Life overseas in China: Culture, Dogs, and Expat Life in Shanghai: S1E3

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When Evan moved from New York City to Jiaxing, China, in 2006, one of the cultural differences that caught his attention was dogs. He noticed street dogs in less wealthy areas, purebred dogs in richer cities, and very different attitudes toward pet ownership than the ones he knew from the United States.

More than a decade later, living in Shanghai with his own rescue dog, Evan revisits a blog post he wrote during his first months in China and reflects on how dog culture, rescue communities, and his own understanding of China have changed. As we’re having this conversation one of his dogs is in the room with us. It was super cute. 

What can dogs tell us about a culture?

The way people keep, value, rescue, and interact with dogs can reflect broader differences in wealth, lifestyle, urban development, and cultural attitudes toward animals. Are they a companion or a status symbol or a part of the family?

In 2006, Evan saw a sharp contrast between the street dogs he encountered in Jiaxing and the purebred pets he saw in wealthier Shenzhen. Years later, he says that picture became more complicated as dog rescue communities grew and pet ownership became increasingly visible in cities like Shanghai.

In this episode

• Moving from New York City to Jiaxing, China, to teach English
• What Evan noticed about dogs during his first months living in China
• The differences he saw between pet ownership in Jiaxing and Shenzhen
• How dog culture in Shanghai changed between 2006 and 2018
• The growth of dog rescue and adoption communities in Shanghai
• Why expat mobility can create challenges for pet adoption
• How people in Shanghai react differently to dogs and dog owners
• What living abroad taught Evan and Steph about cultural assumptions
• Revisiting observations about wealth, status, and purebred dogs
• How Evan’s own culture shock changed during his first year in China

Who this episode is for

This episode is for people interested in living in China, expat life in Shanghai, pet culture across countries, dog rescue and adoption, and the ways everyday observations can reveal deeper cultural differences.

About Evan

Evan Pinto moved from New York City to Jiaxing, China, in 2006 to teach English for a year after studying Asian Studies and Chinese as an undergraduate.

Soon after arriving, he started a blog called Pinto Bean and Rice about his experiences adjusting to life in China. One early post, “You Can Tell a Lot About a Place From Its Dogs,” compared the dogs he saw in Jiaxing, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong and explored what those differences might say about wealth and urban life.

By the time of this conversation, Evan had spent years living in Shanghai and had become part of the local dog rescue community himself. His rescue dog Buddy even joins us for part of the conversation.

How has dog culture changed in Shanghai?

One of the biggest changes Evan noticed was the growth of dog rescue and adoption communities. He remembers seeing many more loose and homeless dogs during his earlier years in China. By the time of this conversation, he says street dogs had become far less common in Shanghai, while rescue organizations and adoption networks had grown significantly.

Evan also talks about the role Shanghai’s international community played in developing some of these rescue networks, as well as a recurring challenge in expat communities: people may adopt pets while living abroad, then struggle to take them along when jobs, visas, or international moves suddenly change.

Do wealth and dog ownership still connect?

In his original 2006 blog post, Evan argued that wealthier cities seemed to have more purebred dogs, while less affluent places had more mixed-breed and street dogs.

Looking back 12 years later, he says that observation still reflected something he had genuinely seen at the time, but the reality had become more complicated.

Rescue adoption had grown, especially within Shanghai’s expat community, while purebred dogs continued to be popular among some local pet owners. The shift reminded him that cultural observations can be true in a particular moment without remaining fixed forever.

What living abroad teaches us about assumptions

The conversation eventually moves beyond dogs into a broader question: what happens when living abroad exposes assumptions we didn’t know we had?

Both Evan and Steph reflect on moments when they interpreted something as uniquely Chinese, Taiwanese, or American, only to realize later that some behaviors were more universal than they first assumed.

Evan also describes becoming aware of assumptions he carried from growing up in New York, including how race, appearance, and occupation had become linked in ways he hadn’t consciously noticed before moving abroad.

Living in a different cultural environment forced him to see some of those patterns more clearly.

Evan’s first year of culture shock in China

Evan also looks back at the culture shock of moving from New York to Jiaxing.

His first month felt exciting and new, but the adjustment became harder as the year continued. He remembers struggling with language, food, isolation, holidays away from home, and the everyday exhaustion of trying to function in an unfamiliar environment.

Even simple interactions, like ordering spinach at a restaurant, could become frustrating when pronunciation and context didn’t work the way he expected.

Looking back, those experiences became part of a much longer process of learning how to live across cultures and questioning the assumptions he brought with him.

Original publication date: June 1, 2018

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