The currency of sea turtles
A mention in China Digital Times pointed me to this Washington Post article: In China, Pulled by Opposing Tides. It’s talking about the culture shock experienced by Chinese who return to China after a long period of study and/or work in the West, usually the US. There’s a term for them, “sea turtles”. I have to confess, I thought that this term was out of date. I first encountered it in 2005, and wrote about it then; even at the time, it was a phrase slipping out of currency. During my time at Tsinghua, my Chinese friends knew the term, but didn’t really use it any more… I think it was more relevant in the late 90s, and very early noughties; by 2005, the numbers of returnees who only knew the pre-boom China were dropping significantly.
The Post article focuses on someone who’s been away for ten years; perhaps there aren’t so many like him left…
