What are the pros and cons of living in Guangzhou, China as a Western expat?

说说西方人在中国广州生活的好与不好吧？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Chats Jones

Pros: would be the rangy mixed nationals, the collection of universities, the historic Silk road, Pear river delta. A fast develo city and trade centre for export import. Great market areas.

Bi annual gathering of international trade if you’re looking for products and manufacturers.

优点：多元化的民族，大学聚集，历史悠久的丝绸之路，珠江三角洲。一个快速发展的城市和进出口贸易中心。是一个很大的市场。

如果你想要寻找商品和厂家，这里还有一年两次的国际贸易展。

Cons:

Large contingency of Africans that have ingrained in the community and have gangs,

Likely Russians too!

缺点：

这里非洲人太多了，拉帮结派，还有一些是俄罗斯人！

Old city with old Overpopulated trains (though being upgraded)

High pollution levels (my experience 2019 sick after a weekend in the city, I couldn't put it down to anything sees as I was wheezing

老城区，老旧拥挤的火车，已着手升级

污染严重，我2019年在广州呆了一个周末就生病了

William Regan

Related

What is your favorite thing about living in Guangzhou, China?

I’ve a few reasons why I’ve called Guangzhou home for almost a decade now.

The Biggest Reason - The cost of living compared to the amount of opportunity here is great. I pay the same amount of rent for an apartment 5 minutes from the exact middle of a city of 15+ million people as I would for an apartment in my hometown of about 300,000 people and considerably less economic opportunity.

在广州生活，你最喜欢的事情是什么？

我有几个理由可以解释为什么我把广州作为第二故乡，生活了近十年。

最大的原因——与这里的工作机会相比，广州的生活成本不算高。这是一个拥有1500多万人口的城市，我在距离市中心5分钟车程的地方租了一套公寓，支付的租金和我在30万人口的家乡租住的公寓一样，但那儿的工作机会要少得多。

All told I spend maybe about $1,500 USD per month on my expenses here. The rest of my money? Completely discretionary — I can save it, invest it, or just spend it on the pleasures of food or travel.

总的来说，我在广州每个月的开销大约是1500美元。剩下的钱则完全由我自由支配——我可以把钱存起来、投资，也可以把钱花在吃喝玩乐上。

Yulin Liu

Where is better for an expat, Guangzhou or Foshan?

对外国人来说，广州和佛山哪个地方更好呢？

I am a Foshan native, but I have to agree with other answers that tell you Guangzhou is a more cosmopolitan city with a significantly larger expat community and is easier to navigate for a foreigner. However, the downside is that the cost of living in Guangzhou is also higher, especially the rental, and the traffic congestion is also more serious. Moreover, the facilities in Guangzhou are also easily accessible even if you live in Foshan due to the convenient Guangfo Metro system.

我是佛山人，但我也必须同意其他人的回答，广州是一个更加国际化的城市，外国人更多，对外国人而言更宜居。不过，广州也有个缺点，那就是生活成本也相对较高，尤其是房租，交通堵塞情况也较为严重。另外，广州的交通设施也很方便，即便你住在佛山，但我们有便捷的广佛地铁线。

At the end of the day, I think it all boils down to your purpose of teaching in China. If you want to enjoy typical expat lifestyle and constantly hang out with a lot of people from all around the world, Guangzhou will be a better choice. But if you want to experience the Chinese way of living, bond with the local students and learn more about the Lingnan culture, both cities are equally good.

总而言之，我认为这一切都要看你在中国当老师的目的是什么。如果你只想维持外国人的生活方式，经常和世界各地的人一起玩乐，广州是一个更好的选择。但如果你想体验中国的生活方式，和当地学生拉近关系，多了解一些岭南文化，那么这两座城市都是不错的选择。

Jessica Bolin

Related

Expats in China-what are the best things and worst things about living in China?

Picking a best is hard, for me it's a toss-up between the food, and being just a train ride away from some great travel destinations (I hate flying).

在中国生活的外国人——在中国生活，最棒和最糟的事情分别是什么？

非要评出哪个最棒并不容易，对我来说，我喜欢这里的美食和搭乘火车就可抵达某些绝佳的旅游目的地，我讨厌坐飞机。

Worst....worst is that no matter how much people may like living in a foreign country, it never becomes 100% home. In China it's made doubly hard to feel like you fit in when people are constantly talking about how foreign you are. Can't so much as get in a tax without the driver asking you why you're in China. Sometimes it just makes you homesick.

最糟糕的…最糟糕的是，无论我们多喜欢在国外的生活，也永远无法真的代替我们的故乡。在中国，人们会一直说你是外国人，你很难真的融入。就连坐的士，司机也会问你，为什么来中国呀？这些都会让你更加想家。

Tim Brown

Related

What are the best cities in China for Western expats?

对西方人而言，中国最好的城市是哪几个？

Shanghai, Beiing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong are the biggest cities in China. They are the best to start out in for a foreigner first arriving in China. I stayed in Shanghai for a few months when I first arrived, but it’s too busy for me. Those 5 cities are considered tier 1 cities in China. I lived in tier 1, 2, and 3 cities for various amounts of time. I liked being in tier 3 cities for living. I paid only about 1000 rmb per month for my two bedroom apartments there, but the availability of stuff to do is REALLY limited! I was most comfortable in a tier 2 city, though. Kinda the best of both worlds: housing was much cheaper than the big cities, but not as cheap as tier 3, but there was a lot more to do. I stayed in two different tier two cities: Hangzhou (the capital of Zhejiang province (just south of Shanghai) and Naning (the capital of Jiangsu province just north of Shanghai). I loved Naning. So much growth happening all the time, but not too expensive if you stay out of the city center. In my almost 3 years there, I saw the city go from 5 subway lines to 12 !

上海、北京、深圳、广州和香港是中国最大的城市。对于首次来到中国的外国人而言，这些城市都是最好的。

我刚来中国时在上海待了几个月，但是上海太忙碌了。这5个城市是中国的一线城市。

我在一线、二线和三线城市都生活过一段时间。我喜欢在三线城市的生活。

我租住的两居室公寓每月只需要1000元人民币的房租，但对外国人而言生活真的有些无聊！

我觉得二线城市的生活是最舒服的。住房比大城市便宜很多，虽然不如三线城市那么便宜，但不会太无聊。

我在两个不同的二线城市呆过：杭州（浙江省省会，位于上海以南）和南京（江苏省省会，位于上海以北）。我更喜欢南京。

我在南京生活了三年，见证了这个城市的地铁线路从5条增加到12条！

Kai Lu

Related

What are the advantages and disadvantage of living in China?

I'm answering the question from the perspective of a Chinese who spend considerable time in foreign country.

在中国生活的优点和缺点是什么？

我会从一个在国外生活过一段时间的中国人的角度来回答这个问题。

Advantages of living in China will include:

在中国生活的优势包括：

Food. It's always a pleasure for me to visit the local morning market and check the the variety of fresh green veges and fruit available. Dining out is so affordable and again so many choices available.

美食。对我来说，逛逛当地的早市，看看琳琅满目的新鲜蔬菜和水果，让我非常惬意。外出就餐的价格也很实惠，选择多多。

Infrastructure and public transport. The experience of self -driving was smooth in the north-west of China ,even in some unknown small counties. The experience with the bullet train was even better.

基础设施和公共交通。我在中国西北地区甚至是默默无闻的小县城自驾都很顺利。乘坐高铁的体验就更好了。

Native language /culture. You're not in a daily struggle with second language and the alien culture. You belong to the majority of the society i/o a member of marginalized minority.

母语/文化。你不必每天都为第二语言和陌生文化烦恼。你是这个社会的多数人群，不是被边缘化的少数群体。

E - commerce. E- commerce in China is well establish and well integrated into the daily life. The speed of the logistic is amazing.

电子商务。电子商务在中国已经很成熟了，已经深深融入了人们的日常生活。物流速度快得惊人。

Labour cost. Labour cost in China is increasing quickly but still much lower than the western countries, which means ordinary city dwellers can afford to hire domestic helper, nannies, etc to outsource the daily chores.

劳动力成本。中国的劳动力成本正在快速增长，但仍远远低于西方国家，这意味着普通城市居民也雇得起家政、保姆来处理日常家务。

No confusion of cultural identity of your children.

不会让孩子的文化认同感出现混淆。

Job opportunity. Being the second largest economy in the world , the job market in China is far more dynamic.

工作机会。作为世界第二大经济体，中国的就业市场更具活力。

Disadvantages will be:

缺点如下：

1.Pollution. There are many clean and liveable cities in China, but the first/second tier cities are the ones where the jobs are available. For the level of pollution, I think Shenzhen and Shanghai is much better than Beiing.

1.污染。中国有许多干净宜居的城市，但一二线城市是就业机会最多的城市。就污染水平而言，我认为深圳和上海比北京好得多。

2 .Food safety. This is also depend on where you live. There is big regional difference.Smaller cities tend to be more self- reliance on fresh food supply , hence safer than the bigger cities.

2 .食品安全。这取决于你生活在哪里，地区差异很大。小城市往往更注重新鲜食品的供应，因此在食品安全方面胜过大城市。

3.Over competition for resources ( education, medical, etc). For ordinary citizens, who have to rely on public education and medical systems, it's a daily struggle as the resources is always limited compared to the size of population.

3.资源(教育、医疗等)的过度竞争。对于依赖公共教育和医疗系统的普通公民来说，这种竞争无处不在，因为跟人口规模相比，资源还是十分有限的。

4.Sky rocketing housing price. The ever increasing housing price is definitely a huge burden for the young people. And its also enlarging the gaps between haves and have- nots.

4.房价飞涨。不断上涨的房价对年轻人来说无疑是沉重的负担，还极大扩大了贫富差距。

5.Distorted value system. China is transforming itself at an unprecedented speed for the last few decades. Inner peace is a rare commodity in such a society. People always quote Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities) to describe the phenomenon: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

5.扭曲的价值体系。在过去的几十年里，中国一直在以空前的发展速度蜕变着。在这样的社会里，人们要保持内心的平和是十分困难的。人们经常引用查尔斯·狄更斯(《双城记》)的话来描述这一现象：这是最好的时代，也是最坏的时代；这是智慧的时代，也是愚蠢的时代；这是信仰的时期，也是怀疑的时期；这是希望之春，这是失望之冬。人们面前应有尽有，人们面前一无所有；人们正踏上天堂之路，人们正走向地狱之门。

Dylan Cayer

Housing: The price of housing isn't bad if you found somebody to share an apartment with or lived in a less popular area. My roommate pays around 2,000 a month and it's a large area in the center.

住房：如果你找到了合租室友，或者选择不那么热门的地区，那么房租不会太贵。我的室友每月支付2000元左右的房租，房子在市中心，面积很大。

Work: although illegal by visa rules you would still be able to find part time work to supplement living costs.

工作：虽然根据签证规定，外国人不能在中国工作，但你可以做些兼职工作来补贴生活成本。

Population: This can be both a good or bad thing depending on how immersed you would like to be. One thing to remember is that although GZ is a top tier city the foreign population isn't as high as Beiing or Shanghai.

人口：这可能是一件好事，也可能是一件坏事，就看你希望如何融入。要记得一点，尽管广州是个一线城市，但外国人的数量并不像北京或上海那么多。

Night life: from my experience most guys enjoy this side of Guangzhou the most. Although not on the standard of Beiing or Shanghai, Guangzhou has a pretty good scene for clubs, parties and foreign goods. From my experience GZ is the best food city in China with its diversity and price.

夜生活：以我的经验来看，大多数人最喜欢的就是广州的夜生活。虽然比不上北京和上海，但广州的俱乐部、派对和进口商品都很不错。我觉得广州是中国最好吃的美食之都，菜色繁多，价格实惠。