Xiangcheng, China

If you can earn dollars and spend yuan, you’ll stretch a paycheck absurdly far here. A one-bedroom in the city center runs about $500 a month, and everything else, food, transport, a few nights out, lands around $550. Internet clocks 150 Mbps on average, plenty for video calls and streaming, so remote work is technically feasible. But the local economy doesn’t offer much for foreign job seekers beyond a handful of English teaching gigs. Manufacturing and agriculture are the backbone, and nobody’s hiring outsiders for those.

You’ll find apartments easily, though “modern” often means uneven heating and kitchenettes that can’t handle real cooking. Buses are the main way around, cheap and frequent but entirely in Chinese, so you learn route numbers fast or you’re lost. The nearest proper hospital with English-speaking staff is likely in Xuzhou, 45 minutes away, which becomes a real headache if you’re dealing with anything beyond a common cold. Bureaucracy here is what you’d expect in a city that rarely sees foreigners: residence permits and visa extensions involve a lot of photocopies, baffled officials, and at least one unnecessary trip across town. Don’t count on anyone speaking English, not in shops, not in the police station. You’ll need WeChat and a translator app just to open a bank account.

You’ll do fine here if you already know China, speak some Mandarin, and earn income from outside the country. The low overhead is the whole point. Retirees with a taste for solitude and street food can make it work, but the healthcare limitations are a serious consideration. If you need a foreign community, restaurants that serve breakfast you recognize, or medical care you can navigate without a bilingual friend on speed dial, this city will grind you down. Go to Suzhou, Hangzhou, or anywhere with a real expat infrastructure. Xiangcheng rewards self-reliance and a high tolerance for inconvenience. Everybody else leaves within a year.