Credit, Personal file
When she traveled to China for the first time, in 2017, São Paulo native Dayane Epifanio de Oliveira had no idea that, in the future, the country would become her home.
Graduated in Fashion Design, she went to the country to work. Years later, she met the man she would marry and moved there permanently in 2023.
"My husband is Chinese. Our relationship developed and, naturally, I decided to build a new life in China", says the 37-year-old from São Paulo.
"I needed to learn a completely different language, understand another culture, adapt to apps, transportation, hospitals and a way of living that was very different from the one I knew in Brazil."
Dayane lives in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province, in the east of the country. She created a company that connects Brazilian businesspeople and tourists to the Chinese market.
The entrepreneur is part of a community estimated at 7,520 Brazilians in China in 2025, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is the second largest Brazilian community in Asia, behind only Japan.
The presence of Brazilians in the country accompanies the deepening of economic ties between the two nations.
The bilateral relationship began with commodities and later began to involve other sectors, such as investments, education, technology, logistics and services, says Marcus Vinicius de Freitas, visiting professor at the China Foreign Affairs University and senior researcher at the Policy Center for the New South.
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With China consolidated as Brazil's main trading partner, opportunities for executives, entrepreneurs, researchers, teachers and students, among other occupations, have grown.
Freitas states that this approach is related to China's economic transformation from the end of the 1970s, when the country began to open some sectors to foreign investment and expand its integration into international trade.
"Foreigners began to arrive not only because China became richer, but also because it began to occupy a central position in the world economy, becoming the main trading partner for more than 140 countries and territories", explains the professor.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, slowed the arrival of foreigners, limiting the entry of travelers, the issuance of visas and the number of international flights for almost three years.
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Data from Itamaraty show that the number of Brazilians living there never returned to its previous level: there were 11,040 in 2019; 10,106 in 2020; 6,653 in 2021; 5,940 in 2022; 9,160 in 2023; and 7,520 in 2024.
The Brazilian community in China is partly made up of people who stay temporarily in the Asian country, points out João Alfredo Lopes Nyegray, professor of International Business and International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-PR).
"These are people who stay in China for two, three or five years, because they have an employment contract, a role within a multinational, they are studying Mandarin, taking an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, working in foreign trade or monitoring business operations", says Nyegray.
But, during the pandemic, between 2020 and 2023, students returned to Brazil, professionals from multinationals were relocated and some entrepreneurs closed their operations.
Freitas explains that, even after the end of health restrictions, other factors may have contributed to the number of Brazilians not returning to the same level as before, such as the digitalization of commercial relations, the possibility of managing operations remotely and the replacement of part of expatriates by professionals hired locally.
Feeling of security
As for Dayane, the move to China was permanent. She had a store in Brás, a textile hub in the city of São Paulo, and started going to the Asian country to choose fabrics and monitor the production of clothes that she imported to Brazil.
After completing these tasks, she took advantage of her travels to visit cities like Beijing and Shanghai. She met her current husband on the street, asking for information. It was love at first sight, he says. He invited her to dinner, she accepted, and the couple has been together ever since.
They recently had a daughter, born in China. Dayane is also the mother of an 8-year-old girl who was born in São Paulo, the result of another marriage.
In addition to the family she formed in the country, Dayane cites advantages that reinforce her decision to live there, such as the feeling of security, transportation and access to cutting-edge applications on her cell phone.
Living in China also gives you access to services that are uncommon in Brazil. When Dayane had a baby, she found out about centers specializing in the postpartum period, a kind of "hotel" where mothers can receive food, breastfeeding support and help with caring for themselves and their baby. She even visited one of these places, but ended up choosing to hire a similar service at home.
The feeling of security is one of her most highlighted positive points, which allows her to use her cell phone on the street without fear of being robbed, to walk alone or with her family around the city, even at night.
“In Brazil, we often need to think before doing these things,” says Dayane.
Lawyer Henrique Rojas, 38 years old, has a similar story. He left the Flamengo neighborhood, in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, and moved with his wife to Shanghai in November 2025.
The decision was initially professional: his office already served Asian clients and wanted to establish itself in China, while his wife worked in Brazil importing Chinese products and sought to be closer to suppliers and the local logistics chain.
Today, he sees his life completely transformed, not just professionally. The main change he feels is when moving around the city calmly — the couple even goes out to walk the dog in the early hours of the morning, sometimes around 2 am, taking their cell phones, without the worry about robberies that were part of the routine in Brazil.
"For those who come from a large Brazilian city, this freedom changes the way they enjoy the city."
The lawyer relates this feeling to the widespread presence of cameras and monitoring systems in Shanghai. He acknowledges that this level of vigilance may draw criticism, but says that, as a resident, the effect is positive.
He also highlights the concentration of services on cell phones and the possibility of living without a car thanks to efficient public transport.
Even so, he makes a reservation: his experience is that of a resident of Shanghai — the second most populous city in China, behind only Chongqing.
"Life in smaller cities can be very different, as can the reality in rural areas."
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Visas prioritize students and qualified professionals
Brazilian Joana Leão Riquet-Molgard, 43, also lives in Shanghai with her family — her Danish husband and two children, born in China.
A trained historian, Joana lived in England before moving to China, where she has lived for 14 years. Today, she works as a gym teacher, tour guide and travel consultant.
She arrived in the country like most immigrants: with a visa linked to the company or educational institution responsible for hiring or the course.
China favors qualified professionals who temporarily meet specific market demands, but it does not have a permanent immigration policy comparable to that of countries such as Canada and Australia.
To work legally, foreigners generally need to have a defined employer, qualifications compatible with the role and obtain work and housing permits. Companies established in China often help with the immigration process.
Getting permanent residency is more difficult. According to João Alfredo Nyegray, the possibilities are concentrated in specific groups, such as investors, qualified professionals who meet certain work and permanence requirements, people considered necessary to the country and family members who fit the established rules.
"China is quite open to the movement of foreigners who are of interest to its economy, but is selective regarding their permanent settlement", he summarizes.
For the professor, this characteristic helps to explain the profile of the Brazilian community in the country, made up of executives, foreign trade professionals, teachers, researchers, students, technicians and people linked to companies.
Citizenship can also be granted to a foreigner who has close Chinese relatives, who is established in the country or who presents reasons considered legitimate for the request, which are evaluated by the authorities.
However, as China does not accept dual nationality, if Chinese citizenship is granted, it is necessary to give up the previous citizenship. Therefore, many foreigners do not consider naturalization to be advantageous.
This is the case of Joana. She and her family obtained permanent residency through the desired "Chinese green card", as the permit is informally known, but they do not plan to apply for citizenship.
"Today, we can work in different areas, use public services and, when we travel by train or plane within China, we use our Chinese identity, not our passport. We are treated as Chinese citizens, except in relation to political rights", he explains.
"For us, the green card, together with our nationalities, is the perfect combination."
Before obtaining this status, the family needed to renew their visa annually and present a letter of employment. According to the historian, this process becomes more difficult for those who do not know the system or do not speak Mandarin.
'I have more freedom than you'
The historian, who was born in Rio de Janeiro and lived in several Brazilian cities, has become accustomed to the questions she hears when she returns to her home country. They've already wanted to know if she eats dogs or scorpions, how she manages to live in a "communist country" and if she has freedom.
It was during a recent trip to Rio de Janeiro that he heard the last question again. "I kept thinking: I have more freedom than you. I can leave the house whenever I want, go out at night, I'm not afraid of anything", reflects Joana.
For her, part of the questions she hears is related to the lack of knowledge about a country that, despite its growing economic importance for Brazil, still draws more attention for its political system.
China maintains control over the press and access to the internet — social networks used in Brazil cannot be normally accessed there.
For this report, for example, interviewees living in China were contacted through WhatsApp, thanks to the use of VPNs (virtual private network services that allow you to bypass restrictions on the local network).
In a report published this year by the American organization Freedom House, China received nine points on a scale of zero to one hundred (where zero indicates no freedom) and was classified as "not free".
The index evaluates political rights and civil liberties based on criteria such as the electoral process, pluralism, freedom of expression, right to association and the functioning of institutions.
Marcus Vinicius de Freitas considers, however, that the report is based on a certain political model, shaped in Europe.
"It is an index constructed from a certain conception of liberal democracy and, therefore, should not be presented as a universal and uncontroversial measure of governance quality", he states.
BBC News Brasil reached out to the Chinese embassy in Brazil to comment on the criticism of its political system, but received no response.
Joana states that her perception of freedom of expression is different from what she had before visiting the country.
According to her, the Chinese do criticize public policies and the functioning of the State, and everyday reality is more complex than the image of a population permanently subjected to repression.
Felipe Gaspar Durante, production engineer and master's student in International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, also refutes the image that the Chinese population lives under permanent state control.
The Brazilian is 43 years old, lived in Florianópolis and now lives in Beijing.
For the engineer, who has a geopolitics channel on YouTube with around 300 thousand subscribers, where he discusses these stereotypes, part of these representations originate from historical disputes between China and Western powers.
"It's the ghost of communism that controls people's lives, that is always behind everything", he says.
Marcus Vinicius de Freitas also points to the historical roots of these images.
"The big Brazilian and Western mistake is to interpret China exclusively through Cold War categories or images constructed forty years ago", argues the professor.
For him, expressions such as "Communist China", when used in isolation, say little about a country that combines a centralized political system under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party with private companies, market competition and a strong state presence in sectors of the economy.
Freitas recognizes limitations to civil rights in the country, but argues that they coexist with their own characteristics in the organization of the State and the conduct of the economy.
"The most important issue is not choosing between idealizing and demonizing China. It is understanding it as it is," he says.
The language obstacle
Joana already has quite a background in understanding the country: in addition to living there for over a decade, she has lived in two cities, completed a master's degree in the Asian country, studied Mandarin and made China her family's home.
Still, she reports a feeling of incomplete belonging.
"I feel like I only have the tip of my finger in the ocean that is China. It's a belonging and a non-belonging at the same time," he says.
However, the historian says she never felt the prejudice she claims to have experienced as an immigrant in Europe. What he found were stereotypes and limited knowledge about Brazil.
"[The Chinese] know, for example, our football, they know our samba, they even know that we speak Portuguese, so there isn't such in-depth knowledge", he states.
Joana says that a student recently left an evaluation about one of her gymnastics classes, associating her way of teaching with the fact that she is Brazilian and has a "Latin, cheerful, happy, smiling" personality.
“We, in fact, even have a stereotype of happy, happy, contented people,” he says.
Still, the Brazilian finds it difficult to integrate in China and recognizes the impact of distance from relatives on relationships. Their children only spend time with their grandparents once or twice a year, in addition to contact via video calls.
Because he doesn't speak Mandarin, Henrique feels this integration difficulty even more acutely. Although translation tools and the use of English make life easier in Shanghai, not speaking the language limits interactions and the creation of bonds.
The adaptation also involves the Chinese digital ecosystem, as applications and services used in Brazil do not work the same way in the Asian country. Added to this are jet lag, long trips and distance from family and friends.
"Cultural differences require adaptation, both in personal and professional life. But this is part of the experience of living in another country", he states.
Dayane speaks Mandarin, but still faces difficulties in situations that require specific vocabulary, such as medical appointments, reading contracts and attending public offices.
The distance from Brazil also matters. "There are missed birthdays and other family milestones, in addition to the time difference that makes it difficult to stay in touch."
How has China developed so much in recent decades?
The infrastructure and services that Brazilians find in China today are the result of a transformation that began almost five decades ago, explain the experts interviewed by the report.
Part of the strategy was to treat infrastructure not just as a consequence of economic growth, but as a tool to stimulate it.
The central government and local authorities directed resources to sectors such as transport, energy, sanitation, telecommunications and housing. Areas considered strategic remained under strong State coordination.
According to Marcus Vinicius de Freitas, provinces and municipalities began to compete for investments, companies and qualified workers, while their leaders were evaluated by indicators linked to growth, innovation and urban development.
In ten years, China's gross domestic product (GDP) doubled in current values, rising from around 69 trillion yuan in 2015 to more than 140 trillion in 2025. Last year, GDP grew 5% and maintained the country as the second largest economy in the world in nominal values.
Such development is related to urbanization. According to João Alfredo Lopes Nyegray, the Chinese urban population increased from approximately 459 million people in 2000 to approximately 954 million at the end of 2025.
Urban expansion was accompanied by the construction of transport networks capable of connecting these regions.
At the end of 2024, 54 Chinese cities operated 325 urban rail transport lines, totaling around 10,900 kilometers, according to data cited by Nyegray.
The high-speed rail network, in turn, exceeded 48 thousand kilometers.
"A person can live in a city considered secondary by Chinese standards and still have access to subways, digital payments, fast deliveries, high-speed trains, hospitals, universities, e-commerce and regional airports," he says.
The physical expansion occurred in parallel with the digitalization of services, ranging from transport to food. The WeChat and Alipay platforms, created by Chinese companies, have become the main payment methods in the country.
Nyegray emphasizes, however, that this digitalization expands data collection and state and corporate supervision over people.
The expansion also brought local government debt and dependence on revenue from the real estate market — problems that began to put pressure on some administrations as this sector lost strength.
Parallel to these changes in China, Dayane could not imagine that her life would also be so transformed.
"What started as a professional relationship turned into something bigger, until I started to build my life definitively in China", he says.
The São Paulo native intends to continue visiting Brazil, where she has relatives and emotional ties, but her long-term plans are in China.
"When I think about the future, I imagine myself growing old in China, watching my daughters grow up and enjoying my retirement here. Today, China is the place I call home. This is where I plan to live the rest of my life."
Graphic: BBC News Brasil visual journalism team
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