Let’s get a bit (randomly) personal, shall we? Most ESL teachers head to China alone and even though ‘dating’ may not be the first thing on their mind, it will soon be. Because, to be brutally honest, if the single-life sucks at home, it sucks tenfold when you’re a brand-new expat in a foreign city with no friends. There, might as well rip that band-aid off swiftly. Now, try as you may, you’ll find the local dating game to be a little disconcerting at first. By and large, Chinese are a traditional lot and although even the youngest generation may seem all hip and on-trend, they do view the dating game a little differently than most Westerners do. By and large, Chinese date to find a wife or husband and that’s why you may find a local suitor asking all sorts of seemingly inappropriate questions, even on first date. Yep, you may just snort your coffee when asked if you envisage yourself living permanently in China and having children just half an hour into a first date but, fact is, they’re just being pragmatic and (back to point #5) assertive with their wishes. The key here is to hone in your interests on people who’ve had extensive experiences abroad as they tend to be less traditional, more open minded and definitely closer to your own wavelength. At the end of the day, this is what brings expats together abroad, even if they wouldn’t necessarily be friends anywhere else in the world. Shared experiences and a similar outlook on life is essential when finding a potential partner abroad and it is perhaps truer for expats in China than almost anywhere else. Choose wisely and you’ll finding yourself snorting less coffee on first dates.