What a long stay actually requires
A two week holiday and a three month stay are different trips wearing the same clothes. The tourist version runs on a hotel booking, a data plan, and a list of places. A long stay in China runs on a lease, a bank account, a police registration form, a doctor you have already found, and a way to receive a parcel. It is a much better trip when you get those five things right, and a grinding one when you do not. I have done both, and the difference was never the sightseeing.
The first wall you hit is the visa. Most tourist visas allow a duration of stay of 30 to 90 days per entry, and no amount of charm at an airport extends that. If you want longer, you need the right category before you fly, not a plan to leave the country and come back indefinitely, which stops impressing border officers after the second time. The rules in this area have changed repeatedly and are still changing, so read the China visa guide for the current categories and then confirm the details with the official 12367 service or the Chinese embassy that covers you. Anything on a website, including this one, is a snapshot.
The categories people actually use
Repeat tourist entries work for a few months at a time if your visa is multiple entry with a reasonable duration of stay. Family reunion visas, split between long stays and short visits depending on whether a residence permit is involved, cover people with Chinese family. The Q2 category for visiting relatives often allows a substantially longer stay than a tourist visa. Student visas cover anyone enrolled in a real programme, and there are long stay routes for the spouses and children of people working in China. Several countries’ citizens also travel under unilateral visa-free arrangements and extended transit exemptions, and both the country list and the allowed duration have been revised more than once.
Housing: serviced apartments, leases, and what they cost
Three ways to live for more than a month. Serviced apartments, the Ascott, Oakwood, and Fraser Suites type, are the low-effort option: furnished, cleaned, with a front desk that speaks English, and priced accordingly. A monthly hotel arrangement is the second, and it works better than people expect, because mid-range chains will negotiate a monthly rate that beats the nightly price by a wide margin outside the high season. A leased apartment is the third and cheapest, and it is the one that requires the most from you.
Leasing in China runs on the local standard of one month’s deposit and three months’ rent in advance, plus an agency fee of half to one month’s rent if you use an agent. Contracts are in Chinese, the Chinese version governs, and a landlord who wants to negotiate the rent in WeChat rather than signing anything is not a bargain. Take photographs of the flat and the meter readings on the day you move in. Utilities are cheap; the deposit is the thing that gets argued about, and it is usually about air conditioning units and water heaters.
| City | One-bedroom, decent area | Utilities and internet | Monthly total with food and transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing | 6,000 to 12,000 yuan | 400 to 800 yuan | 11,000 to 20,000 yuan |
| Shanghai | 6,000 to 13,000 yuan | 400 to 800 yuan | 11,000 to 21,000 yuan |
| Shenzhen | 5,000 to 10,000 yuan | 400 to 800 yuan | 10,000 to 17,000 yuan |
| Guangzhou | 3,500 to 7,000 yuan | 350 to 700 yuan | 8,000 to 13,000 yuan |
| Hangzhou | 4,000 to 8,000 yuan | 350 to 700 yuan | 8,500 to 14,000 yuan |
| Chengdu | 2,500 to 5,000 yuan | 300 to 600 yuan | 6,500 to 10,000 yuan |
| Xi’an | 2,000 to 4,000 yuan | 300 to 600 yuan | 6,000 to 9,000 yuan |
| Kunming or Dali | 1,500 to 3,500 yuan | 250 to 500 yuan | 5,000 to 8,000 yuan |
Those are October 2026 ranges for a furnished flat in a reasonable neighbourhood, and the gap between Beijing and Kunming is the whole story of a long stay budget. Eating out is where the numbers stay low: a good mid-range dinner for two is 80 to 200 yuan, and a monthly metro pass costs less than a tank of fuel at home. Everything you need for daily life is on the apps you set up in the first week.
Money, banking, and the tax question
Open a bank account in the second week. It needs your passport, a Chinese phone number, and an hour of your patience, and it is the thing that unlocks the rest: paying a landlord, receiving money from home, and topping up the phone wallet in large amounts. Bank of China and ICBC are the two most foreigner-accustomed of the big four. Bring your passport, expect forms in duplicate, and go to a large branch rather than a small one.
Foreign cards work in China for withdrawal and in some shops, but daily life runs on WeChat Pay and Alipay, and both now accept foreign Visa and Mastercard with a verification step. Set them up before you arrive if you can. Cash is the fallback, and an ATM withdrawal is how most people get it; our money and ATM page covers the fees and the daily limits.
If you spend more than 183 days in China in a tax year, you may become a Chinese tax resident, and that is a question for an accountant rather than a travel guide. Anyone being paid from China, or doing any work while in the country, needs to understand this before they go, not after.
Health, insurance, and finding a doctor
Sort this out in week one, while you are well. Keep international health insurance that covers the mainland and evacuation, because your home policy probably does not, and buy it before you leave. For anything routine, big-city public hospitals are fast, cheap, and thorough, and the process is disorienting: register at a machine, pay before you are seen, queue again for tests, queue again for the result. International clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have English-speaking doctors, appointment systems you will recognise, and bills that run ten times the public rate.
Find your nearest hospital before you need it, save the address in Chinese in your phone, and check which of the two your insurance will pay directly. Prescription medication from home should be brought in the quantities you need, with a doctor’s letter, and not everything you can buy over the counter elsewhere is available here. The hospitals and clinics page covers how a consultation actually runs and what to bring.
Phone, internet, and the delivery economy
Buy a SIM from China Mobile, China Unicom, or China Telecom at a proper shop with your passport, on a monthly plan of 30 to 100 yuan. Contract-free, no credit check, and you can cancel at a counter. An eSIM from a travel provider is easier for a short trip and less flexible for a long one, because you will want a local number for delivery drivers, landlords, and the hospital.
The internet is filtered, and a long stay makes that concrete in a way a holiday does not. Your bank’s website, your government’s services, your usual news sites, and half the tools you work with may not load. Install and test what you need before you arrive, and accept that some of it will break and need fixing mid-stay.
The upside of living here is the delivery economy. Groceries arrive in under an hour, a hot meal in under thirty minutes, and a parcel from anywhere in the country in two days. Once it is working, a long stay gets markedly easier, and you stop going to shops for anything except the pleasure of it.
The administrative errands and daily life
Registration and driving
Hotels register you automatically. The day you move into a leased flat, you have 24 hours to register your address with the local police station, and it is your obligation, not the landlord’s. Take your passport, the lease, and a phone with your landlord’s number. It takes about twenty minutes and it is the sort of task that becomes a fine and a problem at your next visa application if you skip it.
Driving is possible but rarely worth it for a long-stay visitor. Converting a foreign licence involves the theory test and paperwork, and short-term visitors can arrange a temporary driving permit for a limited period. City traffic, parking, and the quality of the metro argue against it; if you do want a car for trips out of town, read the renting a car notes first, because the licence position is the same puzzle.
The parts that go stale
Month three is when a long stay either settles or sours, and the difference is usually community. Join something: a language exchange, a hiking group, a Sunday football game, a gym class. Without that, you are a tourist with a lease, and the city stops being interesting.
Learning the language is the other thing that separates a good long stay from an aimless one. Even a couple of hours a week changes how the country treats you, and it is the cheapest thing you can buy with your time. The learning Chinese page sets out what a realistic timetable looks like and which method is worth the money.
Quick facts
- Tourist visas usually allow 30 to 90 days per stay; multiple entries are not a residence strategy.
- Leases run on one month’s deposit plus three months’ rent in advance, and the Chinese contract governs.
- Open a bank account in the second week; it unlocks rent, transfers, and the wallet apps.
- Register your address at the police station within 24 hours of moving into your own flat.
- More than 183 days in a tax year may make you a Chinese tax resident.
- Monthly costs in Kunming run about a third of Shanghai, mostly on rent.
- Buy international health insurance before you leave, and find your nearest hospital in week one.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just stay on tourist visas for a year?
People do, by leaving and re-entering, and it gets less reliable the more you do it. Officers look at the pattern rather than the single entry, and being refused is an expensive problem. If you want a year, find the visa category that fits the reason you are there.
Is it cheaper than living at home?
Outside the biggest cities, usually yes, and mostly on rent, food, and transport. In Beijing or Shanghai, the rent and any international schooling wipe out the savings on everything else.
Can I work remotely for a foreign employer?
Practically, many people do, and it is a question you should answer with a lawyer rather than a guide. Working in China on a tourist visa sits in a grey area that is not a defence if someone decides to look closely, and the tax residency question follows from it.
How do I receive mail and parcels?
Delivery to your address is the norm and it works well, with the courier calling the number on the parcel. For anything from abroad, use a service that handles customs, and expect a wait and a possible duty bill. There is no reliable equivalent of a local post box.
Is the air a problem for a long stay?
In the northern cities in winter, sometimes. Check the daily reading, use a purifier indoors, and consider spending January and February further south. A good air purifier is worth buying on arrival and costs a fraction of the price at home.
What is the hardest part of a long stay?
The bureaucracy, and it is not close. Forms in a language you cannot read, counters that close for lunch, and processes that require the document you did not bring. Bring more copies of everything than you think you need, and never go to a government office on a Monday morning or in the last week of the year.
Should I bring a pet?
Only if you have months to prepare. Import requires a microchip, a rabies vaccination with a valid window, and paperwork, and anything out of order means quarantine at your expense. For a stay under a year, I would not put an animal through it.
How much should I budget per month?
Between 6,000 and 21,000 yuan depending almost entirely on which city you choose and whether you rent or take a serviced apartment. A comfortable long stay in Chengdu costs roughly what a frugal one costs in Shanghai.
Get the five basics settled in the first fortnight
Send us the city, the length of stay, and what you need from the trip, and we will put together a plan for the flat, the bank, the doctor, and the first month of language so the rest of the time is yours.
Written by the ChinaTravelFood editorial team.
