Name: Ramone Turnquest, also known as Roman
Country of Origin: The Bahamas
Occupation: Entrepreneur/Consultant
Years in China: 6
How did your journey in China begin?
My journey in China began in the most drastic way. In 2013, I had just gotten out of a 5-year relationship and I just wanted to reinvent myself. At that time, I also found myself in a grey area professionally where I was overqualified for entry level positions but underqualified for senior roles. I had been living in UK for 10 years and wanted a new start in a new and exciting place. As a result, I randomly packed up my stuff and returned to the US where one night I ran into a very old friend who told me he was studying in China at Donghua University and he was about to graduate. He suggested that I should come back to China with him and learn Chinese which could make me more marketable professionally. The first thing I thought to myself was: ‘China? That’s too far!’ I applied for the student visa and the course just to appease my friend and did not really pay the idea of moving here any mind. 3 days later I learnt that my visa was approved and a couple weeks later I was on a plane on my way to Shanghai. I only initially planned to be here for the duration of the course which was 4 months long.
What do you like most about your city and China as a whole?
Well, I’m still currently in Shanghai and I would say I love the convenience of the city. I love that I can walk out the house and I only need my mobile phone, no keys or wallet. Sheer convenience is what I am in love with. Shanghai is also very international and it reminds me so much of New York and London. It is a melting pot and I meet everyone from around the world from different cultures and backgrounds. Coming here definitely changed my perspective of China as it was very limited before. Specifically, I had always loved Chinese food at home but coming here I realized the food is vastly different from Chinese food in the West! We are taught only specific things about China but it could only be the furthest thing from the truth. What I also love about China is Taobao!!! It’s way faster than amazon and you can get literally ANYTHING on Taobao.
What fascinated you the most about living in China?
The fact that China is changing at an extremely fast speed. When I first came in 2013 there was no Alipay, Didi and we only really used QQ, not WeChat. I have seen buildings be demolished and be replaced with luxury skyscrapers in a couple of months. Where I am from and where I have lived, I saw that change takes a long time to happen and sometimes that’s annoying but not in China. Change happens overnight.
What is your unique China story?
Actually, how I ended up staying in China is my unique China story. When my visa was coming to an end after studying Chinese, I was replying to some emails and a company I applied to in London a couple months back had reached out to me to say they were trying to get into contact with me. I told them I was currently in China at the moment and if we could do the interview on Skype since I was not physically in London. They replied and after a conversation they said that they have subsidiaries in Shanghai and if I would be interested in staying here and joining them. It was definitely not in my cards to stay here as I initially wanted to just learn Chinese and leave after a couple of months and return back to London but 8 years later, I am still working here, I own a business and did random stuff like star in a movie, be on the front row of Fashion Week Shanghai which led to me being on the cover of a magazine here. My China story has been a whirlwind.
Some background on his home country.
The Bahamas has over 700 islands in total with only 30 of them currently being inhabited. Famous Bahamian islands include the Exumas which have an extraordinary pig beach where you can swim with pigs! Harbor Island which is known for its beach has natural pink sand and many more!
Find out more at: https://www.bahamas.com/
Read all the unique stories by expats in China here.
To have your China story featured, click here.
Stories will be shared in English on our LinkedIn page, Instagram and Facebook page. Bilingual stories will be shared on our WeChat account mts_cn. Remember to like and share your favourite one!