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Brother Sway, who owns a food business in Seattle, has been drawing much attention with his stand-up talk show, Don't Come to the US. [China Daily]

Though record numbers of Chinese students are choosing to study in the United States, if they stay they often find they are small fish in a big pond.

Brother Sway, who is from Beijing but now resides in Seattle and has been in the United States for 20 years, has recently become well-known through a stand-up talk show called Don't Come to the US.

In the show, that can be seen on all the major video-sharing websites, Brother Sway numbers the disadvantages of living in the US for Chinese people, and sings a song based on the 1960s revolutionary song Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman, but with new lyrics: "Don't come to the US. The US can't compare to China. The food and drinks here are terrible. From morning to evening, there is nothing for you but work."

Since moving to the US in 1988, Brother Sway, also known as Ray Tsway or Cui Baoyin, has studied at a university and tried to make a go of various businesses, such as a Chinese restaurant and travel service. Now he owns a concession food company.

"Most Chinese people who manage to come to the US are here for a bigger dream and a better future. Owning a profitable food business is a good enough living for most Americans, but it is not what I came to the US for," Brother Sway says.

"My social status is lower than the one I had before I left China. From being a white-collar worker in China I have become blue collar. This is the case with so many Chinese in America."

Chinese student educated abroad at a job fair held in Xiamen, Fujian province. [China Daily]

A netizen's comment on Tsway's talk show illustrates the feelings of many Chinese in the US when comparing their lives now to that in China: "Had they listened to Brother Sway's advice earlier, many Chinese talents would have had their undertaking in China instead of muddling along in the US; they would have been professors, doctors, or managers in China, instead of ending up being a laborer or a small boss; they would have married their childhood sweethearts instead of trying to get along with foreign spouses or living alone."

Tsway says that he enjoys his life in the US, yet at the same time feels a sense of loss.

"I could have done bigger things, had bigger achievements had I stayed in China," he says. "I left China to pursue a better life. I had no idea that China would have developed so fast, and grown so strong and powerful."

After releasing Don't Come to the US on the Internet, Tsway's e-mails grew to 200 a day with comments from people in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada and Australia.

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