Thread: China or USA better life

Did you go to mainland China a lot when you were in HK?

Sure- business, shopping in Shenzhen, holidays. Maybe 30-40 times. You could cross the border, shop in Shenzhen, and be back for Happy hour.

Mainland China was a shock to the senses when I moved there from Seoul.

Ain't that the truth- but Seoul is too.

Someone said, earlier, that living as a moneyed expat is not exactly the same as living as a local. That is true- but it is no different to living in Thailand in this regard.

Originally Posted by sabang

I'd rather live in China than the USA in my situation (fixed amount of money)

Where in China and what kind of housing. Where would you do fun things like camping, or going to the beach or mountains?

I think Uncle Xi may have succeeded in teaching them to spit a bit less. I bloody hope so, anyway. It was ghastly, in HK, seeing mainland construction workers gobbing up in marbled shopping malls and the like. They were not popular there, then- and I am not just talking with the expats. And they stood out like a sore thumb. Things have changed considerably though, since the early and mid 90's.

There is a huge divide in China. I believe the divide is even greater than it is in the US.

A quick Google on the Gini coefficient reveals..... (wait for it).....



Actually the US still pips China by a bit, in this unenviable regard. But lets not pretend China is this Socialist paradise where everyone is equal- or even close.

I was in China in the early 90s. Guangzhou. Traveled around with a friend’s Chinese wife. It still sticks with me as the most awful nasty place I have ever visited and I have visited quite a few places.

My favorite story is when we went to hotel where the Chinese government officials stayed. It was supposed to be top-notch. OH MY GOD. The rooms had red carpet that had not been vacuumed in years. They were covered in black hair like a carpet on a carpet. And water was leaking from the ceiling. I thought they gave us this room because I was a foreigner and asked to see some other rooms. Each and every one was the same. They were proud of this hotel!

Originally Posted by sabang

I'd rather live in China than the USA

So you've said . . . and still no-one believes you

Originally Posted by sabang

I have never once said that I would like to live in Russia

Except that you have

Originally Posted by sabang

It is obvious to everyone who is trying to change the goalposts, unsuccessfully.

Yes, we can all see it. Stop moving the goalposts.

Originally Posted by MarilynMonroe

Chinese spatting on the ground near my foot when I walked by, Pollution so bad, school was cancelled....

So, this is what sabang likes?

Originally Posted by misskit

I thought they gave us this room because I was a foreigner and asked to see some other rooms. Each and every one was the same. They were proud of this hotel!

Most of them are quite gross . . . we (our company employees) always stayed at the Traders in Beijing and Shanghai. Nice hotels, part of the Shangri La group, justb a bit more of a business hotel.

But yes, the typical communist eyesores . . . same as in eastern Europe during the iron curtain days

I studied in 80s USA and worked in 90s China

If you are well fixed USA offers many opportunities not least vast open spaces west of the divide, Death Valley , Oregon, Montana are fabulous outside teh cities ,cheap weekend hops to Hawaii Alaska the Caribbean Mexico for Spring breaks etc A company seminar in Las Vegas , Miami even Dallas is more attractive than Walsall, Wuppertal, Woolonbong.

I am sure many of us would love to live in Bahamas Bermuda or Virgin Islands if we had the wedge.

I must add I felt far safer walking alone as a drunk big nose returning to my Hotel in Beijing, Shanghai or Kunming, I am not suggesting there is no street crime and drunk drivers drunks are a hazard almost anywhere, but there are whole swathes of "downtown" USA around rnust transport interchanges where you only see poor or crazy people a bit like our dog house.

The cost of worry free comprehensive health care is also a major failing where insurers are go betweens

My ideal would be Danish lifestyle Hygge, American big space ad Thai flexibility great food climate and ease of visa, about the only better places to live are gran's near Renyvyle Connemarra or the beloved by Dickens and BAudelaire Albarnho vinyards of the Minho Celtic /Britos valley of Northern Portugal and they are both miserably cold and wet from now until June.

I was in China in the early 90s. Guangzhou.

You do realise it has changed, right? Just a tiny bit. Did you visit Bangkok in the 1980's too? I did.
Did you visit Shenzhen too? I kinda doubt it, because back then it was an impoverished fishing village. Now it is a city bigger than London.

Guangzhou: 1985 and Today - Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Where in China and what kind of housing.

All a bit pie in the sky, because my living arrangements are fine now. An apartment. Somewhere not too cold in Winter, so south. Somewhere within easy reach of the excellent train network. Somewhere with a few expats about, and a bevy of easily reachable local attractions like bars and restaurants. Zhuhai seems pretty good, in fact we have a TD member living in that area.

Hey, if you are all so fascinated by "Living in China", you can always check out this guys channel-

Living in China - YouTube

And if you get your jollies from a cheap shot at the USA -




Or check out this guy, an American living in Zhuhai-

"[4] Stress. There’s ZERO stress in China. You aren’t looking down at your speedometer when you drive by a policeman, you aren’t dealing with American endless taxes, and regulation. There’s no crime. Very tiny inflation, and the radio is not filled with commercials for guns, and drugs for mental health issues.
[5] Food. The great variety, selection, health, and low cost of Chinese food isn’t something that you might consider, but once you come here, you realize that your health is better, and you end up looking younger."


Robert Vannrox's answer to Why do Americans emigrate overseas? - Quora

Oh oh, can I play too?


Beautiful Chinese beach.



Nice rural housing



Maybe you can get a deal on a nice apartment in one of the ghost cities.

These guys go off the beaten path. Listen to what they say about average people in China and how they live. This is not in the cities.

China is Still Very Poor - Don’t be Fooled!

Makes me homesick for Isaan.

Originally Posted by sabang

Oh yes I would, happily. Like this guy, an American who used to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)-

I am an American and I live in China.
I would do it again in a HEARTBEAT.

Here’s the Pros…

• You will live longer. Much longer, and you won’t be fat either........

I stopped reading there in a HEARTBEAT

Naval Intelligence my ass.

Traveling in and out of China must be real fun these days

When will they open up their prison?

Jeez, earlier on I am reading 'why are there so many Chinese overseas', now I am reading it's a prison. ��

......

Sorry if that's too flippant for you, but I've already told you my deal, no bullshit. I could easily live in China, I don't even see why so many people on an Asian expat forum find that so hard to believe. Plenty of nice places in the US, sure- but the healthcare and overall costs would crucify my quality of life as a retiree. So out of the question, unless I worked again. It's that simple.

Sorry if that's too flippant for you, but I've already told you my deal, no bullshit. I could easily live in China, I don't even see why so many people on an Asian expat forum find that so hard to believe. Plenty of nice places in the US, sure- but the healthcare and overall living costs would crucify my quality of life as a retiree. So out of the question, unless I worked again. It's that simple.

Originally Posted by sabang

Actually the US still pips China by a bit, in this unenviable regard. But lets not pretend China is this Socialist paradise where everyone is equal- or even close.

Thanks for that.. very interesting. Not too much of a difference which is really something in this day and age.

Originally Posted by david44

I must add I felt far safer walking alone as a drunk big nose returning to my Hotel in Beijing, Shanghai or Kunming, I am not suggesting there is no street crime and drunk drivers drunks are a hazard almost anywhere, but there are whole swathes of "downtown" USA around rnust transport interchanges where you only see poor or crazy people a bit like our dog house.

The cost of worry free comprehensive health care is also a major failing where insurers are go betweens

I agree with you. I always felt safe walking around even alone in China and in South Korea. Also, I felt the health care was pretty decent and free in China for me anyway. I experienced the system as I spent ll days in a Shanghai hospital due to pneumonia right before I left China. The transportation system in Shanghai was pretty great, but in Beijing not so much.

In China, you also don't have to worry much about gun violence and mass shootings, but of course the real problem is the government and how they treat their own people imo.

Originally Posted by misskit

China is Still Very Poor - Don’t be Fooled!

Even in the cities as I was saying earlier, many rural workers come to work and are paid absolute shit. My little friend I had for awhile used to live in a small room, and worked 12-14 hours a day. At the time he didn't tell me he had a wife and child in another province who couldn't come as they couldn't afford to live there together. Also, the government do not treat these people well as they aren't from the big cities. He could not bring his child to go to school as they were asking a lot of money just to send her to public school.
If you have two children or more than two you had to pay extra money to the government (that may have changed recently because they dropped the one child policy).

A stroll around a fine American city.




Tiz terribly sad.



As for choosing, having spent a year traveling around China in my 20's, I'd take, say Guangdong over most places in the States, but So-Cal over say, Harbin.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Ah, I'll let them answer for themselves, but they can still criticise Thailand while living in Thailand. Living in China does not allow for that

Hmm

I do know of one subject, that you should only discuss with your wife, if that.

And in a whisper

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

That's because you're a cretinous scandihooligan twat who hasn't realised no-one defends authoritarians or totalitarians on here,

But you chose to work for them and are now living in a pseudo democrazy.

Fact

I guess you thrive nicely in totalitarian regimes.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

except you witless wanketeers who are always praising chinkystan

SWITCH

Harry is telling lies about me

Again

SWITCH

Originally Posted by helge

Hmm

I do know of one subject, that you should only discuss with your wife, if that.

One. Correct. One does not negate the thousands.

Do you personally know of any, who has been deported or jailed in China for being a loud mouth expat ?

Just asking

Personally I wouldn't have participated in, let's say, the Bangkok yellow or red demonstrations some years back.

I'm not sure it would have been approved of ...anywhere.

And apart from no need to get blown up or shot, it really wasn't my business then.


Would you involve yourself in thai politics or activisme as a foreigner ?

Yeh, the South African or Zim guy in Kitty's Youtube vid above, #85 is known as Serpentza- he has become quite a notorious "anti-China" blogger, and no doubt has made some money from it. Thing is, he started off as quite a "pro-China" or at least balanced blogger when he lived there, but was run out of China- something to do with a visa violation. He has been virulently "anti" ever since, no doubt fuelled by not only pique, but the fact that so many westerners only want to hear bad things about China, and close their ears to anything else.

Do you really think most Chinese people have better housing that folk in the USA? A place that is comfortable, warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Not crowded?