Life in China: Living as an Expat in Xuzhou

Have you considered teaching abroad in China? It’s a unique experience that will create lasting memories. Moving to China can be daunting. You don’t know what to expect. I know I had numerous questions about it before I moved there!

“Is China safe? What is life like as an expat? Do many Americans live in China? Is it hard going to China as an American? What paperwork do I need? How do I get around?”

Questions continually flooded my mind, leading me down numerous rabbit holes on the internet. Some people loved China, while others hated it. There was a hardy mixture of it all. There are pros and cons to living and working in China as an expat. I’m here to give you my experience and what I learned living as an expat in Xuzhou, China.

In this article, I’ll give you my opinions and what I think are the most important things to know about living in China as a foreigner. This article doesn’t cover everything about finding or getting the right job. That one is saved for another article, so be on the lookout for it!

Survival Chinese is a Must

Places like Shanghai and Beijing are easy to get around without knowing Chinese because they are known as Tier 1 cities. They have a huge foreign population, and more Chinese speak English. Places like Xuzhou and Guilin are classified as Tier 3 cities. This means a lower population and GDP. In my experience with Xuzhou, this meant that there were fewer foreigners and Western influence.

As a result, survival Chinese was a must! I needed it to buy products, barter at markets, talk to students, order food, and use taxis. Survival Chinese immensely helped me when the internet on my translator or phone would sometimes randomly shut off. It also made life more accessible, and the people greatly appreciated it!

Everything is More Challenging

Living in China can be great! But doing things alone and being unable to speak the language makes everything more challenging. They have their own set of rules and methods, everything seems to need an app, and many places don’t take cash anymore. If they don’t accept cash, you need internet and an app. However, to get the app for payments, you must have a Chinese bank account. The process goes on and on. On top of that, shopping for clothes and groceries is more difficult, translating becomes your life, what you ordered might not be what you get, and figuring out where you can and can’t go due to being a foreigner, and post-COVID presents its own set of challenges.

Nonetheless, living in China can be thrilling, but you will face many challenges.

Live the Life You Worked For

One great thing about living in China as an American is that you’re often paid well. Great pay and low cost of living mean you have the opportunity to save, go on adventures, and spend more time enjoying life. China was one of the few places where I found that my hard work and time truly paid off. I was able to enjoy life and some of the finer things. It also became a bit of an addiction as well.

Isolation and Missing Loved Ones is a Real Thing

After living in China pre-COVID and post-COVID, I found that isolation is a serious problem. Living in China was fun pre-COVID, and I could travel to numerous places within and outside of it. Missing friends and family was expected, but I wasn’t too worried as I could easily pick up the phone and video chat with them. There were certain times of the year when outside communication wasn’t allowed, but it would only last for a day or so.

Post-covid was a whole different story. Living in China as a foreigner during and post-COVID was extremely hard. There were numerous weeks, sometimes even months, where I was isolated in my apartment with my dog. Work was my only outlet at the time. Communication with the outside world would be shut off randomly, and we never knew for how long.

Now, some people haven’t experienced this, but I personally found that my internet would go out, or I wouldn’t receive texts from outside of China for a good week or more sometimes.

Being cut off from the outside world can be very difficult. This was one of the bad things about living in China, especially during this tumultuous time in history. I found that my work friends were my primary community. We relied on each other more than regular coworkers do.

Be Careful What You Say and Do

Speaking about being cut off from the world, being in China means you MUST be careful what you say and do. Everyone is listening and watching, especially since you’re a foreigner, let alone an American. Living in a Tier 3 city means people aren’t used to seeing foreigners, so they are curious and skeptical of you. This could be a good or bad thing.

I remember going to the gym one day. I went early in the morning before work. A man came up to me while I was on the treadmill and took a selfie with me in the background. By the time I got to work, it was plastered all over social media. I had coworkers coming up to me showing the picture of the man with me in the background. Everyone knows who you are, where you are, and what you’re doing.

When it comes to media applications or talking over the phone, you MUST be especially careful what you say. If you criticize the government, president, or country in general, it can put you on its radar. What does that mean? It means they could make your internet touchy, even cut you off, or make it difficult for you to go anywhere.

You Can Save a Ton of Money

Depending on how much you make, where you are, and how good you are with money will determine how much money you save. Living and working in China as an American in a Tier 3 city allowed me to set aside a majority of my paycheck. Daily and monthly bills are inexpensive in China. I spent more on buying groceries than I did eating out every day. Initially, I didn’t save much money, because I decided to go on numerous adventures and enjoy my time there. Also, I spent a lot of it on buying a new western-styled bed and taking care of my dog. After the first year, I could save at least $1000 a month easily! I also had extra cushion money in case anything happened. It all comes down to your spending and watching your money.

Air Pollution and Sanitation

Air pollution is a severe problem in China! What may look like a terrible fog is actually smog. Many Chinese and foreigners wear masks outside daily to protect their lungs. Air pollution and dust particles become a major problem in apartments. If you open your windows, you can easily see them collect on your windowsills and floors. This means that many people keep their homes very clean!

While it’s essential to keep homes and workplaces clean, people are a bit less sanitary at times. Don’t test your luck; always wash or sanitize your hands whenever possible! Most Chinese don’t wash their hands, and food carts and restaurants are usually unkempt and below American cleanliness standards. This is why it’s good to get caught up on all of your shots before moving to China.

VPNs are Crucial

As an expat living in China, I know having a VPN is crucial! Before you move to China, find, purchase, and download a VPN to your devices. If you don’t do it before arriving, it becomes a million times more challenging to set it up. Now, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it becomes a lot trickier.

What is a VPN? A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. This allows you to change your location for the internet.

If you’re living in China, you can set your location to Dallas, Rome, or London. This allows you to connect to the outside world. Apps and websites such as Facebook and familiar news sources aren’t allowed inside China. If you don’t have a working VPN, it can make you feel isolated from the rest of the world. You can sometimes even be cut off entirely. (This happened a lot for me during COVID and the anniversary of Tiananmen Square.)

WeChat and AliPay are Life

China is going to a paperless currency. They love to do everything digitally. That means your phone will be your best friend while living in China! Popular apps such as WeChat and AliPay are set up to allow you to use your Chinese bank accounts to purchase items at markets, restaurants, and more by scanning codes and sending the money directly. They also allow you to easily split bills with friends and send money to each other. To be honest, I rarely carried cash with me. When I arrived, most places wouldn’t even accept cash, let alone if you had coins! There are pros and cons of this. It can be great as it’s quick and easy. But, if the internet goes down or you lose your phone, you can’t purchase essential items sometimes.

Didi

DiDi is the Uber of China. It’s easy to download this app, but setting it up can be difficult. I had to get the help of a coworker since everything was in Chinese. There are pros and cons to this app.

Pros: You can quickly call a taxi and select a destination. You can choose different kinds of cars. You pay through the app or directly to the cab.

Cons: You need a Chinese bank account, and sometimes it’s hard to get a taxi.

(Now, I have heard that they’ve altered the app to allow visitors to use it to book taxis. If this is true, that’s great! When I lived in China, this wasn’t the case at the time.)

Banking is Time Consuming

Working in China as a foreigner means spending countless hours on paperwork and setting up everything. Banking is one of the long processes. While in China, I set up two bank accounts. The first one took me about an hour and a half. The second bank took 2, almost 3, hours to set up. I had to be accompanied by our HR to have everything translated and make sure that the documents were correct from my place of work. Once, that was done it was a lot easier.

But wait… What about sending money home?

This process was a nightmare! In China, you’re only allowed to send money home a certain amount of times per year, and you are limited in how much you can send. Before sending money home, you have must provide proof that your salary has enabled you to save that amount of money and prove that you are currently working with a valid contract. Then, you need someone to help translate everything at the bank. (Again, that was our HR lady.) Whenever I sent money home, I spent at least 3 hours at the bank. That’s not just waiting in line. Most of that was spent at the counter reviewing paperwork, verifying information, and sending it over. There were numerous times that other people would scream and yell at me for causing the inconvenience.

After awhile, I did find an alternative way to send smaller amounts of money. Swapsy is your best bet for sending money back home without having to go to the bank. It’s a hit or miss sometimes, and you’re reliant on people wanting to send the same amount as you but to China. You can find a better explanation of this in an upcoming article!

Disclaimer: The views, experiences, and opinions in this article are those of my own. They do not reflect anyone else's.