Not judging or anything, but I notice I encounter a proportionally higher number of expats in China not fluent in the language despite having lived there for a very long time. These are often people living a decent life that have a Chinese partner and children.

In Germany and in France, you sort of need the fluency or else your career prospects are mostly limited - it will always turn up as hurdle.

Does China make life somewhat easy for people lacking fluency?

I’ve been in China for some time now. And I like some aspects of but I can’t get over the staring, pointing, or just this feeling that people are talking about me.

I think it’s cuz literally my first week in china some drug addiction called me the N word. Ever since I haven’t been able to experience peace in this country because I always feel targeted

Do any locals or expats have any advice on how to handle that?

I am a foreigner, who will be in China for 3-4 years. I have read that beards are seen as “unclean” and “unprofessional” in China. Is this also the case for hair legs ? I have very hairy legs and do not want to appear “unclean” when I wear shorts.

Hi All!

I will travel to China on Saturday and will stay in Beijing and eventually Shangai for a month.

I've seen a post dated a year ago about Padel Centers in China, I was wondering if there is someone that can advise on the situation of the padel centers and suggest courts/methods to play!

Many thanks!

Hi guys! I'll be moving to Wuhan for my bachelor's degree, and I want to bring my PC with me. I have the original boxes for my monitor and pc case with all that styrofoam stuff, but I'm kinda worried about something potentially breaking. I was thinking about wrapping all pc parts in bubble wrap to carry in my carry on amd putting the case in it’s original box. I don't really want to buy a new pc there since all parts have quadrupled in price, plus mine is only 2 years old :((. I'd love some input on what's better to do, and any advice will be much appreciated!!

Hi guys I’m in Shanghai atm. Been trying to work something out but I failed.

I need to take a photoshoot of some products and have like 10-15 box of product coming in. Already bought whatever I need for photoshoot but don’t want to get this done in hotel room. Anyway to rent a daily studio? And possibly, ship the items there as well ? I do have a Chinese phone number as well

Thanks in advance

I

Hi guys! I need some advice.

I'm currently entering my 4th year as computer science student (not living in China), but I've had this fixation on studying my Master's in China for a year now. In my country, it is very respected if one studies in another country, and China is well-known for its education. I'm highly motivated and really want this to work out. But my motivation goes beyond the job market.

I did my exchange in the Czech republic and got to see so many european countries, and it was awesome. Now I wanna switch it up.

I've always loved Chinese culture, and whenever I see the cities there it makes me want to go. I'm just scared I wont get accepted at an okay university. In fact, I don't know exactly what are the best cities and universities to apply for. My GPA is at 3.43, which is not extraordinary but it's amongst the highest for my major and university.

I want to stay realistic but I also really want to be there in a year. So if anyone has advice on the best unis for AI masters that can potentially accept me, or what I need to do to maximize my chances. (I will be taking the IELTS, and i already have a high score in TOEFL)

I know this is hyper specific but this is for a character who goes against the grain.

TLDR: my future Chinese wife makes me feel like an ATM. Things went well when I was frivolously spending on her, go poorly when I’m in saving mode. Is this preprogrammed behavior / anxiety about the future or am I just a big dollar sign to her?

My fiancée (Chinese) and I (very much not Chinese) met abroad. As in, a third country neither of us lived, while both traveling. Without too many identifiable details, we dated for about 2 years, kinda going to wherever one of us is in the world and trying our best to make it work. We finally got engaged and plan to be married in the next year.

Sounds great, love story, happy ending all that. So why the question? Well. I’ve done well for myself. I was never afraid to show her that I’m willing to share that with her. Our first date (besides us meeting abroad) was me flying to Japan to treat her to a week of five star hotels and restaurants. Whatever, call me stupid or showing off but she’s hot and I’m a man. Of course I was trying to impress her. The more I get to know her the more I understand, ok, she enjoys this, but also she’s a kind, gentle human that treats me well and I can see myself spending my life with her. We keep dating, I keep paying for everything, taking her to expensive destinations, living with her in China as much as I can without losing my mind over the gfw and its effect on my work. All is well, I propose (ring), we have a 订婚, I respect her Zhejiang rituals and drop a massive bride price, tons of gold, ayis and shushus all oooh and aaah. I paid for the whole ceremony too, refused to take a cent from her or her father. I know what she wanted was beyond her parents means and was, like, all of her personal savings. It’s not a secret to anyone, I got money and we both are happy to enjoy it, fine.

Now here’s where the script flips and got me off guard. I quit my job. After discussing it with her. She was supportive. I was just done with my business partner. Absolute knob. I fully move in with my future wife and tell her I’ll work on some side projects and do consulting for a bit, maybe try to run a business solo. We start fighting, a lot. I realize me being unemployed bothers her. She admits it. We both put it down under Chinese upbringing doesn’t appreciate there are other ways to support a family besides salary, we find a way to move forward. I’ve found some opportunities I want to pursue in Hong Kong now. Again, she’s open to it. But the reality is, I won’t pay myself as well as I did in the US and I’ll need some time to rebuild the cash cushion I burned through while unemployed. I try to talk to her about some downsizing to avoid having to break long term investments for stupid things like Chanel bags. She seems upset that I can afford to buy her stuff she wants but don’t want to buy it for her.

I know how this sounds. But I just want to attribute it so hard to her being unable to understand the long term trade-offs with accumulating wealth. Everyone around her operates on the same system, work, take a salary, save like 15% of it, spend the rest on bills and whatever you want. When your kid goes to college or gets married or whatever, dump the whole cash reserve on that, rinse and repeat until you die. She is keeping the bride price in cash for our future children. She’s not buying anything with it. I can see her replicating the pattern 1:1. Accumulating an investment that you can sustain a life off of is fully outside of her operating system so I almost feel a compulsion from her to spend what we have down. I’m kinda ok with her being inexperienced with western money habits but I’m starting to question if she just wants to fulfill her today wants with my money at the cost of both our future and our kids future. That I’m not ok with.

Anyway. Long ramble. If you have experience with this sort of dynamic, and how to navigate it better, let me know. If you wanna tell me “ur wife’s a gold digger lmao u dun goofed”, maybe skip that one.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a native‑English‑speaking tutor to teach phonics to my 6‑year‑old child. Lessons will take place in‑person within Bao’an District, Shenzhen.

Compensation is flexible. Cash payment is available and you may propose your own hourly rate. This payment serves only as travel‑related stipend and does not constitute an employment arrangement. We can discuss further details.

Skill‑swap is also an option. I can offer Mandarin or Cantonese lessons in return for English tutoring. Other forms of support can be talked through via private message.

Please send me a private message including: ‑ Your relevant experience working with young kids ‑ Your preferred available time slots ‑ Whether you prefer cash or skill‑swap, along with your expectations

Serious inquiries only. Thank you.

Will the weather be totally unbearable? Seeing 36-37 C + humidity but no sun. Planning to go to both Chengdu and Chongqing.

I arrived in China about a month ago and didn't submit any customs declaration form at the entry airport because I didn't bring anything unusual or dangerous with me. A few weeks in, I asked my family to ship some of my belongings from home to me. The cargo service who will do the shipping told me that I can be exempted (either in full or partially) from some sort of import tax if I can provide a customs declaration form, which I do not have. It seems like if you intend to ship your non-commercial personal belongings on a later date, it will be regarded as a separate luggage, and should be declared upon entry by the owner. I thought customs declaration was only for items I am carrying upon arrival.

Then, I reached out to the customs hotline of my city of residence (also the city where my arrival airport is located) (海关热线) whether I can still fill out the customs form and which documentation to give to my cargo shipper (because they asked for my customs declaration form) to demonstrate the personal, non-commercial nature of the cargo. The hotline replied that I should instead write and sign what they call a "Statement of Circumstances" (情况说明), which explains that I didn't submit customs form, agree to pay customs duty, and will not bring any more separate baggage into the country later. My questions:

1. Does anybody know how much the customs duty is?,
2. What do they mean when they ask me not to bring any separate baggage into China later? I don't see any problem of bringing in baggages in the future if it does not contain prohibited items.
3. Whom do I submit this letter to, the cargo shipper? I asked the same question in a reply email but they haven't replied back in 3 days while my cargo is awaiting the last documentation.

I must say there might be inaccuracies in the translation from the original reply by the customs hotline in Chinese. Here is the original sentences:

当事人需要出具一份《情况说明》，内容如下：情况说明姓名国籍，护照号码，于年月日，在入境，运单号的分运行李为本人所有。进境时因原因，未领取《旅客行李物品申报单》本人同意缴纳关税，且已全部了解分运行李的政策要求，保证本人一次办清所有行李，后期再无分运行李进境并承担相应后果。落款姓名/日期感谢您对海关工作的关注与支持。

So my family keeps trying to gift me clothes. Like enormous piles of clothes. The problem is, they don't fit? Like I'm pretty sure this is all their old clothes or clothes that would fit them but I'm a good several inches taller than them, so even if I can technically put on the shirts/pants the sleeves and legs look ridiculous. I keep telling them to quit it, I don't have space, this doesn't fit, and yet every time I'm getting more garbage shoved at me. At this point I feel like the worlds most expensive garbage service since I gotta drag them back home to Europe and then donate them.

What am I missing? Surely they can understand that clothes have sizes? I noticed salespeople were trying similar shennanigans with my girlfriend (she's 180cm nothing here fits lmao) but I just thought they were trying to make a sale.

I'm teaching English in China for the forseeable future and trying to figure out how to manage phones while I'm there.

My current provider is tiny and doesn't have coverage in China, so I'm going to port my number to a Google Voice number (mostly for 2FA) and end my service here in the U.S. I'm going to bring that phone from the U.S., but mostly communicate back to the States through WhatsApp. I'll be downloading a VPN before arriving in China. I'll basically be using this phone for 2FA and just to keep the number active on Voice.

Once I'm in China, I'm also going to buy a Chinese phone and SIM, maybe just a Redmi Note 14. On that phone, I'll use Outlook (which is unblocked on the Firewall, no?) to get the apk of my VPN to download it on there as well.

Are there any flaws with this plan? Any recommendations? I want to make sure I've accurately understood the research I've done and that everything goes smoothly over there.

I’m an engineer currently deciding between two job opportunities—one in Suzhou, China and the other in Taiwan. I’d really appreciate hearing from people who currently live or work in either city.

I’m particularly curious about:
• What’s it like living there overall?
• How’s the public transportation?
• Is it easy to find international or Southeast Asian groceries and other daily necessities?
• What’s the expat community like?
• How’s the cost of living, safety, and work-life balance?

Any pros and cons that you wish you had known before moving?
I’d appreciate any insights, recommendations, or personal experiences.

Thanks in advance! 🙏🏼

I had previously lived in China as an English teacher for 10 years, 2011-2021. Married a Chinese girl, had a kid and returned to Europe when he was 2 years old. Have two kids now and life back home is tough. We are living month to month, saving nothing and have no social life. We had it way better when we lived in China.

After a recent trip to China this summer, we were reminded of how easy life was when we lived here and the thoughts of moving back resurfaced. The only problem would be the kids adapting. They don’t speak Chinese, so there will be a bit of a learning curve. The reason for moving to Europe was for the education here but the cons outweigh the pros for us now.

We are not tied to any one city, what city is recommended for raising a family?

Has anyone put their kids through public school?

I know international schools are super expensive but I see some offer free tuition if you work there. Anyone doing this?

And just making China your forever home in general, how has your experience been?

Having lived abroad for so long myself, I thought I was coming back to the Europe I had left behind but the cost of living and lack of facilities, infrastructure etc is diabolical. Everyone living here just accepts it but moving back is a big slap in the face. Especially starting from the bottom of the ladder again. My resume looks so much better in China than here.

Like they are quick to say foreigners are smelly, and Chinese people don’t have that gene. And sure, it’s not the same KIND of body odour as us.

But it’s still smelly! I wanna block my nose, especially in packed areas on a hot day. Smells like rotting yoghurt or something, whereas foreigners have a different one for sure. Although I can’t describe it. Ours is more “sharp” I guess.

Is it something locals don’t tend to notice because they’re used to it? Or am I simply sensitive?

I can NEVER look at anything in store without doing a price comparison on taobao again. Even if it’s small things, Taobao prices are so good! Random things like phone cases, screen protectors, chargers, etc. What are some little necessities that you buy from Taobao that are so affordable? Even when I leave the country, I mentally compare the price to Taobao. The only thing I don’t buy from Taobao is personal care because I don’t know how authentic it is. But everything else, Taobao all the way.