Hi,
The expat community in Chengdu is not that large, I don’t think you will have trouble meeting people. This is one of the benefits of Chengdu over larger expat communities like Shanghai and Beijing. Check out Chengdu Places, basically all of the Western establishments there will have an influx of foreigners.
As far as money goes, getting money into China is easy. You can do a bank transfer, bring cash, or withdraw foreign currency from ATMs here. Getting money out of China is much, much more of a hassle.