Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

Foreigners in China are often misunderstood.

About a decade back, not many foreigners came to China, and when they did, the locals looked at them with surprise and awe.

The number of foreigners has grown to 800,000, and 107,000 of which live in Beijing.

Foreigners come to China from all parts of the world with varying cultural backgrounds,  languages and even appearances. Almost everything is different.

But in China, they are all grouped in one category that natives refer to as "laowai".

The sad part is that many of these perceptions are not entirely correct.

Whether they are young students or professionals with several decades of experience, all of them are put in the same group.

It's believed that all foreigners love coffee.

The large coffee culture of the West cannot be replaced but many foreigners like me, are big fans of tea.

It is a misconception and an over-generalization that all foreigners come to China because they have no jobs back home.

It is true that some foreigners come to China for better prospects, but some are also  invited and hired as experts in their field of experience.

Many foreigners have been doing great work for many years in China and are not just here to make a quick buck.

There are teachers, doctors, engineers and management professionals from different countries who are bringing in new ideas, technology systems and helping to change the mindsets of locals.

Another misconception is that all foreigners are rich. They think that foreigners have a luxurious lifestyle because they have a lot of money in the bank.

This is not entirely true. Many foreigners live from hand to mouth, have financial and personal liabilities back home and earn much less. They need to spend a lot on routine or emergency trips to home countries, medical expenses etc.

I can vouch some Chinese people are rather rich from my experience of house hunting in Beijing.

Another lop-sided view is that all foreigners in China are here just for fun. It has been exaggerated beyond proportions, especially with respect to relationships.

The image of foreign men is not good in the public eye. The Chinese girls look at them with suspicion.

There is no denying that some foreigners are to be blamed for bringing this disrepute to the whole tribe, but it is not fair to over-stretch it.

The majority of foreigners are decent people.

It is wrong to assume every foreign guy is dying to date every Chinese girl.

Some of them already have girlfriends, some are happily married, some are just trying to find the right one, just like any average Chinese guy.

Another common myth is that foreigners do not want to learn Chinese.

My job doesn't require me to learn Chinese, but I have tried. I have helped many Chinese people improve their English, though I am not a teacher.

Many foreigners speak standard Chinese and they should be given credit for it.

I hope theses misconceptions can gradually fade away and foreigners will be judged for their individual behavior and not generalized unfairly in a negative way.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.