Originally Posted by Rothsix
PTravel, thanks for the comments, and I fully expect that you will be right. I am a rather large ex-cop and I do not find myself afraid very often. There have been instances in several US cities where I thought I might be in for some trouble (Charlestown comes to mind immediately). I am trying to convince my wife that we should move over there somewhere and this is somewhat of an exploratory expedition.
Hey, I'm also a gweilo married to a Chinese woman! And we're also thinking about moving to China, at least part time, once I retire. I'm particularly enamoured with Beijing, though Shenzhen might be a more practical possibility (provided real estate prices don't continue to climb). I've told my wife, though, that I won't do it unless I can become reasonably fluent in Mandarin. I'm making very, very slow progress. I don't like the idea of living somewhere where I not only can't read the street signs, but can't even ask for directions.
When I first started visiting China, a little over 10 years ago, I felt safe walking down the darkest of dark alleys in the middle of the night. Public safety deteriorated a tiny bit when China privatized business ownership and a lot of people lost their "iron ricebowl" jobs. However, street crime of the kind that's a concern in the US has never been anywhere near as prevelant in China, partly because of culturual differences, but also because the PRC government simply doesn't tolerate it. Basically, you get to commit one street crime and, when you're caught (and you will be), your "career," freedom (and possibly a lot more) are over.