Chengdu: the affordable inland option

Chengdu is the Sichuan capital, a city of around twenty million, and the most common answer to "where in China can I live well on a normal salary?" Rents are materially below Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen while teaching salaries are not proportionally lower, which is the whole arbitrage.

Work here

Two realistic markets. Teaching — schools, universities and private centres, with the same legal requirements as everywhere: a degree, a clean record, usually a TEFL or CELTA, and a school actually licensed to employ foreigners. Ask to see an existing foreign teacher's permit before you sign anything; the working in China guide has the permit tiers and the scams. Tech and operations — the high-tech zone and the Tianfu New Area host software, gaming and electronics employers, and those roles are hired through formal A/B tier channels rather than word of mouth.

Notarization and documents

The single most-read Chengdu page this site ever published was about finding a notary public office here, and that is still the city-specific errand that trips people up. A Chinese notary office (公证处) is a government-authorised body, not a private service: you go in person, with your passport and the original documents, and notarised translations are produced there. What you need notarised, apostilled or legalised, and in which order, is the general problem — covered in the notarization guide. Which office you walk into is the local part, and district notary offices are listed by the municipal justice bureau rather than by any directory, including the one this site used to run.

Living here

Costs are the draw; the food is the reason people stay. Two international airports now serve the city, and high-speed rail reaches Chongqing and Xi'an quickly, though Chengdu is a long way from the coast and that matters if your work involves factories or freight. Residence registration, banking and the medical check work as they do nationally — see living in China. The international community is smaller than in Guangzhou or Beijing and more concentrated around the universities and the high-tech zone.

Other cities

The city overview covers how to choose between them, and the cross-cutting guides — living in China, working in China, wholesale markets — apply everywhere.