Is Living in China Worth it?
The world is constantly shifting economically and politically. Perhaps you’ve been considering taking the plunge and starting your adventures overseas. Perhaps you’ve mentioned your China aspirations to friends or coworkers who have said that it’s too risky, mentioning a story about something negative that they heard in the news.
You can discard that input. One of the biggest risks we can take in life is inaction or to continue doing something that clearly isn’t leading anywhere worthwhile. Whether or not China living will be worth it depends on you.
There are still some other things you’ll want to keep in mind, if you really want to optimize your time in the East. If you want it to be "worth it," I recommend the following:
How to Make the Most of Your Time in China
In order to really reap the full benefit from going to China, you’re going to want to stay there for more than a year. It will take you at least that long to get your bearings and adjust to a new way of life, and it will pass in the blink of an eye.
This means investing a little in your new home for the time being, buying an electric bike and a decent computer to complete your work. If you try to live in China with a temporary mindset you may end up skimping on things that you really shouldn’t, like decent cookware. If you’re going to live abroad, you should actually live abroad. That means staying for longer than a year.
Have a Goal
Don't just wander into the country on your gap year. And don’t lose sight of what it is that you’re trying to achieve in country with a lower cost of living. It might be a freeing feeling to not to be weighed down by the financial pressure you were used to back home, but in the face of this newfound freedom, some people stagnate.
You need to be self-directed if you want to turn your endeavors into something fruitful. Don’t waste a moment once you get to your destination.
Don’t Slip into Self-Destruct Mode
If you choose to associate with other expats in China, you’re going to get lured into situations where you’ll be spending the night in bars full of suffocating tobacco smoke, drinking poorly distilled alcohol that will give you brain-splitting hangovers, and generally wasting your time and being unproductive. This is what I hate most about bars and the expat scene in China, the constant smoking in poorly-ventilated rooms and going home with clothes reeking of smoke.
It may not be encouraging to read that the best way to achieve your goals while abroad is to be a bit of a weird recluse, but that doesn’t matter. We all have to make sacrifices if we want to achieve our goals. If you want to take control of your future and put an end to the uncertainty that comes with relying on someone else’s employment for income, you have to work harder than everyone else.
How safe is China vs. the US?
Without another country to compare it to, this is a difficult question to answer, because everything is so relative. Because I come from the USA, I'll make the comparisons.
- China isn't as diverse as the US, so any racial tension you're likely to encounter will be between you and the locals - not you and the various infighting tribes you'll find in the West.
- Chinese citizens have no gun rights, so the likelihood of experiencing an alienated gunman going on a killing spree are minimized.
- People are generally positive towards Westerners, because most of the foreigners in the country are either students or experts providing a service to the community. There isn't the same degree of low-skilled, foreign welfare dependents promoting a demographic threat to the native population.
- People do not follow traffic regulations with the same degree of zeal, because they're simply not as well-enforced as they are in the West. Because of that, every time you go out on the road, you may be putting your life at risk.
- Lax public safety regulations and enforcement make ordinary places dangerous. Say, for example, the woman who fell through the sidewalk into a pit of scalding water. Or the woman in Henan who fell five stories out of a fire exit leading to nowhere.
- Lastly, pollution and food sanitation practices are a potential danger. I'll explain more below.
What are the biggest advantages to living in China?
There are many advantages to life in communist China.
- The lower cost of living is an incredible advantage, if you live frugally and maximize productive use of your time. You don’t have to make car insurance payments every month and you’ll be surprised at how relaxed you can be when you’re not constantly consumed with worry about making rent and paying bills. Eating out every day and food costs will never break your wallet.
- You can experience another culture and be immersed in the language if you’re looking to study Mandarin, you’ll have access to plenty of media and plenty of language partners. But you’ll still have to practice serious discipline if you want to see progress.
- China is a great country for traveling. The transportation systems and high speed rail allows you to move from one city to the next rather conveniently.
- There are tons of work opportunities, if you want to teach. Americans living in China will often be begged by people to give up their weekends to go to an English training center. They'll plead with you to give you money. When I first came to China, I found the ease of finding work and making money to be novel. But that was before I realized how much money they're making off of me and how little I get out of the amount they charge. Then I got greedy.
Just so that you know, it is illegal for foreigners to work for outside companies. If you want to make some money doing some side jobs, you must be extra cautious not to get caught. If you are, it is likely you will be shaken down by the local police for whatever money you made.
What are the biggest disadvantages to living in China?
- Smoking:
- This is something that I don't encounter as much because I don't go to bars and clubs in China as much as I did when I first got to the country, but the attitude toward cigarettes tends to be pretty lax. The worst thing is people smoking on the elevator. But I think that China has actually improved on this score, and public smoking is not as terrible as it used to be.
- Lack of education and training:
- One time, I had a maid that thought it was a good idea to dunk the mop in the toilet when cleaning the floors, spreading gross bacteria everywhere. I had to ask her to stop and to rinse it off in the sink instead.
- I’ve heard other foreigners complain about their maids leaving visible iron burns in their pants. You can probably afford a maid on a teacher’s salary depending on where you are in China. The question is whether they know what they’re doing and can be trusted.
- Lack of quality service:
- People that work at restaurants and bars can have a tendency to be indifferent to you at times. Why? It is because of the lack of “tip culture” in China. They have no financial incentive aside from the most minimum satisfaction as to whether you go back there or not, so I’ve seen bartenders that ignored their customers and waiters that avoid you until it comes time to pay your bill.
- Food:
- Chinese food isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve found several dishes that I like because I like spicy food, but they all contain meat and basically taste the same. The thing that puts people on edge about the food in China is the possibility of eating dirty oil, polluted water, or questionable hygiene practices.
- While China does have their own forms of quality control in place, and with ratings in every restaurant for visitors to see (usually an unhealthy establishment will show a frowny red face on a display), it’s difficult to say whether their discretion is reliable.
- Air pollution:
- This problem is severe, though it doesn't seem to be as bad as it was when I first arrived. Still, I’ve heard more than once of foreigners complaining because on the most polluted days, their Chinese coworkers open all the office windows for some reason.
- Friends:
- Some foreigners complain about finding suitable friends to hang out with. Without simply relying on other foreigners, it can be a challenge to find Chinese people who might be at the same level of life-experience and emotional maturity.
- By the time a Westerner hits twenty years old, it’s likely that he’s already had a girlfriend of some kind, experimented with some kind of illegal substance, and already had a variety of life experiences.
- Most Chinese males at the age of twenty are still inexperienced with the opposite sex and have done nothing since they’ve arrived in the world but study. That’s why for many of them their development is stunted and they don’t always make the best people to chill with.
- Language:
- Of course, language can be a problem. There are definitely strategies for getting around this, but even after a couple of years of study, I still struggled with basic conversations. It can be frustrating that Mandarin may require a disproportionate amount of study, as compared to other languages, but just like anything else, if you practice, you’ll get better.
- Internet Restrictions:
- Many popular websites are blocked. This is one of the most frequently cited reasons I hear from expats eager to leave the country. From what I read, internet service can be really hit or miss depending on the provider and the part of China you’re living in. Sometimes certain sites you’re used to visiting may become temporarily blocked, only later to be accessible a few days later.
- That said, if you invest in a good VPN service, accessing blocked content on your desktop or phone should only be a minor inconvenience. As a testament that online work is still feasible, this website was built completely from within the Middle Kingdom. For suggestions on how to get around this problem, read my guide on the Best VPN for China.
- You will always be the outsider
- Even the closest acquaintances who have known you for years will still treat you like one. You're always the "guest," or "the laowai." You'll never be accepted for your fundamentally shared humanity; it's not the way the hivemind is programmed in China. You'll have to get used to it.
Now that you’ve read this list, take a moment to think about these complications and how you will attempt to cope with these issues. Do you have any creative solutions that you think would help? Please comment below.
Otherwise, if you feel confident and ready to take your journey, here is a guide on moving to China.
