but okay if working remotely from home for example.
Not if it’s for a Chinese company. Read the definitions of Visas, or ask next time you’re at the PSB. F visa is a business visa, for going to conferences or signing contracts, meeting suppliers or potential business related events/opportunities – but that is very far removed from *working*. You’re not allowed to be employed by a Chinese company nor work for a Chinese company while on an F visa, and the Chinese company who does employ you will have to pay cash ‘under the table’ – ie no taxes paid to government…hence the reason why it’s ultimately not allowed. That’s the bottom line. Any gov’t is the same – visitor/business visas do NOT allow employment, and are almost always exclusive in stating that fact because many people try to use them to skirt the process of having valid employment and work under the table cutting out the gov’t from their piece of the pie.