Ask HN: To those here who work in China, do you plan on settling down there? - baybal2
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neya
I'm assuming you're a non-Chinese speaking person. Make sure it's not an
impulsive decision.

Last year I stayed in China for quite some time. I traveled across various
provinces and cities and I found I was in love with Hangzhou. I wanted to
settle down there. After all, it seemed perfect.

A month later, I flew back to my home. Days passed and I realized how much of
a blunder I would've made if I had settled down there. Especially don't under-
estimate the firewall, surveillance and safety issues. If these attributes
don't matter, you'll be fine, but, if you're a developer, VPN isn't
sustainable and will get frustrating after a while.

However, this is all my personal experience. Just my $0.02.

~~~
dnh44
> safety issues

Can you explain what you mean by safety issues? Having traveled to China a lot
I've always been under the impression that it's quite safe so I'm assuming
since you've bundled it with the firewall and surveillance that you refer to
something to do with the government making one unsafe.

~~~
neya
1\. Pickpockets. Everywhere. Literally.

2\. Crazy car drivers. I almost got killed twice during my short stay.

3\. Laws. If something happened to you, you can never fight a case against
them. It's always Chinese first vs foreigners.

4\. Air quality isn't the best. That's a health issue, but just want to add it
here.

4\. Drunk people roaming at odd times. But this varies from city to city.

5\. Food hygiene. (Also a health issue).

Just a few from the top of my head.

~~~
elocinstr8t
Regarding air pollution, is it because of the smoke emitting from vehicles or
the factories? You'd think, because China seems to be pushing their way into
the top to becoming a tech-savvy country, that they will do something about
it. I guess it's the price to pay for advanced technology, what do you think?

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scooke
You can’t settle down there. You can live there for a time. The very fact that
someone even thinks that this is a question that can be asked about China
reveals a lot about how little those outside China know what it is. This
viewing other countries though the lens of your own is not just a western
thing. I once shared with a chinese collegue about my plans to travel to
various cities throughout canada upon my return, living here and there, and
they were very concerned. When I asked what they were concerned about they
asked me if I had managed to get all my various permissions papers from work
units, city councils, provincial authorities, etc. He was aghast when I told
him none of that is needed in canada. He told me that they had been told other
countries operated just like China does.

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tellarin
I've been here (Beijing) for 6y and currently have no plans to leave. But I
also don't think I've ever really considered settling down here.

Life in general is still quite interesting, and I like the city, love the food
and travelling around in China. But government and rule changes, the bad
pollution days, crazy real state market, all contribute to not settling down
per se.

~~~
wingerlang
I don't live in China, but I have the same experience. No plans to leave, but
never considered setting down either. Currently 5+ years in Bangkok.

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eggy
I lived in Macau for 7 years, which was handed over to China in 1999, but
doesn't get fully turned over to China for 49 years after that. There were no
Great Firewall issues, but the biggest concern for me living over there was
quite simply air pollution. My youngest child was born there, and we left when
she was 8 months old to live in Indonesia. I was just looking at the air
quality index for Asia before reading this [1]. China is in the high 100s to
300s, and even in rural areas it is not what you would expect. I am in Nyack,
NY now where the index is 28 or thereabouts. The air quality in China is a
deal breaker for me, even though I find China beautiful. I grew up in
Brooklyn, and the air at its worst was no where near China's. I've heard
anecdotal comparisons these levels of air quality being equivalent to smoking
a pack of cigarettes a day.

[1]
[https://aqicn.org/map/#@g/16.3424/114.6094/3z](https://aqicn.org/map/#@g/16.3424/114.6094/3z)

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em-bee
there are two parts to settling down.

quitting your job and selling your old home, potentially making it harder to
go back.

and finding a way to stay in china permanently.

the latter is only easy if you get married to a chinese. the former is not a
dealbreaker, as you can always find a new job and home in your native country.

i have been living in different countries across the planet, and in any one of
them could have settled. but even if i had decided to settle, nothing would
have prevented me from reversing that decision.

even now, although i am staying here with the vision that i might be here for
a few decades or even the rest of my life, i am not prevented from changing my
mind at any point of time. the only "difficulty" is making sure my kids can go
to school somewhere, but other than that, i am settled on the planet earth,
and the only reason i can't leave that is because we haven't developed the
technology for space travel (as opposed to space exploration) yet.

what i am trying to say is: don't worry about the question. don't worry about
making an impulsive decision.

go to china and see how you like it. find a job and stay there as long as you
like it. nothing is permanent, and you can always go back or try somewhere
else.

greetings, eMBee.

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vfulco2
My foreign friends, especially older professionals are leaving in droves from
Shanghai the last 12-18 months as foreign companies dis-invest. It's a sad
trend to watch.

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mjoxley
Nothing is settled in China.

