I know I’m whittling down a very specific niche here, but for those of you that have extended experience living in both, which place do you prefer? And why?
Thanks! :lick:
Taiwan has unrestricted Internet access. Nuff sed.
China: more money, nice people, more international in some ways. Less hassle to travel to than Taipei. Harder to get work permits than Taiwan.
Taiwan: better environment, cleaner food, more culturally interesting. Smaller so easier to get to sea and mountains. Great shopping: there isn’t that much to buy in Chinese shopping malls, if you are out of Shanghai. Low taxation.
There’s a huge difference in lifestyle depending on where you live, in China. Your experience would be very different in Shanghai than Wenzhou, and even different in a small town in terms of things such as access to medical care whereas in Taiwan, it’s fairly uniformly OK but nothing special.
China is run by an extremely repressive, murdering authoritarian regime and Taiwan is just run by corrupt dumbasses, if you care about that.
I guess it’s difficult to summarise the differences without knowing what your concerns are.
China is usually better careerwise, especially outside of teaching
[quote=“Ermintrude”]China: more money, nice people, more international in some ways. Less hassle to travel to than Taipei. Harder to get work permits than Taiwan.
[/quote]
China has nicer people?
Less weird. They don’t do that crazy thing when they won’t speak Chinese to you in shops, and they don’t talk shit about you in front of you. People seem a little more genuine and don’t try and befriend you to get involved in pyramid selling, or shit like that – nobody ever asks me to buy vitamins, in China 
. Never been groped on the underground or heard as much of the ‘Local women who have foreign boyfriends are whores’ or ‘foreigners are all losers APART FROM YOU HAHAHA’ stuff.
I’m sure it exists, it’s just less in your face in China. Also, China is enormous and Taiwan isn’t: my answers comparing my life in China might be completely different to someone’s who lives in Shenzhen or Beijing or Gansu province, whereas you can get a pretty accurate view of Taipei or Taichung life from forumosa. Pinch of salt.
I like both places. You need to figure out what’s important and what your criteria are. Pollution, healthcare, schools, job opps, food, countryside, convenience, travel links, expat communities or whatever, and decide based on that. Narrow it down.
I reckon there is some truth to that. Shanghai and East Coast cities are super-competitive and prosperous, as well as increasingly globalized. People dont have time for that kind of smiley xenophobia.
I found Shanghai quite xenophobic once you get outside the centre of Puxi. And people talk about you in front of you all the time. Maybe it’s just the experience I had. 
I believe all of this. Taiwan’s island state breeds weirdness and gossip, too. Mix that into densely-populated communities and you’ve got quite the spice of life!
My experience in China is limited to Shenzhen but it felt a lot more “open” if that makes any sense. Probably because of the extra space, it didn’t feel like somebody was always up in your business.
SHENZHEN is full of migrants from all
Over China, a place to get ahead. Taiwan is often like a giant overcrowded village.
Hello,
I am quite new to the forum, not new to Taiwan though. I am now in Shanghai, but will move back mid of December. I will still work on the mainland, means I will fly there 2 or 3 times per month.
In China the most acceptable place for living is probably Shanghai, slightly better air quality (isn’t there the discussion here about the air quality on forumosa? And most people get scared on the index hits 100…). I have been now almost 4 years to Shanghai.
Living in Shanghai: housing is expensive, food is expensive, going out is expensive, feeling is: things (especially going out) cost double compared to Taipei, imported foods 3 times to 4 times the price abroad. Schooling expensive if you go for international school (French, German, American, British, etc.), tuition is about twice than that of TAS (Taipei American School), and prices go up 5 to 10% every year, also for everything else including housing, food, schooling. Otherwise more foreigners in Shanghai than Taipei, they like the old Shanghai, the former French concession, which is kind of nice, but I am from Europe. So old buildings and 100 year old houses are nothing new. I would say probably life is good or say exciting in Shanghai when you are young, with a good paid job. With a family life in China Shanghai is bearable but not recommended (air, cost, etc.). Outside Shanghai you really won’t like to be, especially with families, some people say Suzhou is ok, getting better, ya sure…
Living in Taiwan: Taipei, compared to Shanghai, seems in a way cleaner, but also less developed for some parts (older buildings, humid air, hot temperatures), things have a higher quality. Taiwan has a basic living standard and most people have that. In China many people have less, are poor. Some other points: the air quality in Taiwan better, Taipei offers more cultural things, film festivals, museums, concerts. Maybe I am a bit biased, having family in Taiwan, lived there before Shanghai for 10 years, first time visiting Taiwan in 1994.
So, to sum it up, I prefer Taiwan for living. For work I have to go to China since there is still some development.
SunnyboyInTaiwan
Sunnyboy goes Africa Ahoi
Thanks for that. Actually, I was surprised to read the earlier posts from people that prefer China. Yes, I’d agree that Shanghai isn’t a great place to raise children.
China is a vast country with a rich history and stunning scenery. It should be a great place to base as an expat for a few years with lots of choices. That’s it not tells you how much of a clusterfuck they’ve made of their environment and their society!
I just don’t want to bring my family to expose them to that level of air pollution. I also think they would gain little from the education environment, and the foreign schools are so expensive, what’s the point unless you are on a seriously high wage and benefits?
Visited Shanghai often, one of the worlds most overrated ‘international’ cities. Doesn’t have a patch on real
International cities in Europe or North America or even Tokyo or Singapore. Still it’s possible to find cheaper environments in the outskirts of Shanghai and send your kids to local schools just like Taipei. But again, what’s the point?
culturally what is going on in Taipei and Shanghai…they don’t have interesting international music festivals or street festivals or octoberfests. Cloud gate and Chinese opera…some get off on that but I snooze. Competitive sports? (Taipei has the bike tracks and hiking though…).
One week in London would have more going than both cities for most of the year!
I also agree that deep down China has a lot of grotty dirty stuff under the cleaner shinier facade, you want to watch out for things there too, for instance taxi drivers can be well dodgy! They also like a good fight in China, screaming at each other is a regular past time.
I kind of like some of the other smaller cities in China, like Guilin or Xiamen. SHENZHEN and Nanjing don’t seem too bad either. But in the end they are mostly more of the same Asian cities everybody crammed together living in massive apartment blocks inhaling dirty air and not doing much community stuff.
I did both and found all the observations from previous posters to be right on.
One thing to consider is overall job satisfaction - not only does China generally pay more but you may have the opportunity to do work that is much more interesting.
Yes, work wise it seems the place to be. There’s even a chance to work for Chinese multinationals or to see their alternative and more innovative business practices, it that was your thing (micro payments by wechat is something that fascinates me, and their online services seem to be more comprehensive, plenty of money floating around).
Otherwise…a big mehhhh from me. Paris in the 1930s it is not.
[quote=“skulls”]I know I’m whittling down a very specific niche here, but for those of you that have extended experience living in both, which place do you prefer? And why?
Thanks! :lick:[/quote]
Also - most employers in China give more annual leave and there are more public holidays on the mainland… both big pluses given that you can go on a handful of week long vacations every year.
Companies I have interviewed with in mainlad, mostly tech startups, have been superior to what I have seen in Taiwan. In terms of working culture, pay, opportunities, vision etc.
Totally agree with your point…but it wouldn’t be hard to beat Taiwan on those points. 
People in shops in Taiwan almost always speak Mandarin to me with a very few exceptions in East Taipei or up in Tianmu where there are more foreigners who don’t speak Chinese. Even then, the staff almost always switch to Mandarin if they find out that I can speak Mandarin. People do sometimes switch to Taiwanese when I am around. I haven’t noticed people talking shit about me, nor do people try to befriend me to get me involved in pyramid schemes or sell me vitamins. I guess different people have different experiences.
For the purpose of rocking the boat I’ll go into a little more detail:
Pollution: hands down China is more polluted. If thats a big issue you might consider Taiwan.
Food: I preferred the food in China. When you’re out of the big cities there is more variety and the western options in the big cities are generally much more diverse.
Housing: most apartments in China are bigger and the cities are better planned.
People: I found chinese people are more open and approachable. In the workplace Taiwanese are more guarded. There is more diversity in the foreign community in China based purely on numbers which may also be a drawcard. There is much more in terms of community and sports groups in China which may play a big part in your decision.
Cities: if you like city life Shanghai and parts of Beijing cater for most tastes. IF you don’t need to be in a big city Shenzhen is quite tropical, and coastal cities like Ningbo and Qingdao are laid back and quite nice.
Maybe the OP can elaborate on what they consider important in their decision and we can give them some more specific info.