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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Suits" data-source="post: 1187393" data-attributes="member: 4308">That's the key. If you enjoy spending time here, the trick is to get long, regular breaks. Currently, I'm working towards doing work that allows me to leave China whenever I want for as long as I want, but I'm not crazy enough to think I want to leave and never come back.China has this ability to pull you back in even after you've left swearing that you'll never return.As for me, the last time and only time I left promising that I wouldn't be back was in 2012 and that was after a particularly rough set of experience. I took a break for 2.5 years and then decided that my prospects were better in China than anywhere elsewhere.I actually have not come anywhere close to doing the whole seven years in you shot. I came first for a 3 month semester, which was followed the following year by a 5 month semester. I then took a two year break to continue my studies in the USA (even though I would have preferred to be in China, but I needed to make headway on my degree).Then I did two one year stints with a semester back in the US sandwiched in between them. That was in Tianjin and that's the city that made me never want to come back to China.I returned after finished my degree in 2014 and have been back ever since. I still like Beijing quite a bit, but the thing that I recognize is that China doesn't always bring the best out of people and that it burns a hole in your soul to spend all of your days around people who have the type of values you see on display in China.At present my plan is to establish a system where I can spend about half my year in China and half elsewhere, not because I need to be in China, but because I want to be.One year isn't that bad. It's when you get past 2 years that I think people feel they have had enough. However, for me, the last 4 years hasn't been bad at all. The biggest problem I've had is not the negatives of living in China, but rather being in a line of work where I can't have the weekly schedule that allows me to have the lifestyle I want and that the constant increases in Beijing housing costs means that my lifestyle isn't improving, even as I begin to earn a lot more.These issues have less to do with China or more to do with my own life choices (living in Beijing for one, doing the work I do for another). I could live anywhere else in China if I chose and do other work if I wished. That's why I'm doubling down on a plan to change the type of work I do so that I can have the lifestyle I desire. The plan is in motion and going well.The restaurant scene in Beijing is truly amazing, not just for the Chinese cuisines, but for food from all over the world. It's one of the reasons I love this city. Even Shenzhen doesn't even come close (although Shanghai is comparable or better). There's a decent underground music scene in Beijing that I began to explore just last summer and there's a thriving art scene too.The subway system is a wonder to behold (although it lacks creativity and doesn't solve the problem that Beijing is so damn big, that it still takes forever to get anywhere, even with subway lines that go literally everywhere). High speed trains have really changed the game for sure and the variety and affordability of the flights in and out and around the country is impressive.Your biggest problem in a city like this is being too busy to properly enjoy it.I don't take advantage of app-based car services or food delivery, however. One of my rules for healthy China survival is to cook most of my meals at home and to achieve personal independence by riding anywhere I need to go on my own. I take taxis occasionally, but even that's pretty rare outside of the winter months.</blockquote>

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