SinoXpat_researcher

Although I didn't know it at the time, I, myself, became a 'trailing spouse' when, in April 1994, accompanied by my two young children, I left my family, my home and my job in the UK, and moved overseas in support of my husband's career.

When we relocated to Shanghai in January 2003, I was dismayed to find that, despite having lived in Hong Kong for almost 9 years, settling down in Mainland China was a long and stressful process. I think I've finally succeeded!

Being so far away from home is not easy, but I consider myself one of the 'lucky ones', having had a chance to continue and develop my career in human resources and administration management. Both professionally and socially, I have been able to draw upon my own personal experiences and knowledge to help expatriate colleagues' and friends' relocate successfully into 'foreign' environments. I am well aware that not everyone is so lucky and that unhappy experiences are common for a variety of reasons.

I am keen to learn about your needs and the challenges you have faced/are facing in trying to settle down in this fascinating country and to find out how much support you have been given and from where . From my 'foot in all camps' perspective (spouse, mother, HR practitioner and recruiter) I hope to highlight the importance of the trailing spouse/partner in the success of expatriate assignments in China and to help sponsoring employers, HR practitioners, relocation professionals and others understand the real-life situation so that appropriate supporting measures can be given more adequate focus.

To do this I need your help.

Please help me by spreading the word to as many expatriates and sponsoring employers as possible throughout China - and ask them to complete

I hope to complete my MBA degree course very shortly and, to this end, have chosen to undertake this study about us - fellow 'trailing' expatriates.