Job Discussion Forums

maw · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 38

Just wondering if anyone can give me any feedback on time spent teaching in Kunming.
Just wondering abut the pollution side of things there, , cost of living and general way of life.
thanks
Mia

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

you can do a search and all that info will come up. go to google as well.

7969

Tahoe · Joined: 24 Mar 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Yunnan

Everyone wants to teach in Kunming, the so called " Spring City". I waited two years to come here and found that the pay is low because of students and backpackers willing to take 60 RMB or less for an hours teaching. SHAME ON THEM!!! Not fair on the rest of us who actually LIVE in China. Jobs are not easy to come by here. You can come to Kunming, and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A WORK VISA before coming to China, and work at a language school, but they tend to rip you off. If this is your first time to China I would suggest you try another city or province first. Teaching to Chinese students is quite different if you have no experience. Make sure you write into your contract anything you desire to be in your apartment or teaching schedule, as lies here are just a part of the culture.
Living expenses in Kunming I find, after working 5 years in different parts of China are only a little more expensive than the North of China. There is hardly any pollution here compared to other places.
China is a wonderful place to teach and live, so give it a go, but if you come to Kunming, or anywhere in China, DONT take under 90 - 100 RMB an hour, otherwise it makes it hard for the rest of us. Let us all set a standard with our wage! Good luck to all the newbies... Laughing

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Hey, 60 kuai an hour is not that bad for a city like Kunming - which is not, after all, Shanghai or Peking! There are many other places that pay 50 or 60 an hour.

Tough luck - this is what you yourself would refer to as "free market" and the mechanism called "supply and demand".

To the OP:
There are 5 or 6 towns in the whole of Yunnan that have formally been approved to hire FTs. Kunming evidently is the biggest one, though it has a depressingly low demand. I once knew FTs at a college in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna. That sounds like a nice job in a typical SE setting - but the folks actually complained about the repetitiveness of life in such an outpost.
So, if you want to work in Kunming, knock on the door of every university, college or other potential employer - maybe you will find a job.
But yes, they inevitably pay far less than employers elsewhere do!

Yunnan is still a backwater...locals often labour through 50 office hours a week, making 1200 a month...

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

I found Kunming considerably cheaper than Wuhan. For instance, there was an excellent Pizzeria there which did top-notch pizzas, comparable to European quality. Around 15-25 RMB depending on which one you wnated. Compare that to 68 RMB in Wuhan Pizza Hut (rip off central).

And in Wuhan, the only option for going to bars drinking is places which sell small bottles for 20 RMB plus, whereas in Kunming you can get a large beer in a bar for 5-10 RMB (and the bars are more pleasant than in Wuhan too) because the local beer is actually quite good.