Who will live back in China ?

[rogerluli]

I love it over there.  I love the urban environments, the ability to get around most cities with no car, the hustle and bustle of the streets.  It just seems so alive over there. 

Sometimes I think things are getting too antiseptic here in the states.  People just want to get in their SUVs, go to work, go shop at Target, come home, eat meatloaf and watch TV -- and never really interact with the community at large.

Speaking of large, I suppose it's this lifestyle that's making us obese.

Exactly my feeling about China, James. I could just wander endlessly down those tight little streets and byways drinking it all in at every step. It is so ALIVE compared to everyone sitting in their cocoon in the US and packing Wal-Mart to buy junk on the weekend.

[markndannie]

We are going to Guilin in June. I too love China, no stress, friendly people, good values, inexpensive and so much too see! And the food ahhhhh the best! I can live very comfortably there on social security, something I cannot do here in the states. I think China will become a very favorite tourist attraction in the coming years, esp around the olympics. Once we get our visa then we can live and travel in both places. I will definetly check out Guilin.

mark

[rogerluli]

We are going to Guilin in June.  I too love China, no stress, friendly people, good values, inexpensive and so much too see!  And the food ahhhhh the best!  I can live very comfortably there on social security, something I cannot do here in the states.  I think China will become a very favorite tourist attraction in the coming years, esp around the olympics.  Once we get our visa then we can live and travel in both places.  I will definetly check out Guilin.

mark

We were in Guilin in September and liked it very much. There are a lot of foreign tourists there so you are not an oddity. We actually spent more time in Yangshuo which is really neat and much smaller. The best thing we did there was to take the bamboo raft trip down the Yu Long River. You will like the whole area, have a great time...

[philb]

Yun suggested in 7 years...I think earlier will find both of us in China.

What's good for the goose may be just out of sight for the gander!

 

Phil & Yun

[ed and ying]

Probably not.  However, in a few years, who will know how this world will be.  I think China will get modernized like Japan and everything will not be cheap anymore.

I love China and have seen much of it. I have seen tremendous change in the last 6 years. So I tend to agree with Tony - not sure China be so affordable in the future. The big cities, especially those on coast are glamourous , that is not the real China, the rural China. China has real issues with water, power, and the environment. They also have a huge population that is not caught up in the recent boom. It is estimated that Beijing has 1 million migrant construction workers and they live a hard very basic life. There are other migrant workers in Beijing. Sometimes the family maybe with them and you can find examples where Beijing is making efforts to make sure their children can go to school.

 

Who knows what China will be like in 5-10 years. I see China as undergoing a sea change. Part Industrial revolution in Europe and part early 1900's in US.

 

I have thought about buy property and live in China in the future - But ??

[warpedbored]

We have talked about it.......Maybe BeiHai

We are considering retiring in Nanning or Behai. I vote for Beihai but the family all lives in Nanning.

[Guest aosnow]

i am still amazed. I wouldn't do it in a million years. No free press, no open government, the food sucks, no jobs for professionals, the weather stinks, ...but hey, if you dig that sort of thing, more power to ya!

[Guest aosnow]

i forgot to mention that if you buy property, you don't really "own it". you kinda rent it for 70 yrs. oh, if they dont change the rules again. trust, but verify!

[msmckee]

We have talked about it.......Maybe BeiHai

We are considering retiring in Nanning or Behai. I vote for Beihai but the family all lives in Nanning.

Yue and I are looking at Beihai. It is her home, so her friends and family are there. Maybe we could all get together and buy a building

[michelle2008]

my husband and i talked a lot about living half a year in china and half a year in the usa when he retires. i have 2 apts in beijing, which are similar to the condos here. but my husband doesn't like the weather in beijing. so we decide to find a place in southern china, like kunming, dali, xiamen, shenzhen, guangzhou or zhuhai.

[michelle2008]

in the past, all the land, woods, buildings and the other big properties in china belong to the country. but things are changing now. the new constitution was ratified recently, saying that people can have their own properties and be protected. i think the ownership restriction will be eliminated so more and more chinese will buy their own properties.

[skibum]

I think that if I went back I would want to live in Kunming as it has the best weather I have seen in China. It is high enough that the summers are mild and the winters the same. There are many attractions like the biggest botanical garden I have ever seen and the Cultural Park. It is not far from the minority villages and the Stone Forest. It appears that there are some Westerners around.

The hotels are dirt cheap and I figured I could live in a very nice one - 4or 5 star for less than apt rent. They overbuilt for the botanical expo.

It also has history as it is the end of the WW2 Burma Road.

[david_dawei]

i am still amazed.  I wouldn't do it in a million years.  No free press, no open government, the food sucks, no jobs for professionals, the weather stinks, ...but hey, if you dig that sort of thing, more power to ya!

You seem to be staring at the waters surface and thinking that there's nothing below, except what you see in shallow water...

 

There's a vast ocean full of marine life and underwater vegetation.. hidden caverns and treasures buried at seas...

 

I'm sure that i have a better chance of convincing you to take up deep water diving than moving to China...

 

I've never quite understood the American fetish with 'free press and open government'... I'd argue the Chinese experience a different form of freedom not found in the US..

 

 

The food is unequalled, so it's a matter of tastes.

 

Professional jobs may be an issue, but why must you only get a professional job?

 

The weater stinks ? Now we're getting really silly...

 

China is larger than the US and on the same weather patterns (America's NorthEast is like China's NortEast) .. it's like saying you cannot find decent weather anywhere in the US.

[david_dawei]

  my husband and i talked a lot about living half a year in china and half a year in the usa when he retires. i have 2 apts in beijing, which are similar to the condos here.  but my husband doesn't like the weather in beijing. so we decide to find a place in southern china, like kunming, dali, xiamen, shenzhen, guangzhou or zhuhai.

ok.. I'll agree about the weather in Beijing.. but if you allow 14 million people to gather anywhere, I am not sure I could stay anyway...

 

I prefer one of those 'small' towns with 600,000 or so...

[sylinchinastill]

I've lived in China for three years. I would go back for my husband. But there are a lot of pros and cons both ways. I think that he can adapt here and walk down the street without people knowing he is a foreigner. I could live in China for years and no matter how well I speak Chinese I will always be foreign. Here there are so many different colors that when you see a Chinese person you assume they live here. I think that is a big difference. It isn't easy living in a foreign country. I lived in Costa Rica before and it wasn't easy there either. Whoever goes to either country is making sacrifices- that is why I think in our relationships there will always be that sacrifice on one or the other. I would love to live in Hong Kong- I think it is the best of both worlds. I don't think I could live in the countryside in China. I would love to just live out in the middle of nowhere and have a house on stilts and etc.- but my husband says that in the countryside you are open to a lot of problems from that community. I don't know. I do know that in the city there are lots of frustrations living in China. In Shanghai the subway is way too crowded and it just isn't pleasant riding while being strapped in by people on all sides. And the cabs get expensive, and I would never want to drive. In Shenzhen I took the bus quite often- but it is the same with overcrowding as the subway. One thing I like about the states is how easy it is. You can be in and out of the bank in a flash, you can rent an office or apartment in a day- the grocery store is very simple- stuff like that. Some things about China just drove me nuts sometimes. Like having to go register in the police station as a foreigner and some regulations on visas they wouldn't tell you- waiting forever in lines- some days the bank could take over an hour. Stuff like that. I know my mom's impression of China (and she has only been as a tourist) is very good- because she had me take her around and I had learned the way around- it is very easy to go as a tourist and think it's heaven. Also- there is a part of culture shock described as the euphoria stage- where everything is new and exciting and different and great- that is the stage I was if for about three months- and then that goes away- and it's just life as usual. So it is important to consider everything before moving to somewhere new.