Which country is the best place for staying long term, South Korea, Japan, or China?

哪个国家更适合长期居住，韩国、日本还是中国？

以下Quora网友的评论：

Shawn Zheng

Studied at University of Western Ontario2y

China is a safe country with lots of opportunities. It is also a big country with very long history and a great variety of food that you will not find in Japan or Korea. You have a lot to explore and discover, both new and old things. People are welcoming and open minded, it is easy to get along with people there. Among the three countries, people in China have the lowest suicide rate, so people there are happier. However, there is pollution in some big cities. Also, there can be big difference in terms of development among regions.

Japan is more advanced in many areas, but the cost of living is high, many people live in big cities are under tremendous pressure. People are friendly, but most of the times, they are not that easy to get along with. You will have to follow very strict social norms

Korea has very high suicide rate, people are under tremendous pressure, I do not think it is a good place to live

中国是一个充满机遇、非常安全的国家。它也是一个有着悠久历史的大国，有着日本或韩国无处可寻的各色美食。有很多值得人们去探索和发现的新事物和旧事物。中国人热情开放，很好相处。在这三个国家中，中国人的自杀率最低，所以中国人更幸福。不过有些大城市会有污染的问题。另外，不同地区之间的发展也会有较大的差异。

日本在很多方面都比较先进，但是生活成本很高，很多生活在大城市的人都承受着巨大的压力。日本人很友好，但大多数时候，他们并不太容易相处。你必须遵守非常严格的社会规范。

韩国的自杀率非常高，人们承受着巨大的压力，我觉得韩国不是一个好地方。

Katherine Heasley

Former Instructor at Jilin University (吉林大学) (2018–2020)Author has 128 answers and 1.9M answer views2y

I can’t speak about Korea, but I’ve done long-term stays in Japan and China. I was in Japan for 2–1/2 years, and by the end of my contract here, I’ll have been in China for 2 years, moving between Changchun (Jilin Province) and Shanghai. China is much less expensive, but the truth is, I much prefer Japan. Japan has much better infrastructure, less pollution, and more, and I have a permanent sore throat in winter due to the pollution from coal-burning plants. Japan is quite expensive, but not prohibitively so. I got along fairly well on about $2500/month, which, let’s face it, would be hard to do in a lot of places in the US.

韩国我没有发言权，但我在日本和中国都住过挺长时间。我在日本待了两年半，日本的工作合同到期后，我去中国住了两年，在长春(吉林省)和上海两地跑动。中国的物价要便宜得多，但事实上，我更喜欢日本。日本的基础设施更好，污染比较少，中国燃煤电厂导致的空气污染，让我在冬天一直喉咙难受。日本的物价很高，但也不会高到令人望而却步。每个月2500美元的收入足以让我过得相当滋润，说实话，这在美国的很多地方是很难实现的。

Language-wise, I actually found Japanese to be easier to learn, even though Mandarin has more familiar grammar structures. Japanese is much easier to pronounce, and even though the kana make for a more complex written language, they also make decoding the language easier. Socially, I’d actually say Chinese people are easier to get to know. They’re generally quite warm-hearted and open. The Japanese code of etiquette is quite strict and rigid, and as a foreigner, the society can be hard to penetrate. That said, I was always treated well there.

Don’t get me wrong—there’s a lot that’s good about China. I’ve been treated well by my employer, I’ve gotten to do and see a lot here, and I’ve made friends. But I fell in love with Japan in a way I’ve never quite managed with China.

在语言方面，我发现日语更容易学，尽管汉语的语法结构跟我们更接近。日语的发音简单很多，虽然书面语因为假名变得复杂，但假名也让人们更容易进行解码。在社交方面，我认为中国人更容易打交道。大多数中国人都很热心，开明。日本的礼仪规范非常严格死板，作为一个外国人，想要融入日本社会是很困难的。但我在日本总是受到礼遇。

别曲解我的意思——中国也有很多闪光之处。我的老板对我很好，我在这里经历了很多，见识了很多，还结交了很多朋友。但我还是爱上了日本，跟我对中国的感情不一样。

Sky Ling

Lives in Sitiawan (1989–present)Author has 108 answers and 40.9K answer views2y

i’d say China..

South Korea is so tough to live in, most of koreans are migrating to south east asian countries to escape from the financial stress… buying power is too low in korea.. everything is so expensive..

Same would go to the Japanese mega cities.. but in Japan, the condition in suburbs would be better..

我会说选中国。

在韩国生活太艰难了，大多数韩国人都移民到东南亚国家逃避经济压力了，韩国的购买力实在太低了。所有的一切都贵得离谱。

日本的大城市也是一样。但日本郊区的情况好很多。

China’s more affordable, in my opinion.. despite the decreasing friendliness..

Taiwan would be a great place, i think~ but the best would be Malaysia~ that’s my home country~

在我看来，在中国生活的成本更低，但不如日本和韩国友好…

我觉得台湾省会是一个很不错的地方~但最好的地方是马来西亚~那就是我的祖国~

Doctor A.J. Zwagerman

Through foreign eyes, but on the ground!Oct 8

I’ve stayed in all three: Japan one year, South-Korea threr years and China ten years. All three have good and bad aspects, like any country, but China is my personal favorite - probably the reason I stayed for ten years. Japan is clean en beautiful, but Japanese people are not easy to make friends with. They’re polite, but not friendly, if that makes sense. Don’t go to Japan alone as a foreigner, you’ll be lonely if you are far away from the expat bubble. Korea is fun and exciting, but can be a bit tiresome. I loved the access to both high and low culture everywhere, but foreigners are seen as rather lazy, even if you try to work ‘Korean hours’, which you shouldn’t, because you’ll die young. China is boisterous and open, but the government does not make life easy for foreigners. Chinese are rude but friendly, the polar opposite of Japanese in that regard. It’s easy to make Chinese friends and meet a Chinese partner. But all foreigners are seen as potential ‘hostile foreign forces’ (and potential virus vectors, too) and that can be depressing.

我在这三个国家都生活过：日本一年，韩国三年，中国十年。

跟地球上的其他国家一样，这三个国家都各有优缺点，但中国是我自己最喜欢的国家——可能也是我会在中国住上十年的原因。

日本干净美丽，但是日本人很难成为你的朋友。他们有礼貌，但不友好，不知道你会不会懂。

作为一个外国人，不要独身前往日本，如果你走出外籍雇员的圈子，就会很孤独。

韩国很有趣，很刺激，但也会有点无聊。

我喜欢无论在哪里都能接触到高雅和低俗的文化，但韩国人总认为外国人很懒惰，就算你努力配合“韩国时间”来工作也一样，我不建议大家这么做，因为这样很快就会英年早逝的。

中国既热闹又开放，但没有让外国人日子太好过。

中国人粗犷但友好，这跟日本人截然相反。

结交中国朋友、认识中国伙伴是很轻松的事。

但所有外国人都被视为潜在的“敌对外国势力”(以及潜在的病毒载体)，这可能会让你不太舒服。

If you’re older and traveling with a partner: Japan

If you’re young and crazy about culture: Korea

If you’re any age and looking to make friends for life: China

如果你年级稍大，跟同伴一起旅行，那就选择去日本吧。

如果你是一个对文化着迷的年轻人，那就选择去韩国吧。

如果你想要结交朋友，那么无乱年纪大小，只管放心大胆地去中国吧。

James Whitehorn

Lives in TokyoAuthor has 655 answers and 789.9K answer views2y

All three are very different, so it depends what you are looking for personally.

China I would imagine still feels in many ways like the boom period in Japan, and Korea feels like the late 80’s early 90’s in Japan; things are changing quickly, there is high growth, and opportunities everywhere. By comparison, Japan is the ‘old man’ of the three.

Personally, I have no interest in living under a co unist or any type of auth rian regime, so I have little interest in and would not be able to recommend living in China for any period of time. That said, the pace of change in China over the last 20–30 years has been rapid, and the continued higher growth in China means that there are any number of opportunities to have what people would consider a great life.

这三个国家风格迥异，怎么选取决于你自己想要什么。

在我看来，中国在很多方面很像繁荣时期的日本，韩国则像80年代末90年代初的日本。一切都在快速变化，高速增长，遍地都是机会。相比之下，日本算是三国中的“老人”了。

就我个人而言，我不喜欢生活在中国。中国在过去20-30年里的变化速度非常快，中国持续的高速增长让中国人有很多机会过上幸福的生活。

I’ve only ever visited Korea briefly, but my feeling is that compared to Japan, society is a bit more open and free flowing, and while living in Seoul will afford you many of the amenities of any global city world wide, it still have a feeling of faster paced economic growth and change. Which for me is attractive in a city; it is still evolving, and still working out what it will be as a city, and that is very interesting to be a part of.

我去过韩国一小段时间，我的感觉是，跟日本相比，韩国社会更开放、更自由。虽然生活在首尔可以享受全球国际大都市的许多便利设施，但它依然给人一种经济增长和变化速度更快的感觉。

对我来说，这是一个城市的吸引力之所在；这个城市仍在发展，仍在规划自己未来的发展，成为这个城市的一份子会是非常有趣的事。

Japan and Tokyo specifically has arrived at what they are; a stable, high standards country and city, with great infrastructure, a pretty conservative society, and a low or no growth environment. Everything works, everything is safe, and everything is done efficiently, but the country is in many ways run like an ant colony, where people are under enormous pressure to keep everything functioning smoothly, and as the proverb goes “the nail that sticks out is hammered down”. I love Japan and living in Tokyo, but I very much feel that the country and the city have arrived at their destination now, and will not change much, and certainly not change quickly.

日本和东京已经实现了自己的目标：稳定、一流的国家和城市，拥有良好的基础设施，相当保守的社会，低增长甚至零增长的经济环境。这里的一切有条不紊，一切都很安全，一切都很高效，但在很多方面，这个国家就像一个蚁群，民众为了让一切顺利运转承受着巨大的压力，正如谚语所说的“枪打出头鸟”。我喜欢日本，喜欢在东京生活，但我深深地觉得这个国家和这座城市现在已经到头了，不会再有太大的变化，也不会很快发生变化。

I would pick Japan out of all of the countries, but I could easily understand why someone would have a different view.

这三个国家种，我会选择日本，但我也很能理解为什么有些人会有不同的看法。

Chris Bartlett

Lives in JapanAuthor has 1.7K answers and 2.8M answer viewsUpdated 1y

I think all three are good places in one way or another and I would certainly prefer any of them to many other countries, but especially since the question was ‘long term’ I would say Japan, and fairly clearly Japan. Here’s why:

我认为这三个国家都各有出色之处，我当然更喜欢它们中的任何一个，而不是许多其他国家，但特别是因为这个问题是“长期的”，我会说日本，很明显是日本。原因如下:

Japan is a very stable country, for more than 70 years it has been almost entirely peaceful, both internally and in relation to other nations. In that time South Korea has been in a major war and has had to cope with skirmishes with North Korea with whom it is locked in a very nasty cold war which at any time could result in a war that could, well destroy the entire county.

日本是一个非常稳定的国家，70多年来，无论是在国内还是国际外交，基本一直和平。在此期间，韩国经历过一场重大战争以及跟朝 鲜之间的小规模冲突，朝 鲜与韩国陷入了一段冷战时期，两国随时可能开战，两败俱伤。

Japan has excellent healthcare provision at very affordable costs. South Korea is similar, China’s is not yet nearly so good, either in terms of quality or costs, though it is improving rapidly and I guess the top hospitals are probably pretty good if you can afford them.

Food is good in all three countries, but for choice and quality Japan has a clear edge, you don’t have to go to the best restaurants to get excellent quality and choice, they are virtually all very good.

In terms of quality and affordable housing Japan and South Korea are better than China, but Japan has the edge over South Korea, especially as prices are much more reasonable in Japan, at least outside central Tokyo.

日本的医疗保健服务非常完善，费用也非常合理。韩国也差不多，中国的医院在医疗质量和成本方面还有改进的空间，但他们改进的速度很快，如果你能负担得起医疗费的话，顶级医院还是相当不错的。

这三个国家的食物都很好吃，但就选择和品质而言，日本的优势很明显，就算不是最好的餐厅，也能给食客提供优秀的品质和选择。

就商品房质量和价格而言，日本和韩国都比中国好，但日本比韩国更有优势，尤其是日本东京市中心以外地区的房价要合理得多。

Japan is a much freer nation than obviously China, but South Korea too. Many freedoms, such as freedom of speech having strong guarantees in the constitution and police rarely hassle citizens or even most foreigners. The prison population in Japan is extremely low. There are high social expectations in regard to manners, but they are largely not enforced by laws (yet), working for companies can be a bit tough, but not as tough China or South Korea by most measures.

Japan is far more tolerant of foreigners (though not perfect) than South Korea or China, that includes both socially and legally. It’s much easier for a foreigner to find a marriage partner in Japan and easier to obtain permanent residency or citizenship.

日本比中国自由得多，韩国也是如此。许多自由在宪法中得到了强有力的保障，警察很少骚扰公民甚至大多数外国人。日本监狱中的犯人非常少。日本社会对礼仪的要求很高，但法律不会强制执行，想要进入日本公司工作可能有点难，但整体看，中国和韩国会更难。

与韩国和中国相比，日本在社交和法律方面都对外国人要更加包容。外国人在日本更容易找到结婚对象，更容易获得永久居留权或公民身份。

Air pollution levels (aside from tree pollen) and weather (arguably) are better in Japan. The environment is generally cleaner (though not perfect, especially in the countryside).

Education is good in Japan, but I’m not sure it’s really better than either in China or South Korea, I think they are fairly similar, though Japan’s is probably less biased, sure there are some textbook controversies on tiny parts of school history books, but that just shows how seriously textbook neutrality is taken, textbooks in China would have significantly more bias in some areas.

日本的空气污染(除了花粉)和天气可以说要更好一些。环境总体上更干净。

日本的教育很出色，但我不确定有没有胜过中国或韩国，我觉得这三个国家都差不多，但日本的教科书可能公正一些，当然了，历史课本会有一些内容上的争议，在某些领域中国的教科书里的偏见会更多。

In terms of employment, on the positive side Japanese salaries are nearly always acceptable or quite good. Working conditions can be a little oppressive, but are not as bad as South Korea or most Chinese companies. However it’s hard to get very highly paid in Japan as the flip side to most people getting good salaries is that no one gets astronomical salaries, even most CEOs. So if you are an extremely in demand professional you might be better off in South Korea or China, if money is what matters most to you, if overall quality of life matters more, Japan is the clear winner.

在就业方面，日本人的工资总体都可以接受，有的甚至还挺不错。工作条件可能有点压抑，但还是优于韩国或大多数中国公司。在日本很难获得很高的薪水，因为即便是公司的CEO也很难获得犹如天文数字般的高收入。因此，如果你的职业非常抢手，如果你看重金钱，那么你可能在韩国或中国会过得更好；如果你更看重生活质量，那么毫无疑问要选日本。

Brigitta

Lives in Indonesia (1900–present)Sun

China.

As a muslim, China has muslim communities and long history of Islam that makes me feel home. While Islam is kinda a strange thing in Korea and Japan.

Of course some of Han Chinese with narrow minds see me in a wierd way, while it's also wierd for me why they see me like that while they have the culture of Islam as part of their history, and they have learnt it at school. But some other (most of them actually) they're mistaken me as native Hui or Ughyur, that makes me think I just look like them, and makes me feel someways belong here.

肯定是中国啦。

我是穆 斯林，中国有穆 斯林社区，有悠久的伊 斯兰历史，让我有回家的感觉。而伊 斯兰教在韩国和日本还不太被多数人接纳。

当然，有些思想狭隘的汉族人也会把我视为异类，对我来说，我也觉得奇怪，伊 斯兰文化是中国历史的一部分，这些人在学校里肯定也学过，为什么他们还会这样看我呢。

但还有的人（其实是多数人）会把我当做回族人，也许是长相比较像吧，但也让我有了归属感。

C.V.

Studied at University of AntwerpAuthor has 192 answers and 7.2M answer views1y

Related

Which country would you rather live in, South Korea or Japan?

Japan. I would never live in either place personally. But if I had to pick it would be Japan by far.

我会选日本。其实这三个国家我都不想长住，但非要选的话，我肯定选日本。

SK feels very artificial to me: it is the capital of plastic surgery, always trying to be in fashion, maxng out your credit card for material goods, kee up with trends, etc.

I don’t like Kpop or Kdramas (which seem to be the top cultural appeals of SK) and the fact that people idolize these people to the point everyone has one beauty standard otherwise you’re not good enough: you need to have a V shape, you need to weight this much, you need double-eyelids, etc. Everyone has the same makeup and everyone wants to look like someone. Again, a very artificial environment. I’m not a fan of the dances either that are choreographies that everyone is trying to copy to the point. For reference, when a Korean on Youtube saw Latinos dancing, he quoted, “Wow, they have so much freedom!”

韩国给人的感觉很假：它是整形之都，人们追赶时尚，为了物质刷爆信用卡，紧跟潮流。

我不喜欢韩国流行音乐和韩剧，可以说是韩国的顶级文化吸引力，而且人们崇拜这些明星，每个人的审美标准都是一样的，不符合标准就是不好：要有V字小脸，体重不能超标，要有大双眼皮等等。

每个人都化着同样的妆，每个人都想要整容成某个人。我又要再说一次了，这里非常假。我也不喜欢那些舞蹈，那些编舞都是大家仿来仿去的。

我举个例子吧，韩国人在Youtube上看到拉丁美洲人跳舞的视频，他会感叹：“哇，他们跳得这么自由！”

Korea is too Westernized. Aside from everything I already said which just reeks of Westernization, fried chicken is also one of the most popular foods. Why? Also, “South Korea is the only East Asian country to recognize Christmas as a national holiday.”

The food. Not a fan of Korean food. I tried several dishes and none spoke to me. It feels more like comfort food or dishes you can eat when you have a big appetite. Japanese food seems to be more quality oriented and savory.

韩国也太西化了。炸鸡也是最受欢迎的食物之一。我无法理解。此外，“韩国是唯一一个承认圣诞节为国定假日的东亚国家。”

食物。我不喜欢韩国菜。我试吃过好几种，但都不喜欢。韩国菜更像是很饿的时候会吃的安慰食物或菜肴。日本食物会更注重品质和美味。

Hidesato Sakakibara

Studied at JapanAuthor has 6K answers and 5.3M answer views2y

It would depend upon your personal interests, likes and dislikes.

I would say that from an immigration perspective (obtaining permanent residency and citizenship) that Japan would be the best choice.

The next would be South Korea. Bear in mind that getting residency in South Korea is tough, but it is definitely doable.

The worst would be China, because as a rule China does not give out permanent residency or citizenship to foreigners.

这取决于你的个人兴趣和好恶。

我想说，从移民的角度来看，能获得永久居留权和公民身份，日本会是最好的选择。

第二名是韩国。但是你要记住一点，在韩国获得居留权虽然很难，但还是可以实现的。

最后一名是中国，因为一般说来，中国不会给外国人永久居留权或公民身份。