{"id":97730,"date":"2026-04-25T14:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/36-year-old-man-left-us-for-china-now-pays-1000-in-rent-and-100-for-groceries-for-family-of-4\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T14:31:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:31:37","slug":"36-year-old-man-left-us-for-china-now-pays-1000-in-rent-and-100-for-groceries-for-family-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/36-year-old-man-left-us-for-china-now-pays-1000-in-rent-and-100-for-groceries-for-family-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"36-year-old man left US for China \u2013 now pays $1,000 in rent and $100 for groceries for family of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a child, I traveled a lot. I was born in California, but have lived in Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, Montana, and Oklahoma. I never had a chance to call anywhere \u201chome\u201d for a very long time. So if you had told me at the time that I would end up in China, I would have laughed.<\/p>\n

I visited China for the first time in 2016. I was 27 and got a job as an English teacher in Shenzhen, a rapidly growing tech hub just across the border from Hong Kong. I sold my car and used the money to buy a plane ticket to North Carolina. I had never been out of America before. <\/p>\n

Over the next four years, living in Asia gave me the opportunity to travel to places like Cambodia and Thailand. I loved traveling because it was a profound opportunity to test my courage and resilience, find meaning, and expand my worldview.<\/p>\n

Today, I live in Shenzhen with my wife and our two children. That’s why this is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1. I met my wife and started a family<\/h2>\n
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My wife was born in Tahiti and both of her parents are from China. When we met, she was working as a French teacher here. <\/p>\n

When the pandemic hit, we had been living in China for three years and vacationing in the U.S. With the borders closed, my wife and I decided to relocate to Tahiti to be closer to her parents.<\/p>\n

Five years later, we had two children under the age of five. There were parts of our life in Tahiti that we loved, but something was missing. China still feels like our true home and we returned to Shenzhen in June 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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