I'm going to move there within the next five years, so I'd love to hear some stories!

depends which part, i live in hong kong, and its more international here since theres alot of foreigners here now. 
Coming in late but yeah, 
I've lived on the Chinese coast for a year

I did live in Mainland/Beijing for 7 years, early 2005 to late 2012. Was a really fun time. After the 50th party birthday and xi's anti corruption focus, everything changed to the worse. Cool cozy bars and neighbourhoods where forced demolished, and replaced by shiny malls with starbucks, most live music venues had to close, rules got stricter. It feels like china from the 80's again