As a Chinese living in Shanghai I need to say your obversion about our social is totally accurate. And like you said, the population made our culture, include the good side and the bad side, such as the competition and the things you don't like (some I don't like too). "No country is perfect", so embrace what you love and use actions to change what can be changed. :)

It's not late for you to travel around China. On the contrast, it's the perfect time now. You are still young, but old enough to appreciate the nature wonders or Chinese culture. I almost forget everything that happened when I was a kid.

For me, as a Chinese international student who is right now studying in America, this video really provided me a whole new perspective. I have complained to my friends about how hard it is if I want a job to settle down and get a US green card but didn’t realize it is also hard for Americans to attain a Chinese one. Any way, I completely understand the difficulties you may face as a foreigner trying to live in a foreign country and hopefully we can both have a better future.

说得真好，中国不是一个移民国家，确实没有很多移民配套政策，外国人可能会比较辛苦，不过希望你的生活越来越好

Glad to hear from a foreigner perspective of living in China. I’m sure you’ll do good in China. Keep it up.

有这么多压力和不便，还能继续留在这里生活，真的挺不容易的。祝未来的政策会更友好一些，也祝你的生活更幸福一些。

My nephew, who was born and raised in Canada, recently came to Hong Kong because he wants his kids to learn about their heritage, and to learn the Chinese language. But, he did not put his kids in local school, same as your parents. You see, he would have a problem tutoring his kids. You probably know already that Chinese schools are very competitive, so the parents have to spend time tutoring their kids to help them get good grades. So Alysa, maybe you'd regret not attending a local school but I'm sure your parents don't regret that at all.😅

I lived in China for 8 years teaching English at university. I lived in 3 different small cities. I think it was great because the small cities were easy to get around and not as crowded as the big cities. In each city I had a motorcycle and that made it easy to get around. I didn’t make a big salary but the schools provided an apartment and the cost of living in a small city was not expensive. And I got a lot of free time and vacation time and I was able to travel and go to other places in the country. Now I’m too old to work there (they have a rule about hiring older teachers). But I hope I can go back and travel. By the way I went to Shanghai in May 2023 and it was the first time in China in 7 years. It was great but I got a shock. Almost everyone was paying for everything with their phones. I only had cash. But thank goodness people accepted my cash. Things keep changing! I’ve been in 6 countries in the past year and China is the only one that is like that. Everywhere else cash is commonly used

Alysa, solidarity to you, I love your channel and insights. I will work on what I can of them to improve my little one 's life. Thank you for all you do.

Hi Alysa, happy to watching your KZfaq channel, So friendly you’re, My childhood life was in Guangzhou and growing up in HongKong, your Mandarin pronunciation is attractive and impressive, I am proud of you ! I speak Cantonese, Mandarin, English, German and some French, my daughter speaks German, French, English, Italian and some Cantonese. I am living in Switzerland with retirement, I was visiting Guangzhou and HongKong regularly before pandemic. I booked my flight to Hong Kong in January, perhaps see you in Guangzhou, if I am lucky, thank you for sharing this video ❤❤❤

Hi, your post makes my day. I’m Chinese Canadian from Taishan. My great great grandparents immigrated to California somewhere in 1940’s. Then my mom married to Montréal. Technically, I’m the 5th generation and my son is the 6th generation in North America. My mother tongue is Taishanese and I also speak fluently Cantonese, French and English. In 2009, I visited for the first time Hong-Kong and Guangzhou. When I question people on the menu, people were surprised coz they thought I was a local 😂 I was very proud that I still master Cantonese. My parents were so stricts and now I can tell they did a great job teaching me and my two siblings. Actually, my 12 others American Chinese cousins, even if we are the 5th generation, they all speak Cantonese! The 6th generation are more mixted French-Chinese, American-Chinese, Jew-Chinese, Korean-Chinese: this will be challenge to preserve our language.

Loved hearing from you. Please post videos more frequently.❤

Alyssa, I totally agree with you. Good video!

There is so much competition in China. As a college student, I don’t even have time to stop and think about my life and then I have to strive for the next phase of my life. 😢 I really wish someday I can earn enough money to travel around the country or even the world freely. But right now, this is only a dream

I really love it! Thanks for sharing!

诗闻，你在中国呆这么久，对中国文化和习俗这么了解的人，值得一个绿卡，希望中国为你们这类人开放通道，喜欢你的视频

你说的中国的缺点确实不错，我也是这样，我也是打算再工作个几年就去云南买个小房子躺平哈哈。然后我也希望国家能修改政策，让你们这样在中国生活这么多年的人可以得到绿卡，祝你生活愉快。

it was so nice that you added the chinese subtitle! Really appreciate your love and advice to this country, and hope you'll get the green card in the near future~

Thanks for sharing all aspects of our country to the world ❤❤❤

I'm a 100% native Chinese person born and raised in China. I've experienced and realized all the cons you mentioned as I grew up. I used to be kind of sick of those things but I wondered why our country is like that. And after my one-year studying abroad in the US, I came up with the same idea you said.. All the pros and cons can be related to the size of population here. I also really wish that our country can be more open to foreigners staying for longer in the future. And thank you for sharing these about China criticallly and impersonally❤

Can total relate ‘sometimes you want to be alone and feel sad, but couldn’t, with all these people around’😂😂

Very nice video! I encourage you to explore different regions of China. I grew up in the northern part of China, and different parts of China differ so much in culture, I think, moving to the US for 20 plus years in my mid 20's was not that much of a change.

Happy to see a nice and pretty girl like you can love China so much and I appreciate your grasp on the pro and cons of what the county is currently facing.Hope you can stay as long as you want on this land!

疫情三年让很多外国人都跑了，还能留下来的算真爱了😂😂

Quite spot on! Space! Shortage of space for personal growth, space for relaxation, space for rejuvenation, that is the biggest challenge of living in China. I think the Chinese society begin to realize that is the bottleneck issue for China and things are starting to change as you mentioned.

希望政策面能更好地关照到热爱此地的国际友人。祝愿你幸福好运！

Love your video. Keep this up. Take care.

So true. Especially the population and competition part (even when Guangzhou is considered the chillest tier-1 city in China).

You obviously love China. Just with your videos, you’ve shown life in China that most people don’t get to see. I really hope they will change the laws for people who have been living there for so long and who contribute to its community. To me, your videos alone is a positive contribution.

I agree with one of the commenters here: I think you should convey your thoughts on relaxing requirements for a green card to people in your district or even higher up within the province, if not higher.

Great video! Very informative and objective as well. I’m from China and it’s well known that it’s difficult for foreigners to live/travel there due to lack of the national ID card: you almost need it to do anything (most life essential apps require ID card for verification purpose).

Randomly stumbled upon this video , I instantly became a fan !!!!!! Love you !!! I also live in Guangzhou ❤️

The various restrictions for foreigners owning a property might change over time depending on situations. But it's definitely not a very crucial issue for the government to prioritise for now.

Maybe one of the most onpoint English video that offers an ideologically uncontaminated perspective. I was born and raised in Xi'an since 1999. Somehow ended up in Portland OR now. Can't really plan every step of your life... BEST LUCK with your journey!!!

My family is from Guangzhou, but we moved to the US when I was young. I really appreciate your insight 🙏🏼

Such a authentic feeling. All of those comments of China are very true. Glad to listen to your narrative.

amazing video I love china and I hope to go there one day

广州是很不错，不过夏季太热了，人也多，这是一线城市的通病。Alysa 你可以去内蒙古游玩，人少景美的地方很多，很适合一个人静静待着，放松身心。Welcome to Inner Mongolia for your travel experience! Inner Mongolia is a fascinating destination with diverse landscapes and rich cultural heritage.

I saw you at hezhimeng months ago, didn't know you have a channel. I am like is that Alysa the american girl I saw at that show, so glad to see you, hope you have a good day!

Well said! As a Chinese living in Shanghai, I agree with you 100%.

Haha it’s funny how naturally you gestured six hand sign. I find a lot of Chinese descendants born overseas wouldn’t be able to understand the way we sign numbers over five 😂

Great Content Alysa..your English is Perfect..thanks for telling the truth in your videos..hope you have a great life in China...very Jealous..😀

Hey Alysa, just discovered your channel. You're sort of unique in a sense that you spent most of your life in Guangzhou-China, I look forward to your perspective of being a 'foreigner' , in a homogeneous society. I've seen videos of ''foreigners', living in Korea and Japan...but you are the first in China.

I love you using the hand gesture when saying the number six

Thank you for shouting out the importance to learn and protect Cantonese, as it is a truly complex yet beautiful language that holds so much history and culture (or some will correctly say it's a dialect.) I'm thankful that I get to learn it as my mother tongue but it's really sad to see how this language is losing its ground in Hong Kong, due to all the new policies that the Government started to put in place since HK's reunification (ie. mandating all primary schools to teach Chinese in Mandarin instead of Canto). There're now more Cantonese/Hong Kongese diaspora trying to ensure they teach their kids Cantonese despite immigrating away, hopefully they'll get more and more support and manage to help keep Cantonese going in some way or another.

Totally agree with you about the inconvenience of living in china as a foreigner. I left China many years ago. But China still has a big part in my heart. My parents, siblings, relatives and friends are in China. Chinese is proud of its tech development. It makes the lives for local residents convenient. But foreigners are always in the corner cases for their single-mindedly designed systems. Ironically the more "advanced" Chinese technology develops, the most suffocating it is for foreigners who travel to China. This kind of implicit discrimination makes me feel not welcomed by my motherland any more. That is a little bitter and we have to move on.

Dear my human sister Thanks for sharing your personal journey in China since 1999. The reason I’m here to write the comment is not to judge or comment about your video which it’s very interesting and there’s no any negative comment towards you and your video at all! I born in Shanghai with my Shanghainese parents and 2 sisters and for whatever the reason that I’ve never have the ‘good’ feeling about living in the country and since I was a child my goal was leaving that country as soon as I grown up which I did after my uni graduation and 6months of the work… since then I’ve truly have been experiencing my own desired life especially freedom of expression…and after over 30 years left China ( I did travel to see my birth family members during those years) and I’m still so glad my choices for not living in China because I’m not only love my origin as a Chinese but I’m also love myself as a human been without needing to identify which country I was ‘belong to’ and I’m simply a human being and I’m the world citizen … Most importantly I’m living in the heaven reality that I’ve created which I couldn’t imagine I could have done that if I’ve stayed in China. In gratitude with unconditional love 🙏🙏🙏🤍✨🤍🙏🙏🙏

Your comment is exactlly what i have been thinking recent years! China now need some balance. Great Vlog.

所以说，硬币总有正反面，就看我们选择哪一面。得到了好处，就要付出相应代价。加油~

The same that your English wouldn not have been this GOOD (sounds exactly native) if you hadn't gone through the education system you had. Do you know most Asian Americans can't even speak a word of their parents' language and a lot of them even hated speaking their parents' language during childhood (cuz they wanted to fit in). You're able to express yourself natively in Mandarin and English so good for you!

I love how you made the six sign with your hand even talking in English.

Now that I have also stumbled upon your site, I will be following you too. Take care and all the best.

绿卡和身份证是两种不同证件，不要混淆哦!身份证=中国国籍，得放弃外国国籍才能拥有，绿卡是给外国人在中国合法居住和工作的证件。

Oh I have another comment - this one about traveling in China. I recently went to Qinghai. The province is twice the size of France but have less population that Guangzhou. Over there I found wildlife on the sides of expressways (I'd say they are pretty safe because there is not much traffic on those highways). So if you want to avoid crowds like me, keep Qinghai on your list of place-to-visit.

There are all ways somethings good somethings bad, Adapt current situation and enjoy the life you have is most important 事情總是有好有坏，适应狀況并享受你所拥有的生活是最重要的

说得非常中肯. 喜欢你的思想

很客观的评价，中国由于人口众多肯定是不会随便开放移民政策的，如果随便开放国内的社会资源负荷不了那么多人🤣😂

Thanks for this video, it was a breath of fresh air to see my own country like this from your eyes. I echo a lot of your sentiments, especially the part about work-life balance and mental health, but I do feel things are getting better after COVID now that people are making better use of remote working and there's a growing awareness of life over work. I find it really funny to hear you say your English is getting worse since I spend a lot of time consuming Western media and entertainment and I've barely written any Chinese since graduating from high school I fear my Chinese is getting worse XD I used to read a lot of Chinese literature but for some reason Western entertainment just appeals to me more so I'm just surrounded by English these days. I honestly did not know anything about immigration into China, and I personally feel your Chinese ability alone should qualify you for citizenship (not to mention your time spent here) XD I guess we're just not used to hearing about people moving in? I hear about people moving from China to Canada, Australia and the US all the time but I rarely hear about foreigners settling in. I'm just kind of used to the world spurning and criticizing China I haven't even considered the possibility that people might want to move in. Also, not sure how keen you are about this, but I've seen plenty of friends study in Hong Kong and pick up Cantonese very quickly. A lot of people in Hong Kong who speak Cantonese daily also pick up Mandarin very fast. I personally speak both. There are a lot of parallels in the pronunciation of words, and the grammar is basically the same, just some occasional nuances in lexicon. I know it might seem daunting at first, but I do hope this doesn't stop you from learning it if you're keen about it. In any case, 謝謝你的分享 :)

very honest perspective indeed

“No country is perfect. Everywhere has its pros and cons” perfectly said. All the best

I can feel you girl, I live in shenzhen and I recently got married to my Chinese partner I don’t even think about the green card haha😅 I just keep my own visa at the moment. I love how convenient and efficient can China be but yeah on the other hand I hate the 人山人海 thing every single holiday， and also me being a Latina girl I always get called xingjiang or simply get a lot of weird stares which I should get used to after being here for eight years but yeah it is still a bit uncomfortable at times. Apart from that China is a great place and quite misunderstood by people abroad, I just love the general safety here, but what you mentioned is also true the society gives a lot of pressure to its citizens not only on their working environment but also love wise, people’s interactions, the focus on beauty,skin color and money, etc.

多谢你的分享。我觉得中国在不久的将来会让像你这样的外国人能拿到绿卡。移民是个大事情，在没有把本国人的民生弄好，让过多外国人去跟本国人竞争会容易出问题的。

I didn't expect to see it on KZfaq.😁

Alysa, glad to know that you love living in China, though you are facing lots of difficulty in your life. 加油👍💪

It is so balanced video, just love it! sometimes I feel awkward when watching people just telling how good China life is, the safety and city buildings, surely it is mostly true but I would use a BBC term like at what cost😅 young people in the cities do carry a lot of burdens and deserve a better life style, hope the government people realize this so the population won’t crash in a few years

I think china should change its policy about giving out green card. Make it difficult but obtainable. Such as have people who are qualified ( people live in china for at least 10 years)to take a oral and written exam. People must be able to speak like a native at least about 90% and pass a written exam about chinese history and have knowledge of the chinese government policies. Have people do that in 2 seperate occasions in a setting like GalKao, where people cant cheat or bride the officials. I am sure people who truly like china and wanna stay will do everything to get through that, and people such as the vlogger will be 100% all for it!

I love how you use the chinese hand gesture for number 6 - you're truly a local

My daughter was born in China to two foreign parents. She is now 6 years old and I often wonder how she will look back on her life when she is older.

I never been to China..will love to visit China one day..I’m a British Hong Kong born Chinese..I speak Cantonese will love to learn speak mandarins ..maybe one day I will move to China

China definitely wants to change and improve but not BY THE WEST OR AMERICANS especially!!. They are changing at their own pace, according to their own priorities , according to the needs of their people.

Can’t believe I’m 10 days late!!! Okay knowledge, ooookay skin!!! 👏

You will have a great life, because you always improve from your past experiences!!!

I really hope China will open up PR options for guys like you. I mean, damn you're more local than I am (born in GZ lol)

Nice video! Even with a green card, you still won't be able to purchase products from platforms like the international Tmall, as it is still not designed to accommodate the small proportion of people without a Chinese ID. There are other options though if you really want that card. For example, if you get your PhD, you are now qualified for a green card or if you are under 18 and your parents earn the salary standard set for your city (which is different for every city), then you can also acquire it that way through them (or if your foreign spouse acquires one, you can also get it through him/her). Some people have also received it by being given awards like the Friendship Award (友谊奖). Continue to follow your heart and don't give up on your dreams. 加油加油!🐧[waddle]

Very, very good video, I wish you good health, happy every day, and get your ID soon.💖

Nice video! 加油！

Alysa: After watched and listened to your story i strongly advise you to write a letter to the Primary Minister Li Qiang on the Green Card issue, it will be worked according to my sixth sense. I am a Chinese i know there are some differences the way Chinese doing and thinking than foreigners, but generally speaking Chinese are more agreeable to sound reasons. You let them know your situation maybe it can make them to modify some policies which will benefit all foreigners not just you. For China governments the immigration issue is a virgin area that they do not know how to do it.

It's about the same thing here in Malaysia. I'm foreign born, not registered here, I had the same issues getting citizenship and all the perks you mentioned. But I found my partner here after retirement, and viola! I got my citizenship after about 5 years of arguing for it. Gone through a lot, but it's worth it as I did intend to remain and live out the rest of my life here. It's a struggle, a struggle most any foreigner finds away from home in another country unless you have a lot of money to invest. I wish every country in this world could adjust a bit regarding their foreign immigrants policies so it isn't that reggressive. Afterall aren't we just the same humans living in the same planet?

I'm Chinese aswell, and I also feel the same. In fact a lot of people in China can relate. If you feel alienated,, you're not the only one.

祝你好运😁😁😁

I definitely don't like the crowds after living in the states for so long. I do love the diversity in the states but I didn't feel that much growing up in China most likely because I'm ethinic Han Chinese and never even thought about diversity until I came to the states...

I was born in China and grew up in America for the past 30 years and I find your assessment and criticisms about China to be very fair. I can draw some parallels to your experience growing up as well, but from the other side of the world. Although I did manage to become a citizen after 10 years in the US, and could have access to all services and rights, I still feel that I am treated a bit differently than someone with Caucasian features. Asians are still a small group in America and will forever have the "foreigner" preconceptions/stereotypes attached to us even if we are born in the West. The recent COVID outbreak highlighted that fact. Politicians like Trump blamed China in every other sentence uttered, and Asian Americans paid the price. Many Asian Americans were physically attacked (some killed) and verbally abused with open racism. It's never fun to be a minority in any country, but I think the last time foreigners were targeted and killed in China was the Boxer Rebellion, a long time ago at least.

I really appreciate your fair comments. I wish you have fun in China.

great video!!!! Support 🎉 Last time I went back to china with my colleges, I found this big problem of foreigners limitations, they can not use WeChat pay because of the lack of Chinese ID…😢😢not a good thing for tourism

我是首次看你的片，外國很多人越來越多想來中國，門檻的放寬或收緊要看國家發展政策，確實不能一下只放寬太多，個人感覺如你已24年住中國，如無任何犯罪，個人覺得應該給與綠卡當然這是個人觀感！隨著人口下降國家政策或有所改變，期望你能拿到綠卡的一天

你的评价很中肯。祝你在中国的生活越来越好❤……

Just stumbled upon your videos here today. Growing up in HK, I speak fluent cantonese even though I had been living in Seattle for many years now. Btw, I just left Poland yesterday after spending a few weeks there. Where in Poland was your mom from? Btw, it would be nice if you made a cantonese video!

It was fun to see you use the hand gestures for the phone and the number #6. Which are identical.

其诗闻一家真的是很喜欢中国，这么多年没有拿到绿卡真的是蛮遗憾的，不过幸好现在结婚了，再过几年就可以拿到了

Living in an amazing and culture-abundant country, I hope your life will be better every day.

Thanks for sharing.

love your video.

我是中国人，我觉得我们的移民政策非常的死板！希望在不久的将来会有所改变，让你们这些从小在中国长大的人有真正的归属感

正如你说的，中国不是移民国家，中国人口居多😂😂所以外国人很难得到绿卡。但是我非常希望像你这样的外国人可以得到绿卡，希望日后可以有些关于外国人落户中国的友好政策吧。

Every place has good and bad points as you said. Where I live is so quiet and boring. 我愛上，也思念，台灣的人山人海生活，哈哈😄❤

very honest comments

I don't think Cantonese is a dying language. True, mandarin is becoming more dominant, but hundreds if not thousands of local dialects are speaking at homes in many parts of the country (my wife calls her mom speaking in a dialect that only ppl from a small county speak). Over 100 million ppl speak Cantonese. Not to mention, in Guangdong they even have the news reported in Cantonese.

Thanks for sharing. I am a dad of 3 young boys living in SZ, China. I should really take them out and travel more before they get all bogged down with studies and work. And the advice on Cantonese is great! I have a Cantonese background, but my youngest boy doesn't speak Cantonese. I think we need to speak more Cantonese at home instead of mandarin and English.

Great info

I hope you find a way to get your shenfenzheng very soon!!!