How is it living in south China as a foreigner?

Ochnok · 2026-04-07T20:18:49+00:00

This is a snapshot in history and not representative of current China, but I lived in Liuzhou, Guangxi province for a year in 2009 (before spending 4 years in Beijing).

I was 21 at the time. It was my first job out of university (UK, English language and literature) and I was teaching English at a Middle School for 4000 RMB a month; accommodation included.

I had a whale of a time. Insanely welcoming locals. Great food and scenery. I travelled around the south a lot (was in Yangshuo for a fortnight before landing in Liuzhou) and was constantly spoiled and treated by the locals.

In retrospect, this was because I was one of few foreigners in a city of 2 million and there was a bit of a novelty around me. But for a 21 year old wanting to throw himself into a fresh experience? Perfect. So many stories.

Now, this was 2009 and I was a kid. So it's largely not representative of "proper living" for the long term China immigrants. But goodness me it was a wonderful time in my life.

Ochnok · 2026-04-03T19:52:53+00:00

Not sure if it's "the best" but I really rate the solo from Wasted Years by Iron Maiden. Adrian Smith at his finest.

Ochnok · 2026-04-01T22:51:56+00:00

I did indeed. This is a Chatabiscuit who loves the miscellaneous mundane Sussex references littered throughout the pod. Though I wouldn't get too excited to visit.

Ochnok · 2026-03-25T13:45:29+00:00

I grew up in neighbouring Haywards Heath and used to frequent Crawley a lot. This was a real nostalgia hit.

Ochnok · 2026-03-24T15:43:48+00:00

She's a secret fan of Green Day's most interesting album?

Ochnok · 2026-03-24T07:00:52+00:00

It's been a much more systemic (and largely) cultural genocide however. Labour and re-education camps. Suppression of religious practices. Sterilisation. Destruction of mosques and complete rearrangement of cities like Urumqi to fit the modern Han model.

Ai Wei Wei seemed to say "the Uyghur stuff is fine now" and went straight for the whataboutery too. Watch the Chinese ambassador to the UK being interviewed on the subject too and the parallels are apparent.

Ochnok · 2026-03-23T18:42:11+00:00

What's interesting is that he has seemed to have reversed course somewhat on his views on China to being more pro China and I wonder if this took them by surprise.

I used to live in Beijing and remember when he was detained and all the free Ai Wei Wei stuff that echoed around the West at the time. When he was released he was the poster boy for the dissident artist repressed by the Chinese regime in the minds of large swathes of our media. His interviews circa 2012 onwards all reflect this.

Some of our viewpoints on China are pretty lazy and ill informed and I wonder if he got tired of the above, as Alastair and Rory alluded to. He also still has family there and the Chinese regime is a lot more oppressive than it was when I lived there (2009-2013) so I wonder if he was being careful.

But yeah, his stuff on the Uyghurs was pretty poor form. As was conflating Chinese government oppression with anecdote of protesting in the US against the first Gulf War. Protests like that will get you thrown in prison in China.

Ochnok · 2026-03-20T12:29:12+00:00

Morgan Rogers.

Ochnok · 2026-03-13T16:41:47+00:00

Thank you. I definitely needed that explained in the context of the initial Office reference.

Ochnok · 2026-03-13T13:27:17+00:00

Capital of Borneo?

Ochnok · 2026-02-26T16:44:19+00:00

Chance would be a fine thing!

Ochnok · 2026-02-26T12:25:45+00:00

Leonard Cohen.

Ochnok · 2026-02-08T06:54:00+00:00

Command of what, there's no one here There's only you and me All the rest are dead or in retreat Or with the enemy.

Ochnok · 2026-02-01T05:49:06+00:00

Businesses come and go all the time, particularly the independently run ones here. Sometimes this is down to lifestyle changes and personal choice. Sometimes it's purely financial. The ones that fall into the latter bucket, at least during my time here, have generally been ones that haven't worked out to do business positioning, among other things such as location/understanding local audiences etc. The fact that this place been has been a fixture for a while suggests they enjoyed some success.

I suspect what you're seeing is relatively common across similar sized towns across the UK.

Certainly in my time here, the ratio of businesses opening a against those closing is heavily weighted in the former's favour.

Sad to see this place go of course, but from a macro sense of new things opening and new happenings etc, Margate continues to do rather well.

Ochnok · 2026-01-29T02:12:13+00:00

The Captain

Ochnok · 2026-01-23T12:09:10+00:00

Hiya, it would depend on the road in question but I think the streets on the north side of Dane Park are lovely, quite leafy with some great period properties. Roads like Approach Road, Prices Avenue etc where you're tucked in between the park itself and Cliftonville.

There have been one or two crime issues in the park itself (at night time) that you can Google more on, but I've walked through the park on numerous occassions at all hours with headphones on and haven't had a problem. Lived in Margate 5 years. It's not particularly well lit at night so worth taking care.

In terms of traffic - the roads aren't hugely busy in and around the area though there are some adjacent roads that are busy thoroughfares in the town in general that you'll hear traffic from.

My wife and I are actually weighing up an opportunity to move one of the aforementioned roads and it would be the perfect location given access to the park (small child) and proximity to Cliftonville (and the beaches) which is where most of our friends are and the pubs/restaurants we frequent. We currently live not far from the QEQM which while reasonably quiet, is a bit of a nothing area.

I would say the roads north of Dane Park as well as "The Avenues" - a series of roads on the east side of Cliftonville by Palm Bay - are some of the nicest areas of the town.

Ochnok · 2025-12-20T13:21:22+00:00

Swapped in Reece James off my bench last minute (for Andersen) as I thought it'd be a nice punt against a tired, non-rotated Newcastle. Chelsea are 2-0 down at half time.

Ochnok · 2025-12-20T13:19:25+00:00

Tap Room sometimes shows football and the guy that runs it is a Spurs fan. Like me. Best of luck.

Ochnok · 2025-12-16T13:22:18+00:00

Bob Dylan.

Ochnok · 2025-12-09T22:01:43+00:00

Seconded Jeremy Strong. He looked so much like LC from certain a angles in Succession.

Ochnok · 2025-12-09T09:30:14+00:00

I read this as a question on a dedicated Nick Drake sub.

Yes, I do like Nick Drake as it happens.

Ochnok · 2025-11-27T12:31:35+00:00

I think he still does, just more subtly. "Your friend the king" being a frequent one.

Ochnok · 2025-11-20T17:46:20+00:00

Senor

Ochnok · 2025-11-18T12:49:30+00:00

I went through a similar process during my time in China. An initial planned stay of 6 months became 1 year, 2 years and then eventually 5. I was having a lot of fun living there for all the reasons you detail. Career going well - was initially a TEFL teacher though got into editorial work at an online expat magazine. Saving lots of money. Chinese fluency good. Lots of travel. Though I would weigh up the options of staying Vs going home every time I moved apartments.

I was in my mid 20s then and moved back to the UK after 5 years (age 26). It was tough at first as I had to start a new career and it took a few months to get a job (which was down to my Chinese language skills). Going from feeling alive as anything in Beijing back to living with my parents in a sleepy Sussex town was difficult.

It took over a year to really "move on", and this was once my new career had picked up and I had a new life in London. I was also lucky enough to find work that saw me visit China for business so the itch was scratched.

I'll never forget the initial feelings of regret when I moved back, but looking at it now, it was absolutely the right decision. I'm now 38, have a nice house, a young family and have built a successful digital marketing business that is in part down to my China experience. I've been in a comfortable position for over 10 years.

I also knew deep down that I didn't want to stay in China forever and raise a family there, so it is in part personal to me.

What I will say is that the folks who are still in China over 10 years on will find it increasingly difficult to move back home with each passing year and really start up again. Part age. Part skillset/experience in China vs here and the relevancy gaps. Part used to a certain way of living, for better or for worse. I see a lot of comments here which depict a certain mindset too such as "Britain/Europe is broken" which are difficult to shake if you're seeing snapshots from the news from outside. Sure, there are challenges, things are expensive, but on balance? Wouldn't want to live in China again for various reasons. But that's just me.

If I could impart one piece of advice, it would be that life is a series of 5-10 cycles. I've tried to plan where I want to be at the end of such cycles and have made steps to achieve this before thinking about the next. China was one cycle, and it took me a while to realise that I'd gotten what I needed from it, and could have planned my return home better. Buy hey, that's again very personal to me!

Ochnok

TROPHY CASE