Moving to Guangzhou, information pls

[Milocate]

Hi guys,
Sorry for off topic, but I can´t find a Guangzhou or Mainland China sub here, but found a lot of useful information on Geoexpat already.

So, we are planning to move from Germany to Guangzhou in autumn/winter, because I will probably take a job there. Nothing is fixed yet, but it looks very good....
Went there already for some holiday trips (before this virus sh.t), and it´s really nice. Not so great like HK of course

During the research following questions came up, where I cannot find good information:
- Cost of living? Approx how much do you need as a family of 3 if you don't live in the city center? Local food, electricity, internet etc are cheap, but apartment rents? Thinking about 1.500€ per month?
- Taxes: like in HK, so pay once a year, for the world income?
- Entry to China = 14 days quarantine; even if you are vaccinated?
- Vaccination: got the first shot of Biontech/Pfizer, which is also used in Hong Kong. I heard that it is also under review in China; do you know more?

[Morrison]

- Taxes: like in HK, so pay once a year, for the world income

Erst nach 5 Jahren, davor nur China income

[mucaari]

Do you or family members speak Chinese/are Chinese? Or company providing you with employees (driver, helper, interpreter)?

[jgl]

> Went there already for some holiday trips (before this virus sh.t), and it´s
> really nice.
> Not so great like HK of course

How was the air quality on your last visit, and would that kind of thing be a concern for you?

Every time I've gone into Guangzhou, I am struck by how much worse the air is there than even HK (which is shockingly bad already).

[happy_camper]

The vaccination/quarantine rules may change weekly. That's something you would probably check with the consulate.

>Do you or family members speak Chinese

Chinese, like American or European isn't a language. I know you mean Mandarin. It's really not required at all. It can make life there a lot (a really big lot) easier though. (This said, it's hard to find somebody there speaking Cantonese)

So much more fun going to the wet markets or to small restaurants.

[chuckster007]

Guangzhou is Massive so have a look at this website for rental info for reference only to give you price points.

Guangzhou house for rent & lease,Apartment rental in Guangzhou - China Business

For example you can get a 3 bedroom apartment, 110 sqm for 10000 rmb = 1270 Euro

Cozy 3brs, fully furnished, high floor, bright and clean, nearby the metro station. - Beijing house for rent & lease,Apartment rental in Beijing - China Business

[fullmetaljacket]

@Milocate

1) Rental - Possible in your range (EUR 1500 per month). Lianjia is one of the major property rental agencies in China. Pretty much everywhere with their green logo (https://gz.lianjia.com/). This link is for Guangzhou. Website is in Chinese so you'd have to do some translation on the page (right click on the mouse option for better results). A list of similar rental platforms can be found here (https://pandaily.com/how-to-rent-an-...latforms-2020/). Lianjia (and others) would have the "app" too so you can try that if interested.

2) Taxes - Annual tax liability, however, it is possible that your employer will do a monthly deduction from your salary for the tax liability. You can check on this with your employer. If you live in China continuously for 5 years (with no gap of 30 days or more), you become a "tax resident" and only then China can tax your worldwide income. To cover that, people usually take 2 months leave or work from overseas locations for that period to have a clear break in their 5th year in China.

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/peoples...ersonal-income

There could also be a possibility for part of your salary not being taxable, if you join as an expat. There was/still is some provision in the tax law where salary upto 40/50 percent is not taxed if you can provide a bill/invoice/receipt for your expenses (Fapiao in Chinese). You can discuss this with your employer if they can factor this in your package.

3) Quarantine - No one knows what the policy will be in next few months. Just keep yourself updated with the developments.

4) Vaccine - Rumours of it being under review in China, but no one knows for sure. Just follow the news.

[mucaari]

The vaccination/quarantine rules may change weekly. That's something you would probably check with the consulate.

>Do you or family members speak Chinese

Chinese, like American or European isn't a language. I know you mean Mandarin. It's really not required at all. It can make life there a lot (a really big lot) easier though. (This said, it's hard to find somebody there speaking Cantonese)

So much more fun going to the wet markets or to small restaurants.

Well any Chinese language would help, as well as being able to read Chinese characters.

And it’s not just wet markets… being able to talk to a taxi driver in basic English. Any government interaction (I assume in China you need to report your location all the time), getting an internet contract, a cell phone provider, electricity, water and any other utilities. Little things to repair at home and so on.
Same with traveling: getting a driver’s license is very difficult as a foreigner and non-mandarin speaker. Buying train tickets without a Chinese ID is a pain.

Of course it can still be worth it. But China is very rough, if you or your partner are not Chinese or don’t at least speak good mandarin/Cantonese it will be tough. If the company provides services/employees for you to help with that it’ll be a lot better but you won’t be independent.

[happy_camper]

Well any Chinese language would help, as well as being able to read Chinese characters.

And it’s not just wet markets… being able to talk to a taxi driver in basic English. Any government interaction (I assume in China you need to report your location all the time), getting an internet contract, a cell phone provider, electricity, water and any other utilities. Little things to repair at home and so on.
Same with traveling: getting a driver’s license is very difficult as a foreigner and non-mandarin speaker. Buying train tickets without a Chinese ID is a pain.

Of course it can still be worth it. But China is very rough, if you or your partner are not Chinese or don’t at least speak good mandarin/Cantonese it will be tough. If the company provides services/employees for you to help with that it’ll be a lot better but you won’t be independent.

This is what I meant with a lot easier.

For the apartment, I would probably stay the first few month in a serviced apartment and use that time to look around.

[chuckster007]

Have google translate app installed in your phone, makes life much easier.

1. you can type in English or German and press translate button and press play to let the local hear what you want
2. Use the camera function to translate document / menu etc roughly, it wont be 100% accurate but you should be able to get the rough meaning, i use this to look at menus at restaurants. Heck I even use this to transalte my China office documents when I am auditing the.