Welcome to china
I am an 19 years old Chinese girl and I live in Nanjing.
All the students in China have to learn some English.Sometimes we do make mistakes (grammar is so hard for me)but we can express our feelings in English and some can communicate with a foreigner in fluent English.We are especially good at American English better than some European I think.Because a few days ago I talked with an European and his English is not as good as mine.Usually we feel really happy to see foreigners come to NJ.There are a lot of foreign students here.Don't worry about the crime level it's safe to be here,especially in universities.
About the phone ,it's easy to buy one ,the price of the phone is low.The quality of life here is also high.If you have any other questions you can write them down here or send me an E-mail.I can image what my father will feel if I want to go to the other side of the earth alone.

Hi Mr Jenna,

I am from Nanjing,now in Europe. fristly, nanjing is a huge city,most of young people could speak English,even not very well. People always friendly. Don't worry about language.Secondly,Nanjing is very safe city, even you are walking in the street in 12pm.I wish your son has a nice trip in Nanjing city.Good luck to him.