> I would quite literally live in any Chinese city before chosing Singapore. At least China would be cheaper.

No you won't. However bad you imagine Singapore's police state to be, China's is several order of magnitudes worse. Singapore doesn't block most Western social network, media and file sharing sites. Singapore doesn't ban memes from social networks because they make their leader look bad. Singapore doesn't demand foreign internet companies to host content locally so that the government can crackdown on said content if it doesn't agree with them. Singapore doesn't kidnap dissidents from neighbouring countries, or put entire minority races into concentration camps.

And major Chinese cities aren't cheaper either. Surprise - if you want Western standard of living, then you have to pay Western prices.