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Q: Will you still be in China in 5 years?
I've been here for 6 months now, and I'm already debating whether or not to stay another year...granted I'm in Shanghai, so many will say I'm not experiencing the 'real China', but I'm just wondering what other expats are going through, and how much they like it here in China...
uh coming up on 9 years.
real china is not in the cities. if ya wanna see China you got to get out of the cities.
i and like Njord, retirement plan 
Been in Chinese 15 years, ever since I was 13 years old. I love China as much as I hate it. Like anywhere else in the world, there are good days and bad days but i don't think they are related to China. Whatever I might say tomorrow, this weekend or next week, i'll probably be in China in 5 years because whatever i say and no matter how french I am... China really is my home now!
Now, i kind of agree with Guninbeijing, the real chinese is both in big cities, in small villages, in the countryside, in the rich businessman, in the coolie driver and the farmer.... and that's what's so great about it, isn't it?
Aby, I have visited China since 1997 or 98, 3 or 4 times a year, an average of 4 weeks each time.
In 2010 I moved here permanently, and chose a "smaller" city in the SW of China, where I have been 18 months and quite happy. Where else could I live in such luxury on $ 1000 US dollars per month ?.
In 5 years, I either will be here or dead. Who cares ?.
This is my fourth time coming back to China since the Beijing Olympics began. I had some good times here saw the setups as they were preparing for the Olympics. In the big city Beijing I've seen malls built and changes made. Considering how long I've been here I came to appreciate the positive. Although there are negatives which I won't get into I still have more places to go. I for one also would like to go to Shanghai which is the one locale that I have not been to yet. I just heard the subways were expensive there and it was right behind Beijing as one of the most expensive places to live in the world. For me there seems to be more opportunities as of lately compared to back home. Until that changes then yes!
adler2011:
If you just work here for a job,you will be disappointed sometimes. If you want to understand China and live with Chinese, you will have different expectations. Wherever you stay, it is up to your personal dream and value.
Victoria1987:
Shanghai is good,personally I like here.If you kown how to do business, you are a native English speaker,it shouldn't that hard for you to find a job in Shanghai.Share apartment with people,cooking by yourself or eat in small resturant.Here has many foreign companies in Shanghai.If you kown Madrine,it will be a big advantage.xintiandi is a good place to relax,which will make you comfortable.
Don't always live in a expat way,you will find shanghai is not expensive.The housing fee is higher,but the salary is higher too,so what makes the diffrence?
I'm a native chinese.I have got a foreign bf this year who wants to stay in china for a long time.But I extreamly disagree.I dont think living in china is a good idea.If you are chinese,you will know how crap it is to live in china.
tomcatflyer:
I am English with a Chinese wife who lived with me in the UK for four and a half years. When she first came she had the same picturebook idea of the west as do many Chinese who have not lived there. Everyone is rich, life is perfect etc. By the time we left the UK permanently, May this year, she had somewhat changed her mind. Her view was it is ok but not very good. Lot's of reasons, the cost of living, the levels of tax, the cost of trasvelling around to name a few. As for me I view China as not perfect, where is, but compared to our life back there a whole lot better. Would I go back, not on your life.
No, I plan on being here about 2-3 years, then moving on to Korea, or somewhere else. It depends if I find the right guy, then my plans might change. For now though, I want to stay just a few years to experience the culture and learn the language, then on to a new adventure.
I really doubt it. I've been here two years, and plan to stay here at least another year. I've had a lot of fun and all in all, a great experience in China. It's a crazy, wacky, fun, frustrating place, but sometimes it's just a little overwhelming what one has to do to function on a near normal level day-to-day.
However, that being said, one never knows...
if I find a job that will allow to pay me 25.000RMB per month plus an apartment, a car and other fringe benefits and without racial discrimination just what i would enjoy if i were in my own smaller central African Equatorial Guinea, then i may stay but not forever.
Been here four years and I'm settled now. I'm in Shanghai too and I still get pissed off sometimes. You either get used to it (getting angry I mean, not China) or you leave.
I'm 6 years here, Zhangjiagang 3.3 years Guangzhou 1.6 years, and now Wuhan, out of the three, Zgj wins hands up. Spotlessly clean and relaxing. The natives are friendly enough too. I'd be happy enough to spend another 6 years here.
I will be here for many years, I am made of rice but there are always cattle in the barn so the production of canary wine will suffice as long as Aboriginal mutton keeps tribechial stew for the pauper sand-marines.
Probably i will be here for the most of my rest life.Let's discuss the question again 60 years later!
dunno. hope not though. still, gettin pretty tite with the missus... easy for me to relocate,,,,, not so easy for us to relocate... :-(
If we could only hit the National Lottery!! winters on Bora Bora,,, summers in Cuba...
Mr. Gates,, if u wanna do me a solid and toss me a mil,, i wouldn't mind....
