Well I’ve been in Beijing since Jan 2011, so it’s coming up to 2 years. All my experience is in Beijing, although I do know quite a number of people currently or previously working in Shanghai, so bare that in mind with comments below

Basically China is a real experience. In many ways it’s just like being back home and in other ways it’s completely different. So I’ll answer your questions directly before addressing things more generally:

1. The language barrier does make a difference and if you were dumped in rural China by yourself then you’d find it very hard to survive … but that’s unlikely to be the case. In my current office there is about 20% international people from all over the world (German, Croatian, Italian, American, British, Singaporean etc) and the common language spoken for most management discussion is English. We have a lot of bilingual staff who are trained at technical translation and make life easy - plus it’s surprising how easily you pick up some common easy words to communicate at work even without a translator present.

On the street things are harder and again, without support, you’d be in trouble. However there is lots of support in the form of iphone apps that have addresses for everything in them in searchable databases, people you can ring if you’re in trouble, and - most critically - the places you’re likely to spend most of your time are used to foreigners and will have English translated menus and stuff like that to help. Also, numbers are arabic here (just like in the USA) for the most part so buying things is usually pretty easy

2. Workloads are not very different for ex-pat staff. When there’s a deadline looming you’ll probably be doing a lot of late nights but the rest of the time things are pretty cool. Workloads vary from company to company here though, much as they do back home, and it’s usually about how good your management staff are at keeping the project moving at the right pace more than it is about cultural divide, i.e. good managers make for easy projects. Most of the places I’ve worked don’t pay overtime but they usually give you a day off at a later period if you work late heaps and/or on the weekend to finish a big project.

One thing to note is that usually most companies will give you less holiday time than in the West, but that’s usually because China has two week long national holidays that you’re usually obligated to take: Chinese New Year in Jan/Feb and October National Holiday in first week October. There is also a large number of long weekends through-out the year.

3. Bank accounts and tax situations are usually pretty straight forward. For Australians we dont have single tax agreement with China so basically I will get double taxed if I spent enough time living in Australia during the financial year that i count as being employed there. That’s the simple version. It’s best to see an accountant who can explain everything too you. What is important for you to know is that it can be hard to move money between China and your home country because the currency is not floated. This means expensive wire transfers if you can’t get your pay sent internationally.

China itself will tax full time employees here at about 20-30% depending on a whole bunch of factors. However if you’re getting paid back into a US account or some such then this wont necessarily apply.

The real big thing to remember about China is that rules change very often and with little information. Last year they added like 5% tax to foreigners here with basically 30 days warning. The tax was rebate-able so people started collecting an extra bundle of official receipts (called Fapio) for everything they did. Setting up a savings account here is very easy, but a credit card is very hard. Your company will probably take care of all of the above problems for you though. Even small companies will set you up an account and get you familiar with how to use it etc.

ATM machines are common in major cities, as are electronic payment in many stores - however many smaller places (restaurants at the side of the road etc) will only take cash so you get used to always having a big wad of notes on you.

4. The Industry here is in many ways similar to what you’re probably used too. International companies full of expats tend to operate more-or-less the same way but there’s just something fundamentally different to how everything operates in China, and our industry is no different. Client education and the Client-Agent-Production model is a bit skewed here, clients tend to want to be involved more but they also often don’t really understand the process very well so there’s probably a little more client-aggro than in the USA/Aust/UK etc.

The Chinese as a people are just like any other people in that some are lovely and some really piss you off. There are quirks of culture that have some broader impacts though. There’s an attitude that can prevail here that something can be impossible - you often get told Méiyǒu (sounds like May Yo) which means No, Impossible, Can’t Do - even when you patently know something is very possible. This attitude gets weened out of new recruits in ex-pat companies as it’s very much not how we’re used to working - we’re usually all “we’ll give it a shot!” but in China the concept of Face is very important to some. So doing something they don’t think they can do well could make them lose face so it’s easier to say No. I could write about the Chinese psyche forever but I think the only way one every begins to understand it is to experience it.

On great thing about work in China is that you’ll probably get some great opportunities. I’m currently working on projects for BMW, Mini, Volkswagen and Peugeot and have worked with Coke, Marie Claire and a bunch of other fun brands since I arrived here. I can from Perth, Western Australia. Not a single one of those brands would ever use a shop from Perth to make a commercial, let alone a major campaign launch. Stuff like this is happening every day here. It’s busy and exciting when you can be involved in a TVC that back home would be seen by 10million people maximum, but here is seen by 400million minimum.

5. Social Life and Living Arrangements are usually pretty good for ex-pats. Beijing and Shanghai are both highly modernised cities. I live in an apartment of a 6 year old building on the 21st floor and we have a doorman and stores and everything right in our complex. We’ve got two rooms, two bathrooms, airconditioning and central heating and we pay about 10,000 rmb a month (~$1580 usd). I live with my wife here. Our apartment is very centrally located in Beijing. Rents can come much cheaper though, and a single bedroom or studio apartment in Beijing (which I think is more expensive than Shanghai) can range from 4,000 to 9,000 rmb. There is a huge range. You can also go much cheaper on rents but the quality and distance to the city will go down rapidly. Living on the fringes of Beijing I know people with 4 bedroom houses that pay about what we do for a central apartment.

Social life is really pretty cool here and it’s one of the big draw cards to Beijing and Shanghai I’d say. There are heaps of great bars, clubs, restaurants and eateries and most are open from early to late. We got out most nights of the week to eat and it can range from very cheap such as Steamed Buns and Dumplings (Bāozi and Jiǎozi respectively) for 15rmb (~$2.5 USD) to fill you up, to hyper expensive Michelin star restaurants to rival the best in the world. Most meals I have run me up between 20-60rmb ($4-$10) and that will include delivery. We regularly east mexican, indian, thai, burgers, salads, pizza etc - you can get everything in Beijing and Shanghai is pretty much the same.

Ex-Pat life is also pretty good. In Beijing the expat community is very big and broad and overall very helpful. In fact I’m writing this long post mostly because I know other expats have been good to me so this is a way of getting ahead on the Karma wheel there hehe. It’s easy to make strong friendships and find people who will take you into their fold and show you a good time. Partying hard, or just relaxing with a beer, both are easy to do. Oh, and the beer can be very cheap!

There’s also lots of sports groups and gyms and things like that. A new supervisor just arrived at the place I’m currently contracting and he was able to get into a gym on his first morning waking up in Beijing. Sometimes finding these places can be hard, but there’s usually a strong online community that can help you with maps (in English and Chinese) that are usually easy to follow. If you get lost? You can always call a friend - mobile phone costs are low in China (compared to Australia) and i charge up with 100rmb on my prepaid every month or so ($16usd), but i don’t use it much. Data plans, 3G, is also available but can be a little harder to setup.

Getting around is also pretty easy. Taxis are very cheap: 10rmb ($1.5usd) for first 3km, the most i ever pay is 70rmb ($11.50usd) for airport. Shanghai should be the same. There are a lot of Taxis in Beijing but sometime it can be frustratingly hard to get one. There is also the Bus and Subway which are easy to use and very cheap (<20cents/ride). Finally you can buy a cheap bike or electric scooter and then you’ve got the keys to the town … or everything within 5km

Finally safety: Beijing is pretty safe. So is Shanghai. My wife goes out by herself quite a lot and as long as she stays in the heavily populated places I’m confident she’s ok. I have had a couple of friends who have run into trouble but only because they were walking down dark alleys at night and obviously had more wealth than some of the locals. That said, the local police are not very interested in helping you (or Chinese nationals necessarily) if the problem isn’t a big one. It really depends on who you get.

6. The Downsides are a little hard to put your finger on. Most people who have lived in Beijing for over a couple of years, when you ask them if they like it respond “Sure, it’s ok”. That’s because living in China is full of small problems all the time. On the surface everything is cool but there can be many annoyances. For example when it rains all the taxi’s seem to disappear magically. Or when you go to the police station to register (you need to do this everytime you renew a visa - it’s easy and simple to do) they are closed between 12-2pm for some odd reason. Or going to the bank and having to wait 2 hours for some bizarre stamp foreigners need for whatever form you require. Basically China requires a little patience.

The country is also very split between haves and have-nots. Toilets on the street are plentiful but you might be really revolted the first time you go into one. Street food can be very cheap and so can drinks at some bars, but if you wake up with a stomach ache or huge hangover from drinking fake alcohol, well lets just say those Long Island Ice Teas don’t usually cost $2 USD in raw materials…

There are many small things that make things here hard. I can order food any time of the day, but sometimes it just comes completely wrong, or the delivery guy gets lost and since we don’t speak a common language (well not much) it might take 40mins for us to sort things out. A lot of this is to do with language, but actually a lot is just the way things are here. Even if you can speak to the delivery guy he might just be a lazy bum (a lot of them are) and your food arrives late anyway. This isn’t so bad when applied to food but the same thing occurs when getting a Visa extension and your life suddenly gets hard.

7. Summing Up I’d have to say having a good company to support you in your initial foray here will really help. They can sort you out with accomodation and help you get settled. Once you’ve got a safe place to sleep and you know how to get to and from work, then you’ll be able to start exploring and getting to know China. It’s a very interesting place.

My wife and I are about to make a decision whether we stay for another year or not. We discussed it last night and basically decided we both really like it so, assuming work for me settles down to something regular, we’ll give it a shot. Who knows how long we’ll be here? I don’t know but it honestly has been an incredible experience so far.

Cool so my lunch break is almost over so I gotta order in a chicken sandwich and a diet coke and get back to work. Hope this helps and feel free to post any other questions and I’ll answer as well as I can