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Well you shouldn’t worry about that because that notion will be instantly dispelled 10 seconds into your interview (the English portion of it).</p>
<p>Where in China would you work? Shanghai? Beijing?
You should also consider Hong Kong, which pays better (and is more expensive to live in), and is more livable than Shanghai and Beijing. Moreover, Hong Kong is a major financial center, and Cantonese, Mandarin, and English are ALL major languages that are spoken in Hong Kong (Cantonese being the most prevalent). There is also a large expatriate community there that you, as an American, might be able to be connected to.</p>
<p>Taiwan (Taipei specifically) is also a very livable option (much better air quality than China), with a high standard of living that is comparable to Hong Kong.</p>
<p>Your tax situation is actually very good. the IRS lets you exclude up to ~100k in foreign income from your taxable income as long as you are actually living abroad. Thus, your income would only be subject to the taxes of the foreign country, not the US.
[Foreign</a> Earned Income Exclusion](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97130,00.html]Foreign”>http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97130,00.html)
[Foreign</a> Earned Income Exclusion - IRS Form 2555](<a href=“http://taxes.about.com/od/taxhelp/a/ForeignIncome.htm]Foreign”>How the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Works)</p>
<p>Income taxes in Hong Kong are very very low. However, taxes in China are higher than in the US. Taxes in Taiwan seem to be somewhere in between. You should run the numbers yourself, along with finding average salary numbers for jobs in those locations.</p>