China got cool for foreigners. But can they find a job there?

Ou Da (front row in black trousers), founder of Omeida Language College, poses with Chinese students learning English at the school’s Yangshuo campus in Guangxi Province. - COURTESY OF OU DA

SINGAPORE: When Shanghai-based recruiter Miriam Wickertsheim woke up one humid morning in July, she was shocked to find more than a hundred messages on her phone from people all over the world asking her about jobs in China.

The general manager of DirectHR, which mainly recruits European executives for China-based companies, had already seen inquiries about working in China steadily increase over the past year to about 40 a day, but this was the most that she had received in a day.

The latest uptick was different not only in scale, Wickertsheim said, but also in who was reaching out. Instead of mid- to senior-level executives who wanted a China experience under their belt, the messages came from recent graduates, technicians, a carpenter, teachers and people with Chinese spouses, among others.

“China got cool. That is an oversimplified way of saying it, but I think that is what is happening,” said Wickertsheim, a German native.

She pointed to online fascination with the country’s robots, electric vehicles (EVs) and artificial intelligence, as well as the social-media trend known as “Chinamaxxing”, combining an internet slang “maxxing”, which means “to go all in”, with China or Chinese-related things such as fashion, technology and travel.

The interest comes as China is subjecting visa applications and supporting documents to closer scrutiny under new exit and entry regulations that came into force from Sept 15, adding a hurdle for foreigners hoping to satisfy their curiosity about the country through a job there.

China has long attracted foreign workers and visitors. In the decades of rapid growth following its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organisation, it became a particularly appealing destination for expatriates looking to advance their careers by adding China work experience to their resumes, recruiters said.

Foreign entries and exits peaked at 98 million trips in 2019, before collapsing during the Covid-19 pandemic as China sharply restricted international travel. They have since rebounded, reaching 65 million trips in 2024 and 82 million in 2025.

But the increased interest to find work in China is colliding with fundamental shifts in China’s labour market, amid a slowing economy, depressed wages and high youth unemployment.

The number of foreign candidates looking for China-based jobs has nearly doubled since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023, said Tim Ye, chief executive of recruitment platform HiredChina.

Yet the stronger trend is not foreigners relocating to China, but foreigners seeking work with Chinese companies as those firms expand overseas.

Interest in Chinese employers across jobs both in China and abroad has increased at least fivefold, based on impressions on HiredChina job posts, with the strongest growth coming from South-east Asia, followed by the US and then Europe, Ye said in an interview with The Straits Times.

At the same time, Chinese employers are more interested in hiring foreigners for their overseas branches than their China ones.

“The sharpest rise in demand is for foreign talent hired locally by Chinese companies overseas,” Ye said. “The proportion of foreigners coming to work in China has not surged at the same pace, although it has gradually increased.”

As Chinese manufacturers and technology firms expand abroad, they need people who understand overseas customers and markets, according to Hong Kong-based Ye. Consumer electronics, intelligent manufacturing, green energy, EVs, solar technology and batteries are among the sectors creating such demand, he added.

A less abstract China

This push abroad is taking place against a backdrop of improving perceptions of China internationally.

A survey by US think-tank Pew Research Center of more than 42,000 people in 36 countries published in July showed that China was viewed more favourably than the United States globally for the first time since at least 2023. In 20 countries with comparable data, nearly half held a positive view of China, compared with 36 per cent for the US. The shift included allies such as Canada, Australia, France and Germany.

Younger respondents in most countries surveyed by Pew also tended to view China more positively than older people.

Especially among younger people, the appeal of the “Chinamaxxing” meme may rest on tangible changes rather than just online novelty, said Lizzi C. Lee, a Washington-based fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

As China becomes more visible in everyday life, it is also becoming less abstract.

“For a long time, China’s rise was discussed in fairly abstract terms – authoritarian resilience, the world’s factory and so on. Now, younger people are actually experiencing Chinese modernity in everyday life, either through social media or directly, especially in the Global South,” Lee told The Straits Times. “EVs, apps like RedNote and boba tea chains are making China less abstract.”

She added that the trend also reflects dissatisfaction closer to home, particularly among young Americans who see China’s visible urban development through the lens of their own economic pressures.

“A lot of Chinamaxxing is really asking: ‘Why can they build this and we can’t?’” Lee said, citing examples such as social media posts hyping up images of China’s “shiny metros” and massive infrastructure projects.

But the China admired online is not necessarily a China that can offer a lot of jobs to foreigners.

With domestic job seekers facing a tight labour market, exacerbated by a record 12.7 million university graduates entering the workforce in 2026, options for foreigners are increasingly narrow.

Even teaching English, once the most obvious way for young foreigners to enter China, offers fewer easy openings.

Omeida Language College, a private school in the southern tourist town of Yangshuo that teaches English to local students, employs seven foreign teachers and is largely fully staffed, said its founder Ou Da. Vacancies tend to arise when teachers leave, rather than through expansion.

“Yes, more and more foreigners want to come to work in China,” said Ou, who started his language school in 2001. “We can see they want to get a job, but the economy is not that good, not too many jobs are available. That’s the problem.”

Ou said Yangshuo once had about 16 foreign language schools, primarily focused on teaching English, at the peak in 2019. Now, he estimated that only five or six remained licensed and few were operating fully.

He attributed the contraction to the pandemic and China’s “Double Reduction” policy, which has curbed off-campus academic tutoring for school-age children. Omeida has survived partly because it focuses on adult education, he said.

Omeida requires prospective foreign English teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree, have at least two years of teaching experience and provide a clean criminal record before they can be hired to teach the school’s roughly 100 Chinese students. “They have a deep understanding of their own culture. That is the part you cannot easily replace,” Ou said.

Interest versus reality

Even as opportunities narrow for many ordinary job seekers, China is stepping up efforts to lure highly skilled overseas talent in strategic fields such as AI and other technology. Shanghai’s 2026 Magnolia Talent Programme offers up to 300,000 yuan (S$57,000) in individual funding for eligible overseas researchers to move to the city, while Chinese tech firms have dangled annual pay packages of up to $200,000 to woo Singapore-trained AI graduates.

But getting hired is only one part of building a life in China. For many foreigners, the greater test begins after arrival: whether a first job can develop into a stable career, and whether the practical systems around it can accommodate a family and a long-term future.

Mengwei Tu, a senior lecturer in sociology at Swansea University who has studied international students and foreign professionals in China, said rising interest should not be confused with China becoming an easy long-term destination.

“‘Interest’ is a good word because it means people are beginning to think about it and feel attracted to it,” she said. “But there can be a long gap between interest and reality.”

In Tu’s research, foreign professionals and graduates struggled to turn an initial opportunity in China into a stable career and family life. The obstacles were often mundane: obtaining longer-term contracts, arranging children’s education, and navigating banking, healthcare and public services designed around Chinese identity documents and domestic digital systems.

“China is very good at physical infrastructure: public transport, buildings and so on. But the social infrastructure needed for foreigners to remain long term is not there,” she said. “I would hesitate to call China a new destination for global talent – I would probably call it a transit point for global talent.” - The Straits Times/ANN

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欧达（前排身穿黑色长裤者），欧美达语言学院创始人，与在广西阳朔校区学习英语的中国学生合影。——图片由欧达提供

新加坡：7 月的一个潮湿早晨，上海的招聘人员 Miriam Wickertsheim 醒来时，惊讶地发现手机上有来自世界各地的一百多条信息，询问她在中国的工作机会。

DirectHR 是一家主要为中国公司招聘欧洲高管的公司，其总经理表示，过去一年来，有关在中国工作的咨询量稳步增加到每天约 40 起，但这已经是她一天内收到的最多咨询量了。

维克茨海姆表示，最近这波热潮不仅规模不同，而且联系者的身份也发生了变化。以往是希望积累中国经验的中高层管理人员，而现在，发信息的人包括应届毕业生、技术人员、木匠、教师以及配偶是中国人的人士等等。

“中国变得冷漠了。这种说法过于简单，但我认为这就是正在发生的事情，”德国人维克茨海姆说道。

她指出，人们对中国的机器人、电动汽车和人工智能在网上表现出浓厚的兴趣，社交媒体上出现了一种名为“Chinamaxxing”的潮流，它将网络俚语“maxxing”（意为“全力以赴”）与中国或与中国相关的事物（如时尚、科技和旅游）结合起来。

9月15日起，中国实施新的出入境规定，对签证申请和相关文件进行更严格的审查，这给希望通过在中国工作来满足对中国好奇心的外国人增加了一道障碍，也因此引发了人们对中国的兴趣。

中国长期以来一直吸引着外国劳工和游客。招聘人员表示，自2001年加入世界贸易组织以来，中国经历了数十年的快速发展，对于那些希望通过在简历中增添中国工作经验来提升职业生涯的外籍人士来说，中国已成为一个极具吸引力的目的地。

2019年，境外出入境人数达到峰值9800万人次，但在新冠疫情期间，由于中国大幅限制国际旅行，出入境人数骤降。此后，出入境人数已有所回升，预计2024年将达到6500万人次，2025年将达到8200万人次。

但是，随着中国经济增速放缓、工资水平下降和青年失业率居高不下，人们对在中国找工作的兴趣日益浓厚，而与此同时，中国劳动力市场也发生了根本性的变化。

招聘平台HiredChina首席执行官叶添表示，自2023年新冠疫情结束以来，寻求在中国工作的外国求职者人数几乎翻了一番。

然而，更强劲的趋势并非外国人移居中国，而是外国人随着中国公司向海外扩张而寻求在中国公司工作。

叶先生在接受《海峡时报》采访时表示，根据 HiredChina 招聘信息的浏览量，求职者对中国雇主在国内外各种工作的兴趣至少增长了五倍，其中东南亚地区的增长最为强劲，其次是美国，然后是欧洲。

与此同时，中国雇主更倾向于为海外分公司招聘外国人，而不是为国内分公司招聘员工。

叶先生表示：“需求增长最显著的是中国企业在海外本地招聘的外籍人才。虽然来华工作的外国人口比例也在逐步增长，但增长速度并未与之持平。”

据常驻香港的叶先生表示，随着中国制造商和科技公司向海外扩张，他们需要了解海外客户和市场的人才。他补充说，消费电子、智能制造、绿色能源、电动汽车、太阳能技术和电池等领域都对这类人才有着迫切的需求。

一个不那么抽象的中国

中国此次海外扩张的背景是国际社会对中国的看法正在改善。

美国智库皮尤研究中心7月发布的一项调查显示，在36个国家，超过4.2万人参与了调查。调查结果显示，自2023年以来，中国在全球范围内的好感度首次超过美国。在20个拥有可比数据的国家中，近半数受访者对中国持积极看法，而对美国持积极看法的受访者仅占36%。这一转变也包括加拿大、澳大利亚、法国和德国等盟友。

皮尤研究中心调查的大多数国家中，年轻受访者对中国的看法也往往比年长者更为积极。

亚洲协会政策研究所驻华盛顿的中国经济研究员李莉兹表示，尤其在年轻人中，“Chinamaxxing”表情包的吸引力可能在于切实的变化，而不仅仅是网络上的新奇感。

随着中国在日常生活中越来越常见，它也变得越来越不那么抽象。

李告诉《海峡时报》：“长期以来，人们对中国的崛起讨论得相当抽象——威权主义的韧性、世界工厂等等。如今，年轻人正在日常生活中切实感受到中国的现代化，无论是通过社交媒体还是直接接触，尤其是在全球南方国家。电动汽车、RedNote之类的应用程序以及奶茶连锁店，都让中国不再那么抽象。”

她补充说，这种趋势也反映了人们在国内的不满情绪，尤其是一些年轻的美国人，他们从自身经济压力的角度来看待中国显而易见的城市发展。

李说：“很多吹捧中国的言论其实是在问：‘为什么他们能建这个，而我们不能？’”他举例说，社交媒体上的帖子大肆宣传中国“闪亮的地铁”和大型基础设施项目。

但网络上人们所向往的中国，未必能为外国人提供大量就业机会。

由于国内求职者面临劳动力市场紧张的局面，加上 2026 年将有创纪录的 1270 万大学毕业生进入劳动力市场，外国人的选择越来越少。

即使是教英语——曾经是外国人进入中国最显而易见的方式——如今也鲜少提供轻松的机会。

位于南方旅游小镇阳朔的欧美达语言学院是一所私立英语学校，面向当地学生授课。该校创始人欧达表示，学院现有七名外籍教师，基本满员。空缺通常是由于教师离职，而非学校扩招造成的。

“是的，越来越多的外国人想来中国工作，”欧先生说道，他于2001年创办了这所语言学校。“我们能看出他们想找工作，但经济形势并不好，工作机会不多。这就是问题所在。”

欧先生说，阳朔在2019年鼎盛时期曾有大约16所外语学校，主要以英语教学为主。现在，他估计只有五六所学校还持有营业执照，而且很少有学校还在全面运营。

他将业务萎缩归咎于疫情和中国的“双减”政策，该政策限制了针对学龄儿童的校外课外辅导。他表示，欧米达之所以能够生存下来，部分原因是其专注于成人教育。

欧美达要求所有外籍英语教师必须拥有学士学位、至少两年教学经验，并且无犯罪记录才能被聘用，教授该校约100名中国学生。“他们对自己的文化有着深刻的理解。这是你无法轻易替代的，”欧说道。

兴趣与现实

尽管许多普通求职者的就业机会日益减少，但中国正加大力度吸引海外高技能人才，尤其是在人工智能和其他技术等战略领域。上海的“2026木兰花计划”为符合条件的海外研究人员提供高达30万元人民币（约合5.7万新元）的个人资助，鼓励他们来上海工作；与此同时，中国科技公司也开出​​了高达20万美元的年薪，以吸引在新加坡接受过人工智能专业培训的毕业生。

但找到工作只是在中国安家立业的一部分。对许多外国人来说，更大的考验始于抵达中国之后：第一份工作能否发展成为一份稳定的职业，以及相关的社会制度能否兼顾家庭和长远发展。

斯旺西大学社会学高级讲师涂梦伟曾研究过在华的国际学生和外国专业人士，他表示，人们对中国日益增长的兴趣不应与中国成为一个容易长期居住的目的地混淆。

“‘兴趣’是个好词，因为它意味着人们开始思考这件事，并被它所吸引，”她说。“但兴趣和现实之间可能存在很大的差距。”

涂的研究发现，外国专业人士和毕业生很难将最初在中国的机会转化为稳定的事业和家庭生活。他们遇到的障碍往往很琐碎：例如，如何获得长期合同、如何安排子女的教育，以及如何使用围绕中国身份证件和国内数字系统设计的银行、医疗和公共服务。

“中国在基础设施建设方面非常出色：公共交通、楼宇等等。但外国人长期居留所需的社会基础设施却尚未到位，”她说道。“我不太愿意称中国为全球人才的新目的地——我更倾向于称其为全球人才的过境点。”——《海峡时报》/亚洲新闻网

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