TL;DR (30-second version) Working in China on a tourist visa is a bad deal that people only discover at the worst moment. The immigration rules are clear: a visitor visa allows visiting, not working — even “just helping a friend,” even “it’s remote work for my home company,” even “nobody will know.” Getting caught usually…
TL;DR (30-second version) If you are German, Korean, or Japanese and working in China, your home country has a social security agreement with China — which means you probably pay into one system, not two, and some years count for both. The practical task: get a certificate of coverage from your home authority before or…
TL;DR (30-second version) Changing jobs in China does not mean leaving the country and starting over. In most cases the sequence is: new employer applies for a new Work Permit, you cancel or transfer the old one, and you adjust your Residence Permit within the legal window — usually within 10 days of the change….
TL;DR (30-second version) Save one number in your phone before you ever need it: 110 for police, 120 for ambulance — both work anywhere in China and have English-speaking dispatchers are rare but operators transfer. Save 119 for fire. Write your passport number and home address in both scripts somewhere offline. This list takes ten…
TL;DR (30-second version) Shipping a box home from China is not hard — the surprises are. Three rules keep it boring: write the contents and value on the form even when nobody is watching, use the official courier counters instead of random agents for anything important, and expect customs to ask for an invoice on…
TL;DR (30-second version) The short answer: Shenzhen is where the jobs and the energy are; Guangzhou is where the living is easier and cheaper. Same province, twenty minutes apart by high-speed rail, and genuinely different daily life. Pick based on your work situation first, personality second. The short answer Both cities work for expats. The…
TL;DR (30-second version) In most of China, the default answer to a broken thing is not a new thing. A phone screen, a zipper, a suitcase wheel, a lamp — repair shops fix these daily, usually in under an hour, often for less than the cost of lunch out. The real skill is not fixing;…
The 2026 China public holiday dates for foreigners: what closes, when to book trains and hotels, and the expat checklist for each long break.
What’s the first app you install after you land in China? For most foreigners we’ve met, it’s not WeChat. It’s the one that gets dinner to your door at 9:40 pm, after the supermarket closed and your fridge holds exactly one sad cucumber. Short version: Meituan or Ele.me — cheap, fast, and you don’t need…
TL;DR (30-second version): Your foreign license is not valid in China, and your International Driving Permit is useless here — China never joined the IDP system. The good news: converting takes one computer-based written exam, no road test. Budget a morning, roughly 200–300 RMB, and five documents. The rulebook is the Ministry of Public Security’s…
