I lived in Shanghai for 3 years. It’s an awesome place to live. The culture is incredibly optimistic - everyone really believes that they will be more successful than their parents, and that optimism is infectious. It’s hard to find that attitude in the US these days. Plus the food is amazing, and everything is cheap especially labor like cleaning and cooking.

The biggest negative about living in China IMO is that the system isn’t built for you. You can’t buy property there and it’s incredibly hard to get any long term residence without a job. It’s also really hard to run a sustainable business there, as I’ve heard from many friends. The government wants Chinese to do well, so they don’t help foreigners out in the slightest. Also of course the pollution sucks and it’s annoying to have to bypass the internet firewall. Those things really wear down on you after a while.