Job Discussion Forums

vikdk · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 1676

don't worry grwit I also eat and drink the same shitte - often the easiest and most convenient option, regardless of the size of town or city you live in. But Newbies be aware!!!! - food can be a major problem here - and I not just referring to the gut area, but more to your metal health!!!! Forget Chinese food back home - the run of the mill type stuff doesn't bare that much comparison, in worst case scenarious - when the FT is utterly sick of the local grub - think oily mess. And if you start to restrict yourself to 5 yuan meals - well for some of us it can get quite depressing!!!!
Cheap grub a good advert for small towns? - I'd go variety of food in a city any day!!!!

no_exit · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 565 Location: Kunming

That is not going to go far in Beijing, but consider a city like Kunming, where cost of living is much cheaper.

I would venture to say that 5000 a month would be on the high end of the scale for private schools here in Kunming. Most pay around 4500, and include bonuses at the end. While I hear all the time about places paying 6-10k a month in other parts of China, I have yet to see a single job in Kunming that pays nearly that much for a normal FT contract (16 hours give or take per week).

Universities always pay lower. When I first came three years ago, I was barely making 3000 a month teaching at one of the top unis in the province. Now they pay a bit more, but not by much. A university teacher will still be lucky to get 4000 in this city.

There are no set in stone guidelines for salary, as so much depends on where you find a job. In a place like Beijing, I imagine 4000 a month would leave you just about broke at the end of every month even if you were living relatively cheaply. In Kunming, you can live very comfortably on 4000 a month and still manage to save money.

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

Yes, and also things like going out in Kunming are very cheap. I went to Teresa's pizzeria there, it was only around 20 RMB for a very, very nice pizza. Compare that to 60-80 for Pizza Hut in most big cities. And the local beer there is half decent, so the bars sell that for 6-10 RMB for a big bottle, making it quite affordable to go to bars, compared to, again, most other big cities where you're paying 20 RMB, minimum for a tiny bottle of beers. So 4000 in Kunming would be a very, very liveable salary. Certainly a lot better even than somewhere like WUhan, which is nominally a 'cheap' city, but which isn't that cheap once you start looking at eating pizza, going out to bars, etc.