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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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 Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:37 pm Post subject: Cost of living in Zhongshan? |
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It looks very like I will be accepting an offer to teach at the Bond Institute here, but had some questions I'm hoping the forum will be able to help me with:
The apartment is supplied, but I will need to pay utilities. Can someone give me an idea of what I might fork over for electric, water, sewer, trash and other "standard" utilities?
And what is the Internet situation: how much can I expect to pay for installation / monthly charges for how fast a connection?
And finally, speaking of Internet: what is the situation with filtering? Is there a list somewhere where sites that are firewalled are documented? Or is it on a country-by-country of orign basis?
ETA: Any current feedback from anyone working / having worked at Bond is also welcome... |
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maxand
Joined: 04 Jan 2012
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:44 pm Post subject: Re: Cost of living in Zhongshan? |
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| ESL.Professor.Roger wrote: |
It looks very like I will be accepting an offer to teach at the Bond Institute here, but had some questions I'm hoping the forum will be able to help me with:
The apartment is supplied, but I will need to pay utilities. Can someone give me an idea of what I might fork over for electric, water, sewer, trash and other "standard" utilities?
And what is the Internet situation: how much can I expect to pay for installation / monthly charges for how fast a connection?
And finally, speaking of Internet: what is the situation with filtering? Is there a list somewhere where sites that are firewalled are documented? Or is it on a country-by-country of orign basis?
ETA: Any current feedback from anyone working / having worked at Bond is also welcome... |
your first name is Roger? please tell me your last name is Moore because you accepted a job at the Bond Institute.  |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| Don't forget cost of Martinis (shaken or stirred). |
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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:07 am Post subject: |
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Sorry, folks -- that joke was barely worth *one* ping.
One ping only.  |
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spicykimchi
Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 50
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:13 am Post subject: |
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| Could you ask Q to develop a dry-erase marker that lasts longer than 10 minutes? |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:40 am Post subject: Re: Cost of living in Zhongshan? |
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| ESL.Professor.Roger wrote: |
| The apartment is supplied, but I will need to pay utilities. Can someone give me an idea of what I might fork over for electric, water, sewer, trash and other "standard" utilities? |
Depends on usage, but I would expect a couple hundred a month at least. I would be expecting to pay 100-300 RMB per month on electricity depending on how much you use the AC. Water maybe 20 RMB per month, gas varies depending on how much you cook but is very cheap. I have not idea how much apartment maintenace fees are for services like trash I am afraid. (also worth nothing these are prices for where I am, might be more expensive where you will be)
| Quote: |
And what is the Internet situation: how much can I expect to pay for installation / monthly charges for how fast a connection?
And finally, speaking of Internet: what is the situation with filtering? Is there a list somewhere where sites that are firewalled are documented? Or is it on a country-by-country of orign basis? |
Internet is also relatively cheap; depending on your connection speed can range from 800 - 2,500 RMB a year.
As for what is blocked, this list covers the most commonly sought out sites. Am sure there are a lot more, and things also vary by region here it seems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:01 am Post subject: Re: Cost of living in Zhongshan? |
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You can add the list of whats blocked in China to the list of blocked sites in China
I just tried it and got the "problem loading page" message. Wikipedia always works for me but that one site in particular doesn't. For obvious reasons. Then again, it'll be different in different areas and later today it might work for me. |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah it seems to be, I had to use a web based proxy to check it first. I think the OP is out of China though, given the question itself. |
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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:48 am Post subject: Re: Cost of living in Zhongshan? |
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| dean_a_jones wrote: |
Depends on usage, but I would expect a couple hundred a month at least. I would be expecting to pay 100-300 RMB per month on electricity depending on how much you use the AC. Water maybe 20 RMB per month, gas varies depending on how much you cook but is very cheap. I have not idea how much apartment maintenace fees are for services like trash I am afraid. (also worth nothing these are prices for where I am, might be more expensive where you will be)
Internet is also relatively cheap; depending on your connection speed can range from 800 - 2,500 RMB a year.
As for what is blocked, this list covers the most commonly sought out sites. Am sure there are a lot more, and things also vary by region here it seems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China |
Excellent! Great info, thanks. Wouldn't have thought of checking Wiki for this info.
Turns out I know a guy on another, more general forum site who is an ex-pat who has lived and worked about an hour from Zhongshan for decades. I posted much the same question there , but got more technical in terms of how I had intended to get around it and he confirms that a State's-based VPN is the preferred solution, and that I would not have to worry over-much about encrypting or the anonymous proxy chain I had proposed. He reports that the Great Firewall of China is aimed more at natives than foreign workers so I am unlikely to run afoul of the powers that be doing it that way. |
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doogsville
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 924
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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I don't want to put a downer on your experience, but are Bond providing you with the necessary documentation to get you a resident permit and foreign expert certificate when you get here? The reason I ask is that I worked for Bond in 2009 and the boss, John Zhang, who lives in Canada by the way, not China, promised me a resident permit etc if I came over on a tourist visa. When I arrived I was told that there was no way I could get the proper paperwork, so like all the other teachers there, I was forced into making regular visa runs to Hong Kong. At least I would have been, but I quit. I know of at least two other people who were told the same thing in 2010 and 2011 and both were almost deported as a result of working illegally. Of course the situation may be different by now, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.
Other than the inability to employ you legaly, they're pretty much a standard private language school. I did most of my teaching in a middle school, with one weekend of childrens classes and an adult class a couple of nights a week. I was at the Xiaolan branch, but I believe the setup in Zhongshan was pretty much the same. |
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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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| doogsville wrote: |
I don't want to put a downer on your experience, but are Bond providing you with the necessary documentation to get you a resident permit and foreign expert certificate when you get here? The reason I ask is that I worked for Bond in 2009 and the boss, John Zhang, who lives in Canada by the way, not China, promised me a resident permit etc if I came over on a tourist visa. When I arrived I was told that there was no way I could get the proper paperwork, so like all the other teachers there, I was forced into making regular visa runs to Hong Kong. At least I would have been, but I quit. I know of at least two other people who were told the same thing in 2010 and 2011 and both were almost deported as a result of working illegally. Of course the situation may be different by now, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.
Other than the inability to employ you legaly, they're pretty much a standard private language school. I did most of my teaching in a middle school, with one weekend of childrens classes and an adult class a couple of nights a week. I was at the Xiaolan branch, but I believe the setup in Zhongshan was pretty much the same.
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They have said that they "strongly recommend" me obtaining a Z visa prior to arrival, and the contract states that "Bond is ready to offer assistance and help to her teachers to obtain work and residence permits ( Z Visa ) before they arrive at Bond in Zhongshan." I'm going to insist that this be changed to "Bond will be required to provide appropriate documentation for the issuance of the residency and foreign expert certificates prior to (my) arrival".
It turns out I have an ace in the hole: the guy I mentioned before turns out made a living for a while negotiating FT contracts, and has pointed out several issues with the non-standard-form contract they offered which will both make my life up-front better when I get there, and give the illusion that I actually know what I'm doing on a contract basis so they're less likely to try to mess with me. |
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teachingld2004
Joined: 17 Feb 2012
Posts: 389
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:44 pm Post subject: job |
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Roger,
I have no idea who you are, and I have no idea about this school I have no idea about China, as I have only worked in Korea. But, NO ONE has an "ace in the hole". Have you spoken to another teacher who works there?
After saying that, who knows if the "teacher' you speak to really is a teacher there. But if some one tells you to stay away, chances are you should.
Good luck. |
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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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I had a post full of snark prepared and thought better of it, but I do feel the need to defend my associate John's work as negotiator. As I stated, he pointed out several issues with the offered contract along with suggestions on correcting them -- some of them *legal* issues which I was not only ignorant of, but which I would never have even considered as possibly being skirting the law there.
He does know the law there quite well, and has no association with either the school or the placement service who recommended me so his only stake in this is getting me the best deal he can. And while I tend to agree with a statement from the other forum
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| If you aren't smart enough to catch them at their shenanigans at the outset then they feel justified in sticking it to you. You're not family, you're not a relative, you're not community and you're not Chinese. (This is not an anti-Chinese rant - this is just the reality of the way business is done in China. You just don't have the time to develop a relationship with the owners - hell, you may never meet them until the Chinese New Year dinner where they'll come and hand you a gold pocket with your contractual bonus in it!) |
... I am *not* smart enough -- or rather, informed enough. John is, and as my behind-the-scenes agent (having no direct contact with anyone but me) allows me to *appear* to have been informed enough from the start.
So yes, I *do* have an ace in the hole, and I would unreservedly recommend his services to anyone considering a starter position in China. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:49 am Post subject: |
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Roger.
No matter who or what you know please err on the conservative side when getting your first China position.
I look for the least amount of downside rather than the most upside. |
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ESL.Professor.Roger
Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:58 am Post subject: |
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Don't worry -- that's exactly my approach. I will walk if I don't get some changes to the offered contract, and then there are the things I'm willing to compromise on in it.
Thank you for your concern...
While I have everyone's ear, I'd like to ask those that have been there and done that about getting around the Great Firewall. I had planned on leaving a box in the States configured with OpenVPN and bringin my notebook, configured to connect to it. I know that China monitors *public* connections over TLS in order to block specific IP addresses, but if anyone has a more discreet and secure solution that can be pre-configured, I'd like to not just have to find some coffee house frequented by geeks and ask how to do it once I'm there... |
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