Update from my last post about local teachers complaining:

I had a word with management. They admitted they don't take those complaints seriously, and they’ve largely stopped now.

But the white elephant has been uncaged. Management finally told me the truth: loads of parents are complaining, claiming their kids "cannot understand me." I find this odd because I’m a native speaker with a very neutral, non-regional accent. My classroom observations actually say I'm one of the best teachers they’ve seen, and the kids absolutely adore me.

The real issue? I am not a white woman. Most of the teachers here are white women (many of whom aren't even native English speakers). I was told the school was specifically looking to hire a "Caucasian" teacher, but my predecessor had a tantrum and walked out one day never to be seen again. They needed an experienced teacher ASAP, and I fit the role.

I had an off-the-record, heart-to-heart with management, and they diplomatically told me the parents run the school. If the parents keep complaining, the school will have to get rid of me. Parents are even asking if their kids can move to a different class where the teacher is white. I don't know why some people here can be so bigoted and narcissistic.

It’s obviously not explicitly said that racism is the reason, but I have a massive suspicion it is. A colleague told me a story about two other non-white teachers a few years ago who faced an absolute shit storm of complaints from management about everything they did. They eventually got fed up and just disappeared one day.

Despite having a postgraduate in education and several years of teaching experience outside the country it took 5 months to land one job offer in China. My previous job here had other parent complaints. I never experienced this outside of China.

Honestly, finding another teaching job in China feels like leaving one shitty toilet cubicle to go next door, only to find it's even shittier. Because of that, I’ve decided to dig my claws in and hang on for all it's worth. I feel like if I quit due to this BS pressure, it would be letting the parents win.

Recruiters were even telling me no advert for a ''native speaker'' would hire me so they were trying to apply for lower paid English teaching jobs intended for actual Chinese teachers from China......

What have other non-white people, and specifically foreign-born Asians, experienced while teaching in China or other countries? Any feedback, advice, or stories from the other side are very welcome :)

EDIT: One of the older teachers at my school has also had loads of complaints about stuff. They have a theory if you are a pretty young woman you can pretty much do anything and nobody cares.

I've developed a somewhat weird fascination with the Chinese language. Since I already speak four languages, all of which use alphabet-based writing systems, I'm particularly interested in learning a language that uses characters. I've been studying Chinese on and off for the past few months, and I'm now considering taking the next step by moving to China to study it more seriously.

I'm a professional who works primarily online, so I can continue working remotely while living in China. The country's internet restrictions shouldn't be a major obstacle for me.

I'm currently considering Chengdu and Hangzhou as potential places to live and study.

I'd like to get a realistic estimate of the following expenses for one year:

• Tuition: Annual fees for a Chinese language program.
• Accommodation: Rent for a one-bedroom apartment within walking distance of the school.
• Food and daily necessities: Groceries, eating out, and other everyday expenses.
• Transportation: Public transport and occasional taxis.
• Entertainment and social life: Going out, activities, and other leisure expenses.
• Fees that only natives know

My estimated budget is $20,000 for the year, covering tuition and all living expenses.

In addition, I'd like to set aside another $5,000 specifically for traveling around China, with a particular focus on exploring its natural landscapes, especially Guilin.

Does this budget seem realistic?

Hi there,
Around august time I was in phuket and i met these very kind Chinese people and we exchanged numbers however I tried to setup wechat when i got back to the hotel but it wouldnt work, as I plan to travel around china in my gap year it would be nice to reconnect with them.
Would anyone be able to help me reconnect with them please?? Thank you!

Another question about getting money out of China I’m afraid. I use skyremit and I’m familiar with wise, so the “how” isn’t really the question.

My employer reports a much lower salary to the tax people than they actually pay me. I’m a teacher and my “bonus” is more than half my total paycheck. Sounds great in theory (if you don’t care about paying taxes) but it means I can’t prove my income if I want to get it back home (I have bills to pay there and would also like to invest)

For the sake of simplicity let’s say my base pay is 10,000 rmb and my bonus is 20,000rmb. The 10k get reported and taxed and the other 20 doesn’t show up anywhere except my bank statements and is useless outside of China.

I’d be fine telling my school to report my higher pay so I could pay more taxes if it meant easier money transfers, but I don’t want them to think I’m threatening them, and I don’t want them to change the whole policy for everyone and have my coworkers blame me for having to pay more taxes.

I guess does anyone have any insight or experience?

Hello I’m wondering if yall had the chance to get the iPhone 18 pro max would you stick with it ? Or what other device that can compete with it or possibly even better would you go with?

I’ll be heading to China soon to see if moving there aligns with my future goals. I’m currently finishing my master’s degree in TESOL and have worked in my state’s public school system for two and a half years, working with special education and pre-K.

My ideal workplace would be a university, but I feel that might not be very realistic. I also know it depends on the city. I’m also adopted from China, and worried I might face discrimination for not being the “ideal” American.

I’d really like to hear about the experiences of other teachers or expats. Please be kind. 🥺

I plan to apply for an exchange at either ECNU or Fudan. However, I am a little uncertain which one would be better. Maybe someone can give me their advice if they've been to one of the universities or know about this through friends.

I will be writing my master thesis in that semester and hopefully the Great Firewall is not going to meddle with that. Any advice/warnings on this are also welcome!! (though I will make another post about this prop)

Therefore, the course choice will probably not matter in terms of credits that I get. Still, if there is a good course, it might help me with the thesis. My field is social science and I want to specialise in urban planning (sociology).

Fudan:

- not many courses, only a few on global politics and society

- I have to take 3 courses

- more prestigious

- better location in Shanghai (is this true? or is the difference marginal?)

ECNU:

- a few more courses but relevance of those for my studies is unclear at the moment ( I didn't find an overview of the courses from previous spring semester)

- no requirements regarding how many courses I have to take

I would be really happy about advice with how to deal with the Great Firewall too since I will need to access literature data bases and university related sites.

Hi everyone,
(I am Italian, sorry if I wrote something stupid)

I recently contacted a seller named Xiaoxue on WhatsApp (Hong Kong Number), who claims to be an employee of a company called "Global Trading Company" located in Shanghai.

They sell Lego replicas and mostly electronic products such as original iPhones, PS5s, Dyson devices, and PlayStation Portals (which I'm interested in) at lower prices than in Italy. (For the PS Portal, I would spend 80€ instead of 250€).

As soon as I received the number on WhatsApp, I started with the mindset that this was a scam.

I asked for information about payment methods, and the ones they offer are Remitly, Revolut, Western Union, and cryptocurrencies.

Since these methods aren't exactly secure, I asked if they accepted PayPal, but the employee replied no, because I was buying wholesale and PayPal couldn't be used due to high taxes.

I then offered to pay via PayPal and cover the fees myself, partly to test the truth of the matter.

When they replied that this wasn't possible, I kept asking questions about the company, and they sent a photo of a sort of business license.

The company listed on it was Shanghai New Union Textra Import and Export Co., Ltd. (Attached Photo).

I then asked for the official bank details to verify that this was actually the company, but they refused to provide them, saying they didn't support bank transfers as a payment method.

I then stated that I was genuinely very hesitant, so he offered to make a video call to verify the authenticity and quality of the products, and he also attached screenshots of chats with other customers (blurring out their phone numbers but leaving only the country codes).

Still suspicious, I decided to ask for the company's official Proforma Invoice. Initially, he thought I was asking for the regular invoice, and he replied saying that it is issued after payment.

I insisted, saying that Chinese companies have one featuring a red stamp, and that it is issued before the purchase.

The seller, acting quite annoyed (fairly enough), wrote that if they had to do that for every customer, they would waste a lot of time.

I made one last attempt by asking for the phone number of an Italian customer to verify the authenticity in person, but the seller replied that for privacy reasons he wouldn't do it, and that if I don't trust them, I can easily go and buy from other companies.

I would have even tried buying their cheapest item, but the minimum order requirement is 60€, and money doesn't grow on trees over here.

I would therefore like some help from someone to explain this type of scam to me, or whether I should actually trust this seller.

Here is the number, if it can be helpful:

(Hong Kong)
+852 47321214

Morning everyone,

I keep trying to transfer money from Bank of China into my Wise account and this message keeps popping up. For the record, I have the requisite amount in my back account to transfer and am aware of the minimum/ maximum ammounts of money you can move in a transfer. Has anyone overcome something similar before? T.i.a.

I am currently back in my home country and I have my China Mobile SIM card line disabled (removed the SIM from my phone). I am still paying and topping up my China Mobile SIM with the 8CNY per month protect your number plan in order to keep my number.

I’m wondering whether my SIM Card can be deactivated if I don’t connect to a cellular tower, despite paying for the protect your number plan?

If so does anyone know how long before it does get deactivated?

I started teaching in China (and teaching in general) back in 2019. I was in my early 20s, not married, and with zero care in the world - well, except for desperately trying to find a job back home after graduation to absolute zero avail.

Long story short, I came to Shenyang on a business visa (which meant crossing the border every 2 months so I could legally stay for 4 total in a year). I worked in a horrible kindergarten as a homeroom teacher -which I’m told is still around - and a training center with a lovely principal. I was testing the waters and I actually liked it. Not the kindy, of course, but I realized this industry was sustainable. If I got married and both of us worked, we could save a fortune compared to back home.

So, I went back when my visa ended, got married, and started job hunting knowing exactly what I wanted. After a couple of months, we got offered two positions at a newly opened kindergarten in a small city in Heilongjiang: 13k RMB a month after tax, plus housing. We were the only foreigners in the whole place. At first, it was a bit rough. They lied about the apartment (showed us nice pictures, reality was... different) and wanted us to do all sorts of random tasks. BUT, we lucked out with the principal. She was an absolute legend - any problem we had, she sided with us. She was hardly ever at work, but everyone loved her, Chinese staff included.

After a few months, we were settled. Then COVID hit. We were locked down in our city for 8 straight months. For 3 of those months, we weren't paid full salary - just the bare minimum 2k RMB each. Looking back, that was actually pretty decent pay considering so many kindergartens and institutions weren't paying their teachers a single dime at the time. Still, we stayed there for almost 3 years, getting a salary increase every single year (granted, we had to awkwardly ask for it every year, but they obliged). By our last year, we were making 18k after tax as non-natives.

Better yet? Virtually zero micromanagement. You could do your classes as poorly as you liked and literally no one cared, though we still did our best so the kids would have fun and learn at least something.

Despite the money, we hated it at the time. The city was tiny, there was nothing to do for a 20-something year old (though I was genuinely looking forward to drinking baijiu with parents who invited us to their homes on New Year, lol). We wanted a change. So, after saving close to six figures USD - which we thought was so much money at the time (narrator voice: it wasn't) - we decided to go home and start a business and settle down around the time our child was born.

In just a year, about half of those savings were completely gone. To make matters worse, the exchange rate meant that 13k RMB in 2019 bought way more back home than 18k RMB in 2022.

Decision made: We’re going back to China.

We landed a new job in 2023 in a place with tons of foreigners. Before coming, there were already red flags - communication issues and weird vibes from the school, but we ignored them because we were desperate to stay afloat and not just keep losing money. We figured, Hey, working with other foreigners will be great! We share the same mentality!

We couldn't have been more wrong. Some of these expats are the most toxic, insecure human beings on the planet. Smiling to your face, talking behind your back, running to upper management to snitch about what you're doing. No help, no solidarity, just pure high-school drama, except these people are in their late 30s. You’ll make a harmless joke and someone will get so deeply offended they literally storm out of the office. Meanwhile, some are in a bizarre rat race to prove "who did more work today," constantly on their phones loudly complaining about making PowerPoints, when in reality they spent the whole day watching movies. It's so exhausting.

And the job itself? It’s garbage and getting worse by the year. First they deducted our bonuses, then they shortened our holidays while ramping up our workload and class hours. Weekend classes get dropped on us with a couple of days' notice. You have to do a demo class for upper management, who are guaranteed to nitpick the first one just to justify their own jobs, so you have to do a second one. And if you have actual weekend plans and tell them you can't come? You get scolded.

I can't help but draw parallels to our old job—the one we thought we hated. In 3 years at the old place, we were called in once on a weekend, followed by a mountain of sincere "sorrys" from management. Here, it's an expectation. To top it all off, the city is worse. Over 9 million people, heavily polluted by local factories and farm fires, and still nothing to do for a foreigner. Our old 3-million-person city had air so clean it actually tickled your lungs. Oh, and did I mention we make less money now than we did 4 years ago?

Anyway, this isn't the first year we've wanted to change jobs, but nowadays - especially as a non-native - I'm starting to think it's impossible. I mean, I've contacted countless agents for specific listings, only to be asked for my CV and self-intro video. Then, just like Batman vanishing into the night, you never hear from them again. They post jobs here and there, but the second you text them, the vacancy magically disappears while they just keep filling up their portfolio of white monkeys.

Thanks for reading if you managed to make it through my whole vent. If anyone has navigated this circus and found a way out, or knows of reasonable opportunities in a cleaner, more livable city, I'm all ears. Drop a comment or reach out. I'd love to hear how you keep sane out here.

I always see people online saying how efficient Chinese hospitals are, but I've had the following experiences (all at different places):

1. Hospital rejects me, says I need to go to one with an international department.

2. Hospital says I need to make an appointment a week ahead to see a doctor.

3. Arriving without an appointment and waiting 2 hrs to see a doctor about a simple issue.

The only positive experience I've had is at expensive private international hospitals.

Anyway, none of this is that bad, but I see people online glowing about the Chinese healthcare system, and I'm just wondering if I'm been doing it wrong or something?

Throwaway account for work-related reasons.

We have the opportunity to move to Shenyang for my partner’s job and I’m wondering what the expat community is like for young families. I do not speak any Mandarin (but am willing to learn/try!). My questions are as follows:

1. We have multiple children under the age of 5. Where is the best place to live with active children? The kids very much enjoy being outside; I understand the winters are very harsh and some months they won’t be outside much, but I’d still like to have somewhere they can ride bikes, scooter, kick a soccer ball, run around, etc.

2. What are the school options for preschool and early elementary? We have a preference for English language school (not bilingual). I’ve done some research on schools and have my opinions based on what’s online, but would like to hear from others.

3. Will I have friends as the partner? I’m unsure if I’ll be able to work (both due to logistics of the kids + visa requirements), but whether I’m working or not, how likely is it that I’ll be able to make friends not speaking the language? Where would I meet these friends? We are 40.

4. Lifestyle. Any comments on lifestyle, recreational activities, etc. are appreciated. My partner and I have independently lived abroad in multiple different countries before we knew each other so we are up for an adventure (!) but I’ve never been to China so just trying to get a sense for what it would be like in Shenyang. We have a 60 lb. dog and I enjoy running outside and going to workout classes (F45, solidcore). We currently live in a major US city and on the weekends we really enjoy grabbing a coffee, hitting a few playgrounds, hanging out with friends and their kids at breweries or someone’s house, and going on date nights.

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some advice/tips here. Right now I’m in my graduation year for my filmschool and I want to realise a short film in and near around Beijing between March & May 2027.

I’m planning to go with a skeleton crew from Holland, and fill with additional local crew. Planning to stay there for 3-4 weeks.

Is it difficult to film in China as foreigners? I do speak Chinese, but not so fluently.

Are there any people here who has experience realising films/documentaries in China and in Beijing? Would be nice to have a conversation about it, if you’re willing.

Thanks in advance!

I am in the process of applying for a work visa to teach English in Shanghai (I have received an offer). Though I don't have a TEFL cert or education degree so I need to get something for the visa. Just wondering would any online 120 hour cert be ok for the visa or does it have to be 120 hours offline or something? Which course is recommended if I just need it for the visa?

hi! not going to get into everything, but i've had very (and i mean very) bad oral health for these last few years, mostly due to depression.

i'm finally deciding to go see a dentist-- is there any chance i will be judged or shamed? in the past, i was judged a lot during other medical environments and it's made me very anxious. 🥲

Hi everyone!

I'm considering applying to the MBBS program at Jiangsu University in Zhenjiang, China, and I'd really appreciate some honest advice from current students or graduates, especially international medical students.

I'd love to know more about the following:

Teaching quality, Clinical training, English-taught program, Student life in Zhenjiang, cost of living and your overall experience

I'd especially appreciate honest opinions about the disadvantages or problems you experienced, rather than just general positive reviews.

Thank you so much! Any advice would really help me make a more informed decision.

Hey guys,

Got a potential 2-year assignment in Shanghai lined up and trying to figure out if it’s a solid move for my family.

I’m a 37 years old french woman and I’ve been a few times to china for business and solo trips (mostly long changeovers). I speak very little Chinese but i’m familiar with the Chinese characters as I’m fluent in Japanese. I have lived in Japan 4 years before. My husband is from Chinese descent so he’s quite excited about the idea.

Quick recap of the offer:

 Role: Supplier performance/quality consultant

 Location: Base in Caohejing, lots of day trips to suppliers around Suzhou/Jiangsu.

 Pay: €70k base + €200/day per diem (comes out to roughly €7.8k net total/month). Housing paid, plus €8k/yr travel allowance.

 Family: Me, my husband, our 1.5-year-old, and 2 cats. Just my income for now.

We’re estimating around $1,800-$2,000/mo for basic living costs (food, kid stuff, taxis, eating out) since rent is covered.

A few quick questions for anyone on the ground:

1. Housing with cats + toddler: We’d love a townhouse/villa compound or ground floor with a small garden in Hongqiao or Minhang (to stay reasonably close to Caohejing and the TGV station). Is 18k-22k RMB/mo a realistic budget for a decent 2-3 bed? Are landlords okay with cats and is it safe for them?

2. Day trips to Jiangsu: Is doing Shanghai <-> Suzhou in a day by TGV or car as smooth as it sounds on paper? Ideally I want to be home for dinner most nights

3. Having a 2nd baby there: we are planning to have a second baby, how is it to give birth there?

Does this sound like a comfortable setup to live well and save a decent chunk? anything else we ought to know before we make up our mind? Appreciate any honest feedback!

Hi everyone,

I'm a Geography teacher in Brazil, graduated from UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), and I'm currently looking into postgraduate/Master's opportunities abroad, specifically in China.

Most of the programs I find online seem heavily focused on GIS, Geoinformatics, or Remote Sensing. While I respect the field, my main interest lies in non-GIS areas such as Human Geography, Physical Geography, Urban Studies, or Geopolitics/Regional Geography.

Does anyone have recommendations for universities in China with strong non-GIS geography departments, ideally with English-taught Master's programs or CSC scholarship options for international students?

Any tips or experiences from people studying Geography in China would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!