35-year-old American relocated to China and lives on $30,000 a year

In the late twenties, Alese Lightyear worked in the production of reality TV and lived in New York City, which she believed was her dream.

At the height of my career in New York, you may get $ 100,000 a year [and] Work eight months of the year, which looks great on paper, but New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so that $ 100,000 has gone very quickly, ”says Lightyear CNBC.

“I was spending all my money out and buying clothes until I was modern and felt that I was living in the dream of New York City and New York City.”

As her thirtieth birthday approached, Lightyear realized that she was still working from 70 to 80 hours a week, but she had no retirement savings. Because she was independent, she had no health benefits or insurance.

“I should have saved these things. I was checking the choice, which was absorbed. The past few years in which I live and work in New York City were one of the most tired years in my life,” she says.

“I reached this idea, which I wanted to leave New York because I was tired of working for 70 hours a week for ten years. In my twenties, I felt that I was a 50 -year -old woman.”

One day, Lightyear woke up and searched, “How can I earn money and travel around the world?” The first result was about teaching English. After talking to a co -worker who taught in South Korea, Lightyear began searching for what might require education abroad without previous experience.

“I put it somewhat because I was not sure whether this was appropriate for me. It took me about two years to make the decision that I wanted to become a teacher,” she says. “Google told me that I only need a TEFL certificate to teach English for foreign language learners, so I joined.”

Lightyear has completed a 13 -week program to earn an English language education as a foreign language certificate (TEFL), which initially led to its festivals in South America. However, she changed her path, and decided that if she would leave her life in New York, she would go to the maximum extent possible.

“If I was going to move all the way around the world, it is better to go to the farthest country I know nothing of all and I have a complete adventure, and China looks like a pure, enjoyable adventure, excitement, and wonderful money.”

“I am a person who traveled a lot, but I did not go to Asia before, so I didn’t really know what to expect and be honest, the first few days were just great fog because there is a great cultural shock.”

Lightyear, 31, was taken at the time, its official move to Beijing, China in 2019 – and did not look back. She lived in the Chinese capital for four years before moving to Chengdu, where she is a teacher at a university. Lightyear operates 18 hours a week, four days a week and has an annual salary of about $ 30,000.

“30,000 dollars per year is poverty in America, but in China, I live big,” she says.

Its usual work week is completely different from what it was in New York. In China, it works on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and it advances two to three chapters a day. Some of its advantages include free health insurance, travel salary, rental salary, flying allowance and two months of summer vacation paid.

Lightyear took a wage reduction when she left her job in Beijing for one at Chengdu. But her life in Beijing is starting to feel like her at the time in New York City, so she has no remorse.

“I didn’t move along the world to work as much as I did in New York,” she says.

“A balance between work and the current life is a dream. I am able to do many different hobbies, to take time to actually learn the language and do everything I want when I want, and this is amazing. I feel very lucky and happy to be able to get a lot of time for myself.”

In Chengdu, Lightyear lives in an apartment of three bedrooms, one bathroom with a balcony and a laundry room. Because of the rental salary you get, only Lightyear must pay $ 278 per month for their places of residence.

Lightyear complements its income as a teacher with the creation of the content and active YouTube channel. Both these mothers allow them to provide up to $ 1,000 a month. It is something that you have never been able to live in the United States

Now that she has lived in China for more than five years, Lightyear says when she visits the United States, she suffers from a reverse cultural shock. She must always explain to friends, family and strangers why her life is now much better than before.

“For typical Americans, there is a lot of confusion and wrong information about the shape of life really in China, but I feel very safe as a woman, as a colorful, independent woman, and do anything. I feel very comfortable in this country,” she says.

Although she feels comfortable in China, Lightyear says that since the country is very homogeneous, as a colored person, it “sticks like a painful thumb”, and sometimes disturbs it.

“Maybe I cannot go for an hour outside without someone referring to me and saying, in the Chinese language, there is a black person, see, there is a foreigner,” she says. “If I am going to a tourist place, the quantity is one of the people who take pictures of me while I am not looking or I will ask me to take pictures, then the next thing I know, there is a group of people who want to take pictures with me.”

Despite those uncomfortable moments and the time it takes to adapt to Chinese culture, Lightyear says that her self -confidence has risen.

“I still face a lot of challenges [and] “There are a lot of things that I still have any idea, and at first, this was the most difficult part. You know that if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere? Well, throw it away and apply it to China. If you can make it in China, you can really achieve this anywhere. I feel fear and like nothing I can’t do.”

References from the Chinese yuan to the US dollar were made using the Oanda transfer rate of 1 Chinese yuan 0.14 US dollars on July 3, 2025. All amounts are brought to the earliest dollar.

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