Moved to China (from Melbourne) a few years ago to teach English. Live in Harbin in China's northeast. Originally it wasn't meant to be a long term thing, but I'm pretty happy here now and it'll take a bit to convince me to move back to Australia.
Pros and Cons of living in Harbin/China
PROS
- Can actually afford a house. Have been saving up for a couple of years now. If I waited and saved for another couple of years, I could afford to buy a decent two bedroom apartment (NOT A DEPOSIT, A WHOLE APARTMENT! :shock
- Cost of living. My income is relatively low, but I only need to spend about 15% of it on regular expenses. So I am probably not much different to if I had a steady job back in Melbourne.
- No car needed. Harbin, like most major Chinese cities, has a public transport system that is cheap and actually works! Buses go everywhere and are frequent. My transport costs are about A$10-15 a month.
- "Development". Not sure exactly how to describe it, but just a general feeling that the place is on the up, ready to plan and actually build for the future rather than wait for the future to smack it in the face like in Australia. Over the last four years, Harbin has built or started building 3 new long distance train stations, connected to high speed rail, is expanding the airport, building three subway lines, a new opera house, an indoor ski field, etc.
CONS
- Air pollution. It is a serious issue in winter especially, although it has improved a bit over the last couple of years. Importantly, it seems that the government sees it as an important issue too (even if just from a self preservation point of view) so it should get better over time.
- Road safety/pedestrian amenity. Oh how I'd love the "nanny state" to take care of the drivers of Harbin and China in general. So much driving that is selfish and just flat out dangerous. Cars being allowed to park on footpaths is just another nice touch.