Job Discussion Forums

[yearofthetiger]

Hey All!

My boyfriend and I are looking to come to China in February, and I'm trying to get a good sense of how much money we will reasonably earn, where we should go, and any other advice from you knowledgeable people actually in China.

We know that we want to be coastal, and probably more Southerly (but not Shanghai).

I have an honors BA (not in education), privately tutored composition writing all through college, and just spent a year teaching English for the French Government. My boyfriend has a Masters (engineering) but no real teaching experience. We would both prefer to teach at the university level. Actually, I would love to teach literature, film, composition, or culture classes, but I'm guessing such fun jobs are really hard to come by. We'd like to start with a short contract (five to six months), although if things are going well between us and the school, we would definitely consider renewing.

How much can we reasonably expect to earn?

What's the best way to get in touch with universities (and avoid recruiters!)? Dave's job boards seem to be mostly private organizations.

Should we start contact now or wait until closer to February?

And on the off chance that my fairy godmother exists and reads this board, anyone have a great uni post in a department that needs more teachers for next semester?

Thanks for your help! I know that some of this stuff has probably been covered before, but I've found the search function to be really unhelpful.

Namaste!

[kev7161]

In a university, probably about 4000 - 5000 a month plus living quarters and a couple other standard things, probably teaching no more than 20 periods/hours a week (quite possibly down to 13 or 14). No advice on cities though, sorry.

[Millerlong]

Why is Shanghai not on the poll? I think Shanghai wins easily as the best coastal city. Only problem is that you can not swim in the sea or rivers. Very international city with everything you need plus more. You can really enjoy yourself there and possibly even forget that you are in China. One of my favourite cities in the world!!!

[yearofthetiger]

Thanks for the reply, Kevin. If you're only teaching sixteen hours a week, is it usually spread across the full five days? Or can you manage to pack it into four (or, nirvana, three) days a week?

Millerlong, I didn't include Shanghai precisely because I've been told it's easy to forget you're in China! Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a western style gym, but I've found so far that I prefer endemic experiences to international ones. (Also, I LIKE swimming!)

Thanks, guys.

[kev7161]

It really will depend on your school. The high school I previously taught at gave me a schedule where on some days I'd have 6 classes and the next only one or two. It was maddening. And then sometimes one class first thing in the morning, another late in the afternoon. This is fine for Chinese teachers (well, not really, but it's their lot in life) who MUST stay in their offices all day, but doesn't really fly for an FT. Luckily, I lived near campus so could go home, but forget about planning an afternoon in the city. Negotiate this carefully with your school, but sometimes it's out of your control.

[Steppenwolf]

Qingdao, Xiamen and Zhuhai - from east to west.
Best quality of life while adequate incomes; in fact all 3 cities are economic powerhouses in their own right (Xiamen and Zhuhai are Sepcial Economic Zones).

Some of the remaining cities aren't even "coastal" in nature - Guangzhou for example (though it's pretty close to the sea). ANyway, the quality of life in those is much lower. Pollution also is higher as they are more industrialised and the polluted air gets trapped over the city in summer for long periods of time.

[7969]

[Gregor]

I lived in Dalian for a year. I'm a little surprised that you didn't put that one on the poll.
I'd recommend it. There's not much of a social scene there. People are more interested in just making money, so social groups (with the possible exception of the Russian community) are hard to come by. But it's pretty clean, and there are nice diverting things to do. One really strange thing about Dalian that I'm noticing now that I'm back in Shenyang - it's very difficult to buy books in foreign languages here. In Dalian, there are a couple foreign book shops, and one of them is really quite good.
You can get more foriegn type stuff in Dalian, too - deoderant, western foods, etc.
Shenyang is SO much bigger, and has, I believe, a larger wai guo ren population, but the foreign language book shop no longer has foreign language books, and other foreign luxury items are more difficult to come by.
Anyway - if you're going to the north, Dalian is a god city to live in. I don't know if there's much work there anymore, but it's a god place to live.

[asianbizarre]

My college will definitely need people to teach at beginning of March--Spring Holiday is all of Feb.
It's not near the sea--Guangzhou area--but warm. Save money? Maybe $400-$500 US a month.
You'd be teaching some sort of business related English to eager and VERY NICE students.
You may need TEFL certs...
If interested PM me.

[pandasteak]

[grwit]

From my experience in China (2yrs) it seems that the cities where the living expenses are high you salary will also be high. If the living expenses are low then your pay will be low too.

Of course this is hard to monitor if you have never been to these cities. You won't really know how high the living expenses are.

The real trick is to try to get a high rate of pay in a city with low living expenses.

Public Universities will probably offer 4000 - 6000/month for 16hrs work/week. Private language schools will pay more but you usually have to work longer hours.

As for a 3 or 4 day working week... for me it has been the luck of the draw. in the 4 semesters I have worked here 2 were 5 day weeks and 2 were 4 day weeks. Sometimes on the 4 day weeks there was only 2 classes (1hr 30mins) on the 4th day so it was close to a 3 day week.

[grwit]

I have also been looking for a new job starting next year. I have noticed that there are quite a few available in Zhuhai and Shenzhen.

start looking NOW don't wait or all the good positions will be filled.

Do a google search for universities in China if you want to avoid recruiters. Here is 1 link that has a fairly comprehensive list of Unis in China

http://www.campusprogram.com/universities/China.html

I hope this helps.

[jammish]

I live in dalian too, and i'd also recommend it. Well, I'm actually out in the Kai Fa Qu development zone, which is more chilled out. Today I went into the city centre - man it was packed. Almost like going back to wuhan.

I'm not really the best person to ask about the bar scene in dalian though as now i'm married with baby and don't get the chance to go to bars in the city centre. it's better than most cities for having cheap, local bars. there's a really cool place here in kaifaqu called Boom Town, for instance, that was opened by a Canadian guy. It's got table football, sofas outside you can lounge on, and beers for 10 RMB a pop (Qing Dao). Wuhan was sadly lacking in places like that. On the other hand, I've yet to find somewhere really bustling along the lines of Blue Sky Cafe, which is a good bar in wuhan. But I think the city centre would have such places.

[no_exit]

Cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou aren't cheap places. I can spend in a week in Guangzhou what I normally spend in a month in Kunming. If you're going to look for work in places like that, the aim high. Guangzhou also isn't your typical coastal city. It is within travelling distance of some nice beaches, but you have to go at least few hours outside of the city. It is also really international, maybe not so much as Shanghai, but close. I can get all the Western comforts my heart desires in Guangzhou, and it is also enticingly close to Hong Kong. I wouldn't choose it if you're looking for that down home China experience.

However, I've got a friend living in Xiamen who adores it, and is constantly trying to get me to move out there, and enticing me with nice big salaries. I would definitely check it out, as it sounds like a great place with good salaries and a cost of living that is about middle-range (not Shanghai/Beijing/Guangzhou high, but not Kunming/Haikou cheap either).

[jammish]

it's hard to find a good joc in xiamen, presumably as it's so desirable