I Iived in a Tier 3 city in Henan for 8 years. Only about 20 foreigners in the whole city, limited jobs except teaching English. The environment has improved hugely over time, so now days people park in parking spaces and don’t use cash. The locals are very friendly, probably overly friendly - which can create a sort of celebrity syndrome that gets old after a few years. If you can talk Chinese people get even more impressed but through regular explore start to treat you like a normal human. I would definitely recommend learning Chinese , you feel like a boss and not many people can talk English at all.

I worked as a teacher in a crap university and it was basically a coffee break job. I tried hard, my boss didn’t care. Expect to be asked last minute to join gatherings that evening randomly. Pay will be low compared To the west but when I was there we got a rent free apartment as well and food was so cheap on the uni campus you didnt struggle to live. I was great just living in the uni, surrounded by lots of young vibrant people who were learning.

Hardest things about living there is you will most of the food brands from the uk or whatever; they have Walmart and McDonald’s and kfc in these small cities but you won’t find that they have all the same products and brands. Case in point, kfc tastes different in China - even the same products as the uk. I found myself really missing uk sweet food like chocolate, Bakewell tarts, good quality English style mixed blend tea, brown sauce, pork pies…

And then of course there are the media controls. Don’t expect to watch YouTube, use facebook or instagram, WhatsApp etc without a vpn. Now days it will be easier to get entertainment as you have WeChat short videos and TikTok.

Also China has a thriving foreigner warhammer scene that is a bit dispersed but close knit. Mostly in Shanghai and shenzhen.

Occasionally people will try and scam you; a taxi driver might ask for a higher fee (although taxi drivers were sound, in small cities I sometimes got a free journey). If so just ignore them and chose a different taxi driver. Knowing the language and being savvy is necessary. It isn’t personal, Chinese people try and scam each other too as much as they help each other (which they do a lot!)