Go nuts, but I’m telling you, that isn’t likely the case. First and foremost buying an apartment here is an ordeal. It’s not as simple as finding something you like, paying for it, and signing some papers – do you already have all the cash you need in country? Getting all that paperwork just to bring cash in for the purchase is a timesink by itself, forget the actual purchase and handover hassles. Besides the hassles associated with both purchase and ownership – rent is cheap relative to cost of purchase in Chengdu, unlike in many western countries where rent is often high enough that purchase becomes a more financially feasible option when possible.
That all being said, go nuts, but your request seems like you don’t know the market very well – and the logic behind wanting to make a purchase seems short-sighted…. could be wrong there of course, just seems that way. If you know where you are going to be working, that information would be a start to giving you an idea of what the cost and living conveniences are like in that area.
To give you an idea of cost – seems most (~100sqm) apartments these days in any reasonable area will average around 1mil RMB, unfinished and often take some time to be ready for you, and several hundred K afterwards finishing and furnishing..or a used place around the same with other pitfalls that come along with it — whereas renting many people spend 2-3k/month for a reasonable place, feel free to do the math.