Job Discussion Forums

[Malsol]

[Paul Barufaldi]

Even in Beijing, aside from rent, you can live almost as cheaply as other cities if you adopt the Chinese (frugal) lifestyle. Veggies and doufu, aferall, are only slightly more expensive here. For the western lifestyle, yeah, prepare to pay through the nose no matter where you are in China.

And of course we all know that employers say anything they can think of to justify giving an FT a crappy salary. From "cultural experience" to "you're rich compared to the locals". I've even heard "You'll make 4000 LOCAL dollars a month!" Local dollars, hehe. See how far that gets you in Japan, right.

So I can see taking a slightly lower salary in a backwater simply because you can afford a better apartment on less money and the taxi fares are half the price. The rest though, I agree, is hogwash.

[mondrian]

The bottom line is: Supply and Demand.

If the owners of that piece of jungle require trained monkeys, then the currency is bananas.
They know that monkeys like to swing from tree to tree; they have no loyalty to any one tree. There are plenty of foreign monkeys who want a temporary tree in China, so the older and wiser monkeys either have to accept the local bananas offered or go find another tree, where there may be more bananas or even the odd nut or two.
So long as more monkeys are born then the jungle owner just feeds them with the same diet every year.
The monkeys are just entertainment for the locals in the jungle.

[grwit]

Yes a good argument Malsol.

I agree that when travelling a little extra cash in your monthly salary can go a long way. I live in one of these smaller 'so called' cheaper cities. I disagree that brand names are the same all over china though. The adidas and Nike shop are relatively cheaper in my town to the big cities.

As far as paying through the nose for a western lifestyle (ie buying western things) I simply don't really have that option in my town. There are no western resturants. Only 1 KFC. No McD's no Pizza Hut no Starbucks etc.

We have the western sports shops as mentioned above but why shop for the real thing when you can buy an Adifas tracksuit for less than half the price?

Western alcohol is also a lot cheaper in my town compared to the big cities. Budweiser 10 yuan, Hineken 15 yuan scotch, bourbon 20 yuan per glass or a bottle for less than 200 yuan.

I am forced to live a chinese lifestyle in my city and quite enjoy this life style.

When travelling I do the same. I won't pay extra for staying in a 5star when the rooms in a 3 star arn't that much different. As for train/bus tickets the chinese also have to pay the same prices using their 700/month salaries. So I can't complain about that either.

[kev7161]

Last year I traveled with a Chinese tour group to Thailand but had to pay an extra 1000rmb to do so. Nothing special: same foods, hotel rooms, etc. Why? "Because I am a foreigner" I was told matter-of-factly.

[7969]

[tefter]

Have any of you been to Jinan, Shandong? Is it an expensive city?

[jammish]

[Leon Purvis]

As a short-term, cautious and conservative resident of China, my salary is fine. I am even saving money. However, If I were to even ATTEMPT to recreate my middle class lifestyle in the States, I would be SOL. For this reason, I have tremendous respect and admiration for those who intend to make teaching in China their lives.

Where I am in China ALMOST every purchase, every service payment is like buying a used automobile in a shady lot in Somewhere, USA. My phone bill is higher when I pay it myself. My restaurant bills contain charges for things I didn't order OR receive. Salespeople in department stores (yes, department stores!) employ bait-and-switch tactics (this is putting it nicely) which would put them in the slammer pronto if they pulled the same stunt in the U.S..

However, when I bring an adult local to make the payments for me, transactions are usually smoother and the invoices have fewer "unintentional errors" on the bottom line.

We may be paid more than the local teachers (something which i find hard to believe to be the case for all local teachers judging by the number of nice cars parked in the new campus parking lot) but the FTs get scrod more often.

[kev7161]

[jammish]

Well, it is idiocy. You're going to a country with arguably the world's best cuisine, a country known for a population which likes to relax, chill out, have a good time, etc, one of the best countries in the world for single travellers to travel around both easily and cheaply, and do what they want when they want, and you decided to go there with a Chinese tour, where you knew you would have to get up at 6am every morning, listen to people shouting at you through megephones, and have to eat slop for every meal.

[Ariadne]

Hey Kev, I went with a Chinese tour group to Hainan and had a wonderful time. The price was peanuts compared to English speaking tours I checked out, but I don't know if I paid more cause I was a foreigner. I knew what to expect... get up early, go, go, go, megaphones, etc. The folks on the tour were very good to me. One young man was particularly friendly and helpful and we have maintained an active email correspondence. The experience of traveling with the Chinese group was just as interesting as the destination.. maybe more.

.

[william wallace]

nothing to say