Job Discussion Forums

[voodikon]

hey--i'm currently wondering what teaching and living in hong kong would be like, particularly compared to teaching and living in china mainland, as i've been doing for the past 15 months.

i've visited hk twice; the first time was only for 24 hours but i immediately felt at home (though that could be due mainly to the sharp contrast to the utter lack of at-home feelings provided by the mainland) there--maybe it was the fact that everywhere i turned (i spent most of my time on kowloon) there was a distinct lack of that homogenity so prominent on the mainland; maybe it was being surrounded by cantonese, my mother's native tongue; maybe it was the familiar foods or the ease of navigation around the city--or a combination thereof. after that trip i vowed to return and to live there eventually. i returned about half a year later for a longer stay (though it was work-related so i didn't have much downtime) and still really enjoyed it.

i've been reading this forum as i recently came across an ad to work as a GELT for chatteris international, which pays $14,000 a month. from what i've gleaned in other threads, that would be pretty tight to live on--particularly since i've been getting accustomed to a comparatively high salary with a nice apartment provided by my employer, round-trip airfare, etc. i'm also reading that you guys are (again, comparatively) working like dogs with awfully full days that often go late into the night. again, that would take adjustment from my current sichuan "lazy" lifestyle. this second issue is what concerns me most--is there time to live, or is it all work? i'm now imagining work in hong kong to be akin to my pre-china days as a student in l.a., working/going to class 10 to 12 hours a day and still struggling to pay for essentials, and i just don't know if the chance to live in hong kong, as cool as it seems, is worth that.

lastly, i have a question about lifestyle. in l.a. i found no shortage of like-minded people, writers, artists, musicians, etc. who were working on various projects, but i left that behind to live in suzhou last year, a small but wealthy city outside of shanghai that mimicked the latter in its neverending worship of money and material goods. i found nothing, in terms of people or activities, to hold my interest either there or in shanghai, and i've never been more depressed. so once my contract was up i moved to chengdu, a much bigger city with a very lively arts and live-music scene. i feel infinitely happier and more productive here, to the point that i'm considering staying here another year or more--but i am still holding onto that hong kong dream. but for all its internationalism, diversity, big-city glamor, and so forth, are there creative things happening? are there people doing things, writers' groups that meet at coffee shops or wherever, bands that play gigs, artists that show their artwork? or would i be disillusioned after living there a few months?

[dandan]

No, $14,000 per month is not a very competitive salary if you have any kind of qualification. It is livable though, but not a life of luxury. Your best bet is to just come and look for jobs, it's much easier to find a job if you are here.

Hours are not necessarily long, it depends on the job. If you work in a tutor centre or teaching adults then you will probably work long hours (or at least very spread out hours), if you work in a school setting however, then you will work during school hours so your hours will be quite reasonable.

There are creative things happening everywhere in the world and creative opportunities in every situation. Whether you are able to discover or recognise them is another matter. There are certainly many creative people working and living in Hong Kong, as there are in Shanghai. They may not, however, conform to your stereotype of what a creative person should be like (they may not choose to meet in coffee shops for example) and they may or may not be 'like-minded' (being like minded doesn't suggest a very creative outlook really does it?).

Hong Kong, like most places, perhaps more than most, can be whatever you want it to be. If you want it to be about money then it certainly can be. If you want to organise an exhibition, start a band, write a novel etc. then you certainly can. Just don't get dissillusioned because someone doesn't organise it for you, it's up to you.

[Horizontal Hero]

Yes, I made the move from mainland to HK myself. Like you, I found the culture soulless. I'm creative, philosophical and spiritually inclined in a certain sense - three facets that are rather scarce in modern mainland China. I too moved from Sichuan - Leshan to be exact, but I spent the odd weekend in Chengdu too. HK is virtually the antithesis of Sichuan. Forget about lazing around playing Mazhong and drinking tea - most people are really busy here! But not everybody.

The key is the kind of lifestyle you want, and the kind of job you land. Thus qualifications are crucial. But there are lots of english teacher jobs advertised in the South China Morning Post (scmp.com), and I don't think you have to subscribe to access the classifieds online. Not having a working visa could be an issue, so better to come to HK and front up at the door, as suggested above.

14 000? If you share a modest flat you might do it. I suspect you look Chinese (you say your mother is Chinese, but don't mention your father) which could be a bit of a problem, but then again it could work for you in some ways.

Good luck!

[millie]

I don�t wish to appear rude but it seems you don�t have sufficient education or experience to get a job as a qualified teacher in HK. The viable minimum is a 3 year uni. degree and a (non-online) TESOL certificate.
There appears to be a lot of jobs around for teachers in kindergartens and for younger kids but sponsorship for a working visa may be an insurmountable problem without appropriate qualifications. You cannot work without one.

Of course, many locals are well very educated with excellent English, so HK does not have the dependence on �foreigners� that China has. For a potential employer, such residents are a much easier and better known option to hire if all else is more or less equal.

Getting paid in accordance with your background means that while $14,000 is a fortune for teachers in China, that is not very much at all in HK. You can get by on that here, whereas in China, I am guessing that half that amount is what you might term a �comparatively high salary�.

I don�t think HK is the place for a Bohemian lifestyle but as dandan says above, life is what you make.
Just that sometimes it costs money too and that certainly applies in HK.

Happy travels.

Millie

[subwoofer]

[millie]

Er hello? too.

Yes, Lamma.

Off-centre, certainly, but Bohemian� not so sure� but I agree, somewhere in that arena.