Job Discussion Forums

[buffalobill12323]

My wife just got a job in my university so I know how much she and her colleagues are getting. My buddy works in a training centre, as well as owning a small bar, so I know how much he gets paid, I will post numbers later but firstly I am curious what do you think Or better still, what do you know?

[Javelin of Radiance]

Here I'll save you some time

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=103562&highlight=salary+chinese

This thread's not even out of diapers yet.

[Denim-Maniac]

Chinese teachers get about 2/3's of the salary we get in a training centre. They are subject to more demands ... they have to supervise evening classes and morning reading as an example. They do get free food in our canteen though, but don't get as generous a utlility allowance as FT's and have accomodation which isnt as comfortable or as convenient.

[IvanaShaanxi]

Chinese English teachers in a Hunan high school were paid around 3000, if my Chinese colleague is to be trusted.

[Bud Powell]

How old are the Chinese teachers that some are talking about, and what kind of contract are they working on?

I don't buy the BS that I used to hear about CT's pay. After getting to know several who were over forty years old, getting to meet their spouses, seeing their homes and their cars, I seriously doubt the 2,500rmb per month scenario, especially if they've been working at the university in the same capacity for 10-20 years. FTs tend to be relatively young and get to know younger teachers, so their information is filtered through the status and experience of young Chinese teachers.

In the states, in some universities, non-faculty, full-time (five sections of one course per week) are paid $2,000.00 per class. That would be $10,000.00 per semester, $20,000.00 per year. Their pay raises are whatever adjustments the state makes to their paychecks. These are called assistants. (These aren't student graduate asssistants. These are folks who may have taught for the university for 10+ years).

In the U.S., lecturer-level (MA) faculty members of state universities who are non-tenured but are working on three year renewable contracts may start at $25-30,000.00 per year (depending upon the state). After ten years they can pull down $60,000.00 per year or more. I know someone in my home city who is a lecturer who makes $69,000 per year after 11 years on the job.

Ph.Ds? Don't get me started.

If the Chinese system has adopted a western system pecking order, there WILL be major discrepancies among lecturers/ graduate faculty who do the same thing for the same amount of time. Undoubtedly, seniority also plays a part in the Chinese equation. Also a part of the equation in China now is the semi-privatized system. Location, school enrollment, school stability, school status make a difference.

In the U.S., instructors' pay (like student tuition) varies greatly within a state system. The same situation exists in China. One state system may have fifteen or more campuses spread across a state, and each will charge a different tuition. The pay for teachers vary accordingly.

I highly doubt that every teacher in every public university in China is paid the same, so regard anything you're told about CT pay with the many factors in mind.

[muffintop]

We've talked about this before here in many threads. Salaries are kept artificially low because of taxation.

The consensus is that YES their salaries are low but the perks and bonuses and other crap MORE than makes up for it. Then there is the income from tutoring. Sure, not all teachers choose to tutor and some can't...but many do. Music, Art, and Math teachers seem to be the highest paid in my area.

It's not uncommon at all for CT's to have to give a 'gift' of roughly one years salary to be hired on. Nobody would do that for a crap job.


EDIT:
Never trust anyone when they tell you their salary in China. A friend of our family is a very very high level exec for a foreign beverage company in China. He has stashed away millions of RMB...his salary is roughly 10,000 a month. Another friend works for one of the large telecom companies here....his salary is roughly 5k a month yet somehow he has 3 houses, 2 cars, and a mistress that gets 10k a month in cash and has about 400,000 sitting in a bank account that she's not supposed to touch. And a car.

Sure this is only anecdotal but.....it's not too hard to find out that this kind of thing is closer to the rule than the exception.

it's pretty amazing what the Chinese can do on such low salaries.

[zactherat]

[wangdaning]

The OP forgot to add discuss at the end, so I am lost.

Anyway, fill us in on your findings OP.

[JoeKing]

[muffintop]

[wangdaning]

Where is the OP's answer. So far a few have jumped into you minefield. Why not just come out with your experience?

[Javelin of Radiance]

[IvanaShaanxi]

[MisterButtkins]

I dunno. I think these threads tend to be a bit extreme and polarized. You would get the idea that EVERY Chinese teacher is just making a killing. Some of them are and some of them aren't. Like others have said, their official salary is sometimes a small portion of their real income.

I teach at a lower second-tier college. The senior teachers and the department heads all rolling in money, but most of the teachers are not. In the English department, between half and two-thirds of the teachers do not own cars. Those who do, except for the dean and vice-dean, own smaller, cheaper cars. The dean has an Audi SUV, of course. There is also one older female teacher who rides her bicycle to work. I think the bicycle must keep her in good shape, because she is about 45 and has a better body than most of the 20year-old students. Some of these Chinese women just do not lose their looks. Anyway...

One of my friends taught a lower-level computer class here. She did not have a PhD and was basically just out of college herself. She made 2k a month and whatever she pulled together from tutoring. A lot of the younger teachers also live in a teacher dorm on campus. Like, they share a room with 3 other people and have to go to the bathhouse to shower. If they were all rich, what are they doing in there?

Having said all that, this is at a lower second-tier university. I wouldn't be surprised if the teachers at first-tier universities are pretty much all rolling in money.

[kungfuman]

Chinese teachers always complain they make shit compared to foreigners BUT I think with all their perks and kickbacks they make a pretty decent living. Most of the teachers at my school have cars - many are imported.