No. My 5-year is purely based on the family status and has no tie to any employer. I am planning to renounce my citizenship soon and will change hats since I am a dual national. I would not pursue Chinese status. I know a person that did that though. I could start a business in the town where we own a home but I did that once before and with the new labor laws, tax laws, etc...No thanks. Presently I am on a well paid position making use of my degree and my experience and at least I am not being shafted by some member of the local commie party with a school license cashing in on my credentials. Depending on who you work for, your degrees, and where you live in China some international positions in education pay 300,000 to about a max of 550,000 RMB per year after tax, plus a nice housing allowance if you can teach AP or IB programs and if you are a certified or licensed teacher. In China you can survive, save, and own a home on those wages, and perhaps even buy a small car. Life could be worse, but it could also be better. I would prefer to actually live in the house that we bought, but...my job is elsewhere and so is the money. For an ex-pat, one must go where the money is and jobs and companies change all of the time. It would be nice to get a long-term gig of at least 5-years somewhere, but that is rare in China. At least if that happened, it would be easier to buy a home and justify it. This business of owning a home for the sake of owning a home, or saving face, or to impress the parent's neighbors is for the birds. As for the various embassies treating families like crap during the visa process, which was the subject of another post on here, but similar, it gets old fast. For now, I have a 5-year ride and when this is up I hope that I can get the 10-year visa next. My own country, well, they can take their passports and their visas and their attitudes and shove them far, far, up their buttocks. I live here almost tax free, and I am off the grid for the most part, and if I were back home, perhaps I would be losing my butt and my job like almost anyone else that I know. China is not the best game on the map, but it is not bad. The issue is the visa and finding long-term stable and gainful employment and then surviving in strange lands.