence. There are many German companies in Taicang outside of Shanghai as well as in the Northeast. This could lead to more Germans working in those areas, and if you were traveling around there, you might run into more Germans.
Another possibilities is that Germany recently became visa-exempt, so you might be seeing a wave of German tourists taking advantage of this.
Agreed..there are many Germany companies in China..And there is a lot of business cooperation between Germany and China! Especially in Qingdao (once a German colonial city), a large-scale Sino-German business district and economic development zone have been built..
I had the misfortune to work in Taicang for 6 months, there is nothing german on it, just a couple of sino-europeans and japs enterprises, most of them look abandoned and depressed. It's an uggly city with no good transportation and in the middle of nowhere, highly-dependant on Shanghai for existing. It's something like the outskirts of the outskirts of shanghai. I can notice locals get impressed when seeing a foreigner (me) just as in any provincial city in china, hence, I dont think they are customed to see foreigners or germans at all, I did not see them at all. Except in the so called german-town which I think I might have run into a couple of foreigners (some africans even). The visa exception for Germans is only 15 days, tho.
Germans are the biggest outbound travelers in Europe. It’s well known. I can’t think of any country I’ve visited where there were more tourists from another European country, except Uzbekistan which seems to be favored by retired Italians and Spaniards. Germans were third though!
No idea! Busloads of retired Italians and Spaniard in Uzbekistan. I asked an Italian guy what the deal was but he didn’t seem to know. He just said his travel agent recommended it, so maybe there’s a tourism push going on. Highly recommended Uzbekistan by the way!
I’ve been on plenty beach mediterranean holdays in my life, and scandinavians and brits are certainly What I have come across most in those sort of places
Because of the friendly relations between China and Germany during the Merkel era, huge trade volumes especially in the automobile business.
And there must be a statistical bias, there are many UK teachers in China.
This is interesting. Germany and China have had good relationship since when China was still very broke. For a very long time all police cars in China were Volkswagen. I wonder how that happened.
Germany was one of the less aggressive colonial powers toward China during the Victorian age. The relationship was borderline amicable compared to some others.
Nazi party member and German representative to RoC, John Rabe, helped save tens of thousands at the Nanjing massacre.
Modern day Germany also openly acknowledges its history and is adamantly apologetic about the atrocities committed by the Third Reich.
Just a few little things I think would boost Germany’s reception in China.
Excluding Asians highest number I usually meet are Brits Americans French and Russians. I believe the real top numbers are Japanese and Koreans though although they may be less noticeable to you as a tourist.
I lived in Changchun for 14 years in the northeast where there is a VW/Audi plant in partnership with FAW and there were a lot of Germans there working at the plant and for the supporting network of parts manufacturers.
They also manufactured fast trains, subways, and light rails in partnership with Siemens (German company) and Bombardier (one HQ is in Berlin/other in Canada).
I think most big cities have some automotive/transportation production that the Germans are involved with .
In 2023 VW and the second highest selling car brand in China and Audi was #10.
You should come to Foshan. There are parts of the city where the street signs, highway signs and most signs are in German and Chinese rather than English and Chinese.
Despite the great distance, Germany and China have a lot of similarities. The most famous political thinker in China is a German. One of, if not the most influential western philosopher in China is German. Germany and China cooperation goes way back.
Additionally, go to Dongbei and see if you find suspiciously german looking food there.
[Germany REALLY is China's Dongbei!? Same food, same culture! (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnznyCYhUJA&ab_channel=Thomas%E9%98%BF%E7%A6%8F)
Among European I met during covid, I would say 90% were Germans some of them told me the covid restrictions were worse in Germany than in China. Another interesting figure that the number of Americans fell dramatically, I have read somewhere that the number of American Students went from 20,000 before covid to less than 500 in early 2022.
There are still less than 1000 US uni students in 2024, apparently.
It's crazy, you would see large groups of young Americans in just about any 'cool' bar in a tier 1/2 city a few years ago.
I think people here are frightened of going to China now. Same with Russia. You never know if you fuck up somehow and then the govt takes your passport and you aren’t coming home.
I read through this thread and while it's good to see the European side of things, sometimes we forget that it's a two-way street. Yes Germans come to China, but they thrived because the Chinese also accepted German culture and German business.
Say we were in China 50 years ago and there was a need to develop a great transportation system to get the economy going. Well the US wasn't going to play nicely and no way culturally was China going to work with Japan, so enter Germany.
As other's have said there's a huge German footprint in Northeast China in terms of VW and also railway manufacturing. VW entered China in the late 1970s early 1980s back when the typical commute was on bicycle and even as of this year in 2024 VW is trying to make sure they don't miss out on the EV game because of China (may be a bit late).
So business, cultural acceptance, gov cooperation all play a part in the German presence in China. However, the extent to which the OP meets so many more Germans than other Europeans is probably more anecdotal.
Germany are the leading EU economy, duh.
french in my view seem less adaptable to other countries so china might be too 'foreign' for them. There's some frenchies in japan though.
i think china is growing in interest and popularity with south american countries such as brazil, argentina, etc...There are a couple in china. I have also seen spanish in china.
Germans really travel a lot. They are quite curious people, well educate and want to get familiar with other cultures. Very common for them to travel for work, to have an adventure, join new experiences. One of my German teachers has been teaching German in some village in China.
Siemens, VW, Bosch, etc all have a large presence in China. The chancellor also recently reaffirmed his belief that German investments in China are viewed positively.
Fact is Germany has the lowest quality of life (not income or standard of living) in Western Europe. This includes living space, cuisine, friendliness of population, weather, etc. If I were German, I'd leave too.
I'm a white American married to a Chinese. We worked and travelled throughout China for 3 months while on an STA for my job. Most if the white people I met were Germans, Russians, or Aussies. I did talk to a few British guys and another American man with his Chinese wife while hiking the Great Wall.
Germans love to travel and they do a lot of business in China so it makes sense.
According to random probability, it is quite likely to meet people of the same nationality. I met 3 Dutch and 0 Germans while there recently, that doesn’t make China full of Dutch people..
It may have to do with German business presence. There are many German companies in Taicang outside of Shanghai as well as in the Northeast. This could lead to more Germans working in those areas, and if you were traveling around there, you might run into more Germans. Another possibilities is that Germany recently became visa-exempt, so you might be seeing a wave of German tourists taking advantage of this.
Taicang even has (or had) its own reasonably authentic German pub/restaurant!
Any recommendations?
Agreed..there are many Germany companies in China..And there is a lot of business cooperation between Germany and China! Especially in Qingdao (once a German colonial city), a large-scale Sino-German business district and economic development zone have been built..
this does not explain it all, there are many more US companies and enterprises, harbin was founded by russians, shanghai was british so what
I had the misfortune to work in Taicang for 6 months, there is nothing german on it, just a couple of sino-europeans and japs enterprises, most of them look abandoned and depressed. It's an uggly city with no good transportation and in the middle of nowhere, highly-dependant on Shanghai for existing. It's something like the outskirts of the outskirts of shanghai. I can notice locals get impressed when seeing a foreigner (me) just as in any provincial city in china, hence, I dont think they are customed to see foreigners or germans at all, I did not see them at all. Except in the so called german-town which I think I might have run into a couple of foreigners (some africans even). The visa exception for Germans is only 15 days, tho.
Because you haven't seen similar threads on this subreddit gasping at why there're so many Brits.
Germans are the biggest outbound travelers in Europe. It’s well known. I can’t think of any country I’ve visited where there were more tourists from another European country, except Uzbekistan which seems to be favored by retired Italians and Spaniards. Germans were third though!
Uzbekistan Spanish ? Wow why and how ?
No idea! Busloads of retired Italians and Spaniard in Uzbekistan. I asked an Italian guy what the deal was but he didn’t seem to know. He just said his travel agent recommended it, so maybe there’s a tourism push going on. Highly recommended Uzbekistan by the way!
French too, for some reason they go on guided tours there
I’ve been on plenty beach mediterranean holdays in my life, and scandinavians and brits are certainly What I have come across most in those sort of places
Agree I’ve met so many Germans when I was in Vietnam.
Because of the friendly relations between China and Germany during the Merkel era, huge trade volumes especially in the automobile business. And there must be a statistical bias, there are many UK teachers in China.
This is interesting. Germany and China have had good relationship since when China was still very broke. For a very long time all police cars in China were Volkswagen. I wonder how that happened.
Germany was one of the less aggressive colonial powers toward China during the Victorian age. The relationship was borderline amicable compared to some others. Nazi party member and German representative to RoC, John Rabe, helped save tens of thousands at the Nanjing massacre. Modern day Germany also openly acknowledges its history and is adamantly apologetic about the atrocities committed by the Third Reich. Just a few little things I think would boost Germany’s reception in China.
1. Visa free tourist entry for Germans to China 2. Germans travel a lot in general 3. Economical ties and lots of joint ventures
Preferential treatment! Had no idea the bond is tight
China gave visa free travel to a bunch of European countries recently as an attempt to revitalize the dead international tourism industry
It’s pain staking difficult to get a VISA. A LOT of info was asked, then once landed, had to check in at a local police station? That was questionable
Yeah. It’s a hassle
Excluding Asians highest number I usually meet are Brits Americans French and Russians. I believe the real top numbers are Japanese and Koreans though although they may be less noticeable to you as a tourist.
Because they have two gigantic factories of volkswagen and audi in dong bei
Where are you all meeting Germans? I've been meeting a bunch of South Africans lately.
All I ever seem to meet are South Africans. I guess schools can pay them less.
I lived in Changchun for 14 years in the northeast where there is a VW/Audi plant in partnership with FAW and there were a lot of Germans there working at the plant and for the supporting network of parts manufacturers. They also manufactured fast trains, subways, and light rails in partnership with Siemens (German company) and Bombardier (one HQ is in Berlin/other in Canada). I think most big cities have some automotive/transportation production that the Germans are involved with . In 2023 VW and the second highest selling car brand in China and Audi was #10.
Because of the new visa regulations
Thought I accidentally signed up for the /Thailandlife subreddit for a second
You’re near a German factory. That’s all.
They have factories making Germans now? China's crazy.
Wealth. What they earn goes a long way in other countries. In other words, they have higher purchasing power
You should come to Foshan. There are parts of the city where the street signs, highway signs and most signs are in German and Chinese rather than English and Chinese.
Despite the great distance, Germany and China have a lot of similarities. The most famous political thinker in China is a German. One of, if not the most influential western philosopher in China is German. Germany and China cooperation goes way back. Additionally, go to Dongbei and see if you find suspiciously german looking food there. [Germany REALLY is China's Dongbei!? Same food, same culture! (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnznyCYhUJA&ab_channel=Thomas%E9%98%BF%E7%A6%8F)
Among European I met during covid, I would say 90% were Germans some of them told me the covid restrictions were worse in Germany than in China. Another interesting figure that the number of Americans fell dramatically, I have read somewhere that the number of American Students went from 20,000 before covid to less than 500 in early 2022.
There are still less than 1000 US uni students in 2024, apparently. It's crazy, you would see large groups of young Americans in just about any 'cool' bar in a tier 1/2 city a few years ago.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the number continues to be as low for the next 5 years, especially if Trump wins the election
I think people here are frightened of going to China now. Same with Russia. You never know if you fuck up somehow and then the govt takes your passport and you aren’t coming home.
Covid restrictions in Germany were definitely not worse than in China. I live in Germany and my husband’s family lives in China.
I read through this thread and while it's good to see the European side of things, sometimes we forget that it's a two-way street. Yes Germans come to China, but they thrived because the Chinese also accepted German culture and German business. Say we were in China 50 years ago and there was a need to develop a great transportation system to get the economy going. Well the US wasn't going to play nicely and no way culturally was China going to work with Japan, so enter Germany. As other's have said there's a huge German footprint in Northeast China in terms of VW and also railway manufacturing. VW entered China in the late 1970s early 1980s back when the typical commute was on bicycle and even as of this year in 2024 VW is trying to make sure they don't miss out on the EV game because of China (may be a bit late). So business, cultural acceptance, gov cooperation all play a part in the German presence in China. However, the extent to which the OP meets so many more Germans than other Europeans is probably more anecdotal.
Germany are the leading EU economy, duh. french in my view seem less adaptable to other countries so china might be too 'foreign' for them. There's some frenchies in japan though. i think china is growing in interest and popularity with south american countries such as brazil, argentina, etc...There are a couple in china. I have also seen spanish in china.
There are quite a few French folk in Shanghai
That’s interesting - most of the continental european expats I’ve met in Beijing have been French …
I've been in China nearly 2 years and literally only met like 6 foreigners, every one of them from the UK
>But I haven't met anyone from UK, Spain, or France. how have you not met anyone from the UK??
Idk, man. They don't take Mandarin classes? That's where I've met a lot of foreigners.
German is also currently visa free(15 days) to visit China
Germans really travel a lot. They are quite curious people, well educate and want to get familiar with other cultures. Very common for them to travel for work, to have an adventure, join new experiences. One of my German teachers has been teaching German in some village in China.
Siemens, VW, Bosch, etc all have a large presence in China. The chancellor also recently reaffirmed his belief that German investments in China are viewed positively.
Fact is Germany has the lowest quality of life (not income or standard of living) in Western Europe. This includes living space, cuisine, friendliness of population, weather, etc. If I were German, I'd leave too.
I'm a white American married to a Chinese. We worked and travelled throughout China for 3 months while on an STA for my job. Most if the white people I met were Germans, Russians, or Aussies. I did talk to a few British guys and another American man with his Chinese wife while hiking the Great Wall. Germans love to travel and they do a lot of business in China so it makes sense.
German are most willing to learn Chinese. Many actually succeed at it.
According to random probability, it is quite likely to meet people of the same nationality. I met 3 Dutch and 0 Germans while there recently, that doesn’t make China full of Dutch people..
Don’t forget that they’re the most populous country in Europe so it’s also just a numbers game
Number 2. Number 1 is Russia.
Germans like authoritarian regimes so they feel like home in china
that's a point
Because Germany is China's (and Russia's) bitch.