I lived in Hong Kong for 10 years or longer and golden rule there and china is learn to count to ten and swear, thats all the language you need learn as english is their second language. With this info you can now buy anything you want there and get around as well as tell a chinaman to fuckoff!lol!
I spoke mandarin but i think it will be a different dialect where you are, that said thats all i ever needed to learn there, most speak ok english and its funny to hear them speak that way too!lol!
Also take no crap of no one, most chinese are only 4feet tall so pretty much can see where your going easy and kick the shit out of any of them little midgets!lol!
All non chinese tend to stick together so there will generally be british or american comunities nearby for people to talk to.
Drugs are bad but hey like here still everyone dose it just keep it lowkey but there will be just as many potheads out there as here and they probably got some dam fine chinese dank out there, apparently when the chineses smoke it there eyes go normal so idk, probably good shit.
I loved the people and culture but totally money driven and really fucking religious to an annoying level, like at 6 in the morning when your trying to sleep some monk is fung choi'ing outside your window and your like du-lei-lo mo chow-hi and hes like im gona kicka youra whitea assa and doing some crazy big trouble in little china kung fu shit!
Chinese seem openly racist in a good way, they dont really seem bothered calling you a gwailo white ghost the same way as they dont mind you calling them a slant pied rising sun, its just more an insult rather than rascism or so i found it.
Besides that expect great big insects and crazy rashes and boils from time to time, takes our bodies a while to adjust to all that tropical mumbojumbo, after a few illnesses and bites you will not really get ill past the norm, always check beds and floors for centipededs and coackroaches and make it part of your routine plus look up for snakes on trees in in a countryside area, always like to drop in for a friendly bite.
Good luck dude and if some little chinese man starts patting your head dont kneee him in the face as its meant to be good luck for them rascist mofos!lol! Peace