Just got out of an initial interview with a Chinese lab. I was nervous at even the thought of moving that far, but they showed more interest in hiring me than any American lab (probably because Americans have no money for science). I'm setting up a time to present my research to them.
It's been really hard to find work, so while I'm nervous at the prospect of going somewhere so (supposedly) different, I hope this goes well.
What city? I spend a lot of time in China.
Westlake University in Hangzhou, China. I'm told everyone on campus speaks English and they have post-doc housing, so I think I should be able to get by well enough. I should probably start learning the language though it seems from the news that China is going to be the biggest player in science soon enough regardless of whether I get this particular job.
Hangzhou is really nice to visit…I have friends living there that think it's a little boring, but different strokes and all that. Overall I'd say go for it! You aren't even that far from Shanghai, it's possible to live in Shanghai and commute to Hangzhou by subway/train in like < 1 hour, so if you find you don't like living in HZ, you could move to SH (if you don't mind the commute).
Learning chinese in 2026 couldn't hurt. I've never been to that province, but I can see gor 3-9USD, you can take a 30-90 minute train to/from Shanghai.
See the min wage in my state is 15 usd a hour, so I see no need to learn chinese
Its useful for international business and apparently science given that everything is made in China.
But also when rent is 1500, that's 100 hours per month just to not be homeless. A chinese teenager working at a fast food place makes a measily 3USD/hr, but his rent is 150, so he spends half as much time to not be homeless. Same applies to food and transport.