35-year-old American moved to Chengdu and lives on $30,000 a year: '[It's] poverty in America, but in China I'm living large'

In her precocious 20s, Aleese Lightyear worked successful world TV accumulation and lived successful New York City, which she thought was her dream.

"At the tallness of my vocation successful New York, I was astir apt making $100,000 a twelvemonth [and] moving 8 months retired of the year, which connected insubstantial sounds great, but New York City is 1 of the world's astir costly cities, truthful that $100,000 went highly fast," Lightyear tells CNBC Make It.

"I was spending each of my wealth going retired and buying apparel truthful that I could beryllium trendy and consciousness similar I was surviving successful the 'Sex and the City' New York City dream."

As her 30th day approached, Lightyear realized she was inactive moving 70 to 80 hours a week, but didn't person immoderate status savings. And due to the fact that she was a freelancer, she didn't person benefits oregon wellness insurance.

"I should person been redeeming for those things. I was surviving cheque to check, which sucked. My past fewer years surviving and moving successful New York City were immoderate of the astir stressful years of my life," she says.

"I came up with this thought that I wanted to permission New York due to the fact that I was bushed of moving 70 hours a week for 10 years. Being successful my 20s, I felt similar a 50-year-old woman."

One day, Lightyear woke up and searched, "How bash I marque wealth and question the world?" The archetypal effect was astir teaching English. After speaking with a coworker who had taught successful South Korea, Lightyear began researching what it would entail to thatch overseas with nary anterior experience.

"I benignant of enactment that connected intermission due to the fact that I conscionable wasn't definite if that was close for me. It took maine astir 2 years to marque the determination that I wanted to go a teacher," she says. "Google told maine I conscionable needed a TEFL certificate to thatch English to overseas connection learners, truthful I enrolled."

Lightyear completed a 13-week programme to gain her Teaching English arsenic a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification, initially mounting her sights connected South America. She rapidly changed course, however, deciding that if she was going to permission her beingness successful New York behind, she would spell arsenic acold arsenic possible.

"If I'm going to determination each the mode crossed the world, I amended spell to the furthest state that I cognize perfectly thing astir and person a afloat adventure, and China conscionable seemed similar axenic adventure, fun, excitement, and large money," Lightyear says.

"I'm idiosyncratic who has traveled a batch but I'd ne'er been to Asia before, truthful I didn't truly cognize what to expect and to beryllium honest, my archetypal fewer days were conscionable a immense blur due to the fact that determination was truthful overmuch civilization shock."

Lightyear, 31 astatine the time, made her authoritative determination to Beijing, China successful 2019 — and she hasn't looked back. She lived successful the Chinese superior for 4 years earlier moving to Chengdu, wherever she is simply a teacher astatine a university. Lightyear works 18 hours a week, 4 days a week and has a yearly wage of astir $30,000 USD.

"$30,000 a twelvemonth is poorness successful America but successful China, I'm surviving large," she says.

Her emblematic enactment week is wholly antithetic than it was successful New York. In China, she works Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, offering 2 to 3 classes a day. Some of her benefits see escaped wellness insurance, a question stipend, a rent stipend, a formation allowance and 2 months of paid summertime and wintertime vacation.

Lightyear took a wage chopped erstwhile she near her occupation successful Beijing for 1 successful Chengdu. But her beingness successful Beijing had started to consciousness excessively akin to her clip successful NYC, truthful she has nary regrets.

"I didn't determination each the mode crossed the satellite to enactment arsenic overmuch arsenic I did successful New York," she says.

"My existent work-life equilibrium is simply a dream. I'm capable to person clip to bash truthful galore antithetic hobbies, to instrumentality the clip to really larn the connection and to bash immoderate I privation erstwhile I want, and that feels amazing. I conscionable consciousness truthful fortunate and blessed to beryllium capable to person truthful overmuch clip to myself."

In Chengdu, Lightyear lives successful a pre-furnished three-bedroom, one-bathroom flat with a balcony and laundry room. Because of the rent stipend she gets, Lightyear lone has to wage $278 a period for her accommodations.

Lightyear supplements her income arsenic a teacher with contented instauration and an progressive YouTube channel. Both of those things let her to prevention up to $1,000 a month. It's thing she was ne'er capable to bash surviving successful the U.S.

Now that she's been surviving successful China for implicit 5 years, Lightyear says erstwhile she visits the U.S., she experiences reverse civilization shock. She's astir ever having to explicate to friends, household and strangers wherefore her beingness present is truthful overmuch amended determination than it was before.

"For the emblematic American, determination is simply a batch of disorder and misinformation astir what beingness is genuinely similar successful China, but I consciousness wholly harmless arsenic a woman, arsenic a pistillate of color, being independent, doing anything. I consciousness precise astatine easiness successful this country," she says.

Though she feels comfy successful China, Lightyear says that due to the fact that the state is truthful homogeneous, arsenic a idiosyncratic of colour she "sticks retired similar a sore thumb," and it does fuss her astatine times.

"I astir apt cannot spell an hr being extracurricular without idiosyncratic pointing astatine maine and saying, successful Chinese, 'there's a achromatic person, look, there's a foreigner," she says. "If I'm going to a touristy spot, the magnitude of radical who instrumentality photos of maine portion I'm not looking oregon volition inquire maine to instrumentality photos, past adjacent happening I know, there's a enactment of radical who privation to instrumentality photos with me."

Despite those uncomfortable moments and the clip it's taken to set to Chinese culture, Lightyear says her self-confidence has skyrocketed.

"I inactive look a batch of challenges [and] determination are truthful galore things I inactive person nary thought about, and successful the precise beginning, that was the hardest part," she says. "You cognize the saying that if you tin marque it successful New York, you tin marque it anywhere? Well, propulsion that distant and use it to China. If you tin marque it successful China, you tin genuinely marque it anywhere. I consciousness fearless and similar there's thing I can't do."

Conversions from Chinese Yuan to USD were done utilizing the OANDA conversion complaint of 1 Chinese Yuan to 0.14 USD connected July 3, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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