Job Discussion Forums

[mystic]

good afternoon,

my wife and I are very interested in working in China - preferably Shanghai. Before we were married she taught English to high school students in Hungary and loved it. Now we would like to move abroad once more, potentially to China, but at this point we have a young baby that would be joining us.

what I was wondering is -

how do schools in China handle people who want to bring families with them?

do schools in China discourage families from coming to teach at their facilities in favor of younger adults?

what about when schools provide housing for the teachers they hire - do they provide housing for their families as well?

is it easy to get insurance and good healthcare for children?

thank you for any information you might be able to share - in this decision we definitely will be putting our child first. I'm thinking that learning Chinese and spending a few years in an interesting foreign country might be a positive experience for our child, but I would appreciate any other thoughts on this matter.

[beerdang]

I decide to wait longer when I am in your shoes. How old is your child?
It is definately a lot harder to do it. I assume you don't know anything about the culture and country yet. I am not the expert here for sure.
But I think you can try to ask schools for housing stipends to rent a place
You can try to find a nunny for your child. The cost of things for your baby will be a lot higher. You can send your child to chinese school if you think it is acceptable.

If you really have a baby, I suggest you to wait or go get a job pay you really well.

[Minhang Oz]

I can only give you one person's view, and I'm not aware of any other regular forumites in a similar situation, except Klasies maybe.
We came to China with our four year old [then two], but my wife is Chinese, which makes a world of difference. As western as Shanghai is, English would not be sufficient to access the kinds of services a person on a teacher's salary would need. For instance, you can get Western medical care, foreign trained and English speaking doctors and dentists, international schools are common [at 1000 US a month though!]. These really cater for expats on foreign salaries whose companies pick up the bill. This isn't to say good standard, affordable health care and education aren't available - we use them - but you'll need other people to help. How would you cope with a late night medical emergency, for example?[I'm assuming you don't speak Chinese]

These are your prime concerns. Schools welcome teaching couples: they're seen, rightly or wrongly, as more stable, and less prone to excesses and "immoral" behavior. Also, one apartment and two teachers makes good financial sense.
Teacher housing in Shanghai? Our's is good, and I haven't heard complaints from other posters. On two salaries, you could rent a small, modern 2 bedroom place for 2.5k plus. But then you lack the support you'll get on campus - the teachers who'll help you out, the English speaking students who can babysit etc. Having a child will not be an obstacle to employment unless it presents a housing problem. In this society, children rule.

PM me with any more specific questions.

[Roger]

Minhang has made some intrinsically valid pointys. Look at a job from the stability point of view, and all is not so well any more. Maybe they treat families more humanely, don't know. Hope so for you! In any case, in most provinces you will be housed by your school, and once your job is completed you have to move house.
You should also take into account your kid's interests. Does he or she want to move here? Learn a new lingo? Socialise with nationals that are all foreigners to him or her? Get uprooted? I think children need stability and permanency.
But there are westerners with kids here, to be sure.

[Linda L.]

Anything is possible. I usually express a gung ho attitude.

But in this case, I have seen several families crash and burn in Shanghai for various reasons.

This is too risky to try until China matures.

[beerdang]

I forget to mention that I am a chinese national.
I have friends and family in Shanghai. There are obviously other reasons stopped me from going. The concern for my son is the same. Where you are now is definately better for your child if he/she is still very young.
If you do decide to go, save up and bring enough money to get things established. I am going to Shanghai at the end of the month.
I might have more to share after I return.

[chinasyndrome]

Read through a lot of the posts here and you'll find quite a lot of 'blowing off steam' - there's a tension that goes with being here, even if you manage to land a good job. And therein lies the real key. Most posters don't find the stable and supportive work they're looking for straight off. It takes time and the kind of experience you can only really get from being here and 'passing through the flames'.

What if your first school jerks you around?
What if you've got to do a midnight runner?
What if you don't get paid on time / at all / less than agreed?
What if you and your wife have the same or opposing shifts?
What if...

Too many 'what ifs'.

While I think it's possible to hit the ground running it doesn't seem to be the way it works for the majority of us, at least for those who post on sites like this.

China's great but it will test you in ways you can't possibly imagine until you've been here for a while. Factor in Mystic Jr and I'd say hold off unless you've got a good amount of money that will help you in an emergency situation.

[Douglas]

With 4 plus years in working in China . I recently had the worst case . I brought my fiancee to a school who interviewed me. I left without signing the contract. But made the mistake to leave a mobile number to my fiancee phone. She was bothered and was shocked by the way threats were made when I refused to accept. 14 calls were made in two days to her.
In most cases it is safe but the risk is not worth the {What ifs as mentioned above} . This happened at what I thought a big language out fit. That only said sorry for the mans action in Wuhan when I left the country and spent thousands to leave knowing that no risk is better then just a sorry.

China is a place not for a family not because of the people but the laws and the general way of how companys big or small jerk around teachers