U.S. teacher Amanda Butler said she was motivated by her daughter, Hannah, to relocate to China in 2019.

“China was my daughter’s choice. She always wants us to try something new,” Butler said during an interview with Shenzhen Daily.

Hannah had watched a cartoon called “Puppy Dog Pals” and took a great interest in China’s Great Wall when she was 6. “She asked us to come to China. My husband said yes and I then applied for a teaching job in a city in China’s Jiangsu Province and settled there.”

Three years later, in July 2022, Butler and her family moved to Shenzhen because her daughter wanted to experience living in different parts of China.

“Travel is just in my nature. I love to travel,” said Butler, who has worked as a teacher for 21 years.

Amanda Butler, a teacher at an international school in Shekou, Nanshan District, is interviewed by Shenzhen Daily.

The family’s next plan is to move to a Spanish-speaking country. “If you can communicate in Chinese, Spanish, and English, you can communicate with 90% of the world,” Butler said.

Butler appreciates the safety of Shenzhen. “I’m not afraid to let my daughter take the Metro by herself,” she said. “I feel safe here and I can walk outside at any time and scan a bike and ride it. I just love these kinds of experiences.”

The family enjoys life in Shenzhen and plans to stay in the city for at least two more years.

Butler is a big fan of Shenzhen’s green spaces and the environment around her community in Shekou, and she compared visiting the city’s parks to an adventure.

She enjoys walking all the way to the Shenzhen Bay Bridge in the early morning while her son and daughter are still asleep. “It’s so peaceful and relaxing in the morning. You have the people who might be walking or jogging around and nobody bothers you. Just the people and the sunrise. That is probably my favorite place in all of Shenzhen.”

Butler is employed as a teacher at an international school in Shekou. She loves the diversity of the school as the students come from different countries like South Korea, France, the United States, and Poland. “What I love about the school is that we have options for languages. They can choose Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, and German.”

Her daughter is already fluent in English and Chinese, and she is now learning Spanish. “I believe immersion is the best way for her to learn languages,” she said.

Another reason Butler likes Shenzhen is that it is a city of volunteers. She not only gets help from volunteers at the Shekou Management and Service Center for Expats, but has also been offered opportunities to do volunteer work.

“We like volunteering in the community. It just gives you a sense of belonging. I love getting to know the people where I live,” she said.

Sometimes, when Butler and her daughter go out, people become curious. “When they talk in Chinese about us, they don’t know my daughter can literally translate it. Last time, a lady wanted to touch Hannah’s hair and my daughter just turned to her and agreed in Chinese. It’s just funny and we can feel the hospitality overall.”