Anyone lived or worked in China,Tianjin to be more accurate!
Discussion
SpeedEight said:
Good bits:
- It's cheap to live (if you don't buy property or cars).
- Cheap utility bills (quarter of UK).
- Cheap eating eat (if you speak the lingo, my wife is Chinese so that helps), we can eat for £2 (for both) if we fancy it and the food is great. Also loads of other great eating out options in any budget range.
- Cheap public transport (30-70p on SH metro, shortest to longest journey).
- Lower PAYE, no NI for expats, no council tax (the company will pay medical insurance).
- Close to SE Asia for short breaks, we've done HK, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand. Planning S. Korea, Tibet, Japan next.
- Get out of the the city and see ancient China.
- Nice spring and autumn weather.
Bad bits:
- Air quality, SH broke the index of 500 last week. It's often in the 'unhealthy' category.
- People are super rude by western standards, pushing, no queuing, spitting, etc.
- Dangerous roads, people don't give a monkey's about traffic lights, crossings, see above.
- Expensive, sometimes hard to find, western stuff. Milk, bread, imported beer / wine, is expensive.
- Government / commies.
- Racism, intolerance to westerners, the stares, etc. Not all but most!
- Internet - censored, can use a VPN, but still a cat and mouse game with the firewall.
- Overcrowded.
- Dog eat dog, no compassion for the fellow man (Government's doing).
We won't be here forever, but I wouldn't change my experience for anything, I met my wife, I've seen SE Asia which I've always wanted to do and I've almost paid my mortgage off because of how cheap it is and low taxes.
Do it I say! A few things to consider, SH is the most westernised but still has it's issues, so Tianjin might be more 'Chinese'. I hated Beijing when we visited, SH has a completely different vibe.
Mate, that's very helpful. We currently live in Dubai and have to put up for most of those 'bad bits' anyway. The job is the GM of a very exclusive place, and if the package is right, we'll go out there for a look around.- It's cheap to live (if you don't buy property or cars).
- Cheap utility bills (quarter of UK).
- Cheap eating eat (if you speak the lingo, my wife is Chinese so that helps), we can eat for £2 (for both) if we fancy it and the food is great. Also loads of other great eating out options in any budget range.
- Cheap public transport (30-70p on SH metro, shortest to longest journey).
- Lower PAYE, no NI for expats, no council tax (the company will pay medical insurance).
- Close to SE Asia for short breaks, we've done HK, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand. Planning S. Korea, Tibet, Japan next.
- Get out of the the city and see ancient China.
- Nice spring and autumn weather.
Bad bits:
- Air quality, SH broke the index of 500 last week. It's often in the 'unhealthy' category.
- People are super rude by western standards, pushing, no queuing, spitting, etc.
- Dangerous roads, people don't give a monkey's about traffic lights, crossings, see above.
- Expensive, sometimes hard to find, western stuff. Milk, bread, imported beer / wine, is expensive.
- Government / commies.
- Racism, intolerance to westerners, the stares, etc. Not all but most!
- Internet - censored, can use a VPN, but still a cat and mouse game with the firewall.
- Overcrowded.
- Dog eat dog, no compassion for the fellow man (Government's doing).
We won't be here forever, but I wouldn't change my experience for anything, I met my wife, I've seen SE Asia which I've always wanted to do and I've almost paid my mortgage off because of how cheap it is and low taxes.
Do it I say! A few things to consider, SH is the most westernised but still has it's issues, so Tianjin might be more 'Chinese'. I hated Beijing when we visited, SH has a completely different vibe.
Thanks again.
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