@debby I bought mine from a Chinese vendor and specifically requested a Chinese ROM. Not sure if this will work with Xiaomi, but one option could be to download the Chinese ROM and see if it will install over the western one. Not everything will be in Chinese—I set mine to English. The good news is all the Chinese apps can be removed—AFAIK Xiaomi doesn’t lock you in like Google does to Gmail, Play Store, YouTube, Services, etc.

@debby I left a few Xiaomi apps on there but added Tracker Control, which stops programs feeding things back to the mothership.
I am not technical and I see others talk about custom ROMs … I just tried to do the very basics from the manufacturer.
My previous experience was with Meizu, where I successfully got rid of Google twice. Once by getting root access, the second time by overwriting the western ROM with the Chinese one:

https://jackyan.com/blog/2020/06/after-18-months-some-progress-on-the-meizu-m6-note/

After 18 months, some progress on the Meizu M6 Note

That was an interesting day in cellphone land. I collected the Meizu M6 Note from PB last Friday and switched it on for the first time in the small hours of Tuesday.    I originally wasn’t pleased. I had paid NZ$80 for a warranty repair (there is provision under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 in

Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog