That phrase. So is this even possible given the tensions? China is easily far more developed than the rest of SE Asia and is a cheap place to live. Do the Chinese allow westerners to digital nomad over there or will we automatically be dismissed as spies? Being an expat in China is bizarre and may be the path less traveled, but it’s very safe and the cost of living is low.
TLDR; yes
I lived there for a while and saw different phases or periods of what it was like, as well as hearing from older expats what it was like before I got there. I left a few years before covid, so there have been drastic changes since then, but China is promoting Western tourism and being a digital nomad there is possible with two major things to deal with: your visa and the internet access.
===============================================================
1990'is - 2001'ish: the golden years when food was cheaper and cleaner and the locals treated foreigners with some deference. Although this has changed, Chinese will still treat white foreigners much better than they treat each other because they know we're nice compared to them. They think we're lovable fools, like big children.
2002 - 2007: a transition between the golden years and the 2008 summer olympics, where the country was trying to open to the West and also normalize it's internal conditions. For most Western foreigners, this was still a time of easy access to visas, but that ended Dec. 31, 2007 in a lead-up of crackdowns before the Olympics because China was afraid of any kind of losing face.
When the Olympic torch was going around Europe, people had protested about Tibet and China can't handle this kind of exposure or embarrassment. This is an example of how they can crack down any time, which should be considered a risk if you're thinking of living there.
2008 - 2011: the transition from the easy times around the big cities and Wild West everywhere else, where foreigners began to get treated as locals do each other in business, meaning round eyes got their companies stolen from you just like the locals do to other Chinese. Taxes begun to be enforced more strictly for everyone.
Hong Kong was no longer any good (like it used to be), and the gutter oil was flowing freely in the "cheap" food. Baby milk powder scandal, etc.
2012 - 2019 Xi: Jin Ping crushes all the openers and reformers and also kicks off with a big anti-foreigner campaign in May 2012 aimed at Brits, Americans, and Japanese, that included almost a year of difficulty getting visas for those Western countries and many others. This was punctuated by anti-Japanese riots that resulted in a few deaths of foreigners as well as locals, who were driving Hondas.
Attempts at soft power propaganda failed, so they hired Western companies to portray China as wonderful, as well as paying Western influencers to galivant around the country not noticing all the reasons why China is the worst country in the world for traveling.
2015, Sept: Xi Jin Ping had his massive commie celebration where all factories were closed in about a 30 mile radius around Beijing for over a month so the skies would be blue. This sent the message to foreign investors and factory owners that they would be caught up in such idiocy no matter how hard they worked at following rules. Another example of the kind of crackdown that can occur that could interrupt any plans you have of living there and making money.
2020-2022/23: Covid lockdowns were initiated like many of the future dystopian movies have described. Their electronic surveillance and control grid was developed and improved, and because of Xi's destruction of his own economy for the Zero Covid policy, there is no reason to think this could not happen again at any time. This was Xi's equivalent of The Great Leap forward as far as blunders go and he's still in power.
2024 - present: trying to get back to normal and being more inviting to Western tourism and investment, but the trend for foreigners is pulling out and putting their globalization factories elsewhere.
===============================================================
When I was there, Americans could easily get 1 year tourist visas (probably still can) and I did not hear of people worrying about what the govt would think about your being there without paying taxes because you were apparently not working a Chinese job. If you actually get a job there, your taxes will be taken out by your employer even if you don't have legit paper work.
Never heard of them tracking down a digital nomad living there and making him pay taxes or get a work visa. Things may have changed, but if they were going to do that to anyone, I would have expected them to use that against foreign Youtubers serpentza or laowhy86, but they never did, although that was circa 2019.
That said, the govt definitely monitors all foreigners and of course, if you are well-known online and say negative things about the CCP, then you'll be under stricter surveillance than normal, although you might never see it if you don't actually do anything too stupid.
Internet access is restricted and VPN's have been necessary since 2012 in order to get to non-Chinese web sites worth going to. VPN's are technically illegal for locals or foreigners to use un-licensed, only big companies, financials, and higher tier hotels have licensed VPNs, but many people use them, especially as so many Chinese have become world travelers.
The govt has spent a lot of energy on being able to monitor and block VPN's when they need to, such as during big political events, June 4 (Tianmen) commemorations, etc., and they do deep packet inspection, so you gotta be tech savvy if you actually care about privacy. However, you can still run a VPN without fear of getting into trouble, although a few times a year it won't work and you may have to switch brands often.
China can be cheap if you want to live in a so-so apartment and aren't aware of how badly the food is adulterated and how that is gradually affecting your health. So you can "save money" and eat the same contaminated stuff the Chinese eat, but you're burning years off your life 2:1.
The air is also heavily polluted with particulates and that bothers some people more than others. I knew plenty of foreigners and locals with persistent bronchitis that would not clear up until they got out of the country for several weeks. The water is so bad that everyone knows not to drink it, but you still gotta bathe in it. I was in an apartment for a year where they "fixed" the water system and it was so bad it ruined all my sheets and towels because they were cotton.
In addition to the material toxicity, the spiritual and emotional toxicity is pretty bad. Chinese are living in a fundamentally abusive society and are angry and contemptuous of each other, for which they have developed massive coping mechanisms of how they interact, which has a façade of impassivity and politeness, but is essentially about minimizing contact and being "closed" or unfriendly, even when smiling.
Most foreigners get burned out by a combination of all these material and spiritual toxins within two or three years and those who stay longer will often suffer eye problems (my guess is because of the pesticide contamination), and eventually leave for mental and physical health reasons.
I don't think China is a good choice for more than 6 - 12 months because of all the hidden dangers I've mentioned. The exception would be if you are conversant in Mandarin prior to going, or become so within a few months of arriving, and have some kind of social circle where you live. Those are the foreigners I knew who really thrived long-term.
If you want the Chinese experience, go to Taiwan, which is the nicer, cleaner, friendlier and more intelligent China, or maybe enjoy the Chinese in Malaysia.
I think Vietnam, Thailand or Malaysia would be better for digital nomads in SEA, while Japan or Korea if you want a properly developed country.
From what I've heard, I'm not a fan of Philippines or Indonesia, and after having visited Cambodia, as well as a friend of mine visiting separately, we both thought it was a bad choice if you are anything above average intelligence because it seemed that Pol Pott killed nearly everyone there over 80 IQ.
