woutr_be and mc32 described it well. You will feel like an outsider, but people are not hostile towards white Westerners. It's very difficult to ever feel truly

woutr_be and mc32 described it well. You will feel like an outsider, but people are not hostile towards white Westerners. It's very difficult to ever feel truly local though. My personal experience is that Kaohsiung has more social life than Shenzhen, which is partly government policy (no Facebook in China, segregated churches for foreigners, difficult to get English-teaching visas so fewer foreigners around). Learning Mandarin is super hard. I'm introverted and can't just pick it up through language exchange like the English teachers seem to do. I spend my days in front of a computer screen, not talking to people. I wrote https://pingtype.github.io https://pingtype.github.io to help with my studies. If you have feedback about that program, please tell me! Also check the blog on there to read more about the ways I've tried and failed to learn. Living at the same financial level is difficult in Taiwan. The government requires skilled foreigners (tech workers) to be paid 2x the minimum wage. English teachers get paid even more, with fewer hours. There are some digital nomads who work over the internet, but they come illegally on tourist visas (that's common, and the government doesn't really care in Taiwan). My lifestyle is comparable to local people, though. The extra savings goes towards 1 or 2 intercontinental trips per year when I can visit family. I'm neither rich nor poor - I get paid double what local people do, but half the salary expected by NZ immigration for me to be considered "skilled". (I really hope they will adjust for purchasing power parity). My personal expenses are mostly food, rent, and electronics, and all of those are very cheap here (but delicious). In short, if you're interested, come to visit! You won't regret it. Or if you're in Canada, I'm going to Vancouver from the 26th August - 2nd September and I can introduce you to some international groups there (CouchSurfing, First Baptist Internationals) where you can make some Taiwanese friends.