More than likely your employer will set you up with an apartment, for which the cost to you should be minimal. You may or may not be in a building with other Westerners; often teachers at a university or a large school will all live in a "Panda House," or "apartments for foreigners."

 
When you come to China, it will be more convenient for you if you open a Chinese bank account. Opening a Chinese bank account is actually an easy process, not a nightmare for you as you might expect.

The only actual needed document for a basic account is your passport. You need neither proof of address nor proof of income. When you enter the bank, don’t bother the counter. You can head for an information desk and express the desire to open an account. They will give you a bilingual form. But it is better for you to ask the information desk staff to fill it out for you – they are more careful than you and probably have neater handwriting.

A Perfect house-leasing contract is very useful for protecting  your benfits,especially when you are living in a strange country and meet language barriers. The sample of house-leasing contract below would be very helpful when you start to make agreement with householders。In order to protect yourself, detailed information should be listed on the contract, such as location, rental, size, obligations, equpiment.  

• If you’re working in China and get paid in yuan, you might find it difficult to convert your Chinese currency savings into another currency. You have to keep your proof of payments as this might help.
• Due to the strict regulations, there is an active black market for currency exchange, but illegal money changers sometimes operate with false currencies so it is definitely preferable to do your currency exchanges at an official institution.