In China – hardly – no if you intend to have a normal life (ex. chatting with friends on WeChat, buying things on Taobao, traveling in China, etc). You can live without knowing how to write, but reading is fundamental.
If you want to live there long term, yes, but if you have years to do that then learning how to read won't be a problem. Many people manage to live in many countries being almost completely illiterate beyond an extremely basic level. For the internet you still have translate for the short term. It's not the same with understanding the spoken language because that's almost always a far greater obstacle. I'm saying that because learning how to speak chinese is generally considered far easier than learning how to read and write chinese.
Learning a language is general (every aspect), learning how to read is specific (reading). What's your point?
You can go a long way without ever learning to read the language above a very basic level.
In China – hardly – no if you intend to have a normal life (ex. chatting with friends on WeChat, buying things on Taobao, traveling in China, etc). You can live without knowing how to write, but reading is fundamental.
If you want to live there long term, yes, but if you have years to do that then learning how to read won't be a problem. Many people manage to live in many countries being almost completely illiterate beyond an extremely basic level. For the internet you still have translate for the short term. It's not the same with understanding the spoken language because that's almost always a far greater obstacle. I'm saying that because learning how to speak chinese is generally considered far easier than learning how to read and write chinese.