Job Discussion Forums

[jammish]

I don't think anyone is seriously agreeing that 6000 goes further than 6000 USD will in the US. However, it will certainly go further than the pound equivalent, about 420 pounds, will in the UK, and will probably go further than the average UK teacher's salary (about 1300 pounds a month take home as a starting salary).

The flat I live in in Dalian would set me back a good 1000 quid a month in London, probably about 700 in a city comparable to Dalian, like say Bristol.

[upchuckles]

If you had asked that question two weeks ago, the answer would be NO. However, look at the forex exchange rate.. The answer is a resounding YES.

[james s]

..

[Anda]

For eating out, motel accommodation, taxi, and seeing a local doctor plus getting a relaxing massage I would say that these types of things are about a tenth of what I'd pay back in Australia.

If I work say in a university language institute in Sydney Australia for 16 hours a week I'd get taxed 30% and I'd have to pay for accommodation and utilities and also fit an apartment out.

So for everyday living China comes out in front of living back home in Australia by a mile. If I wanted to save like mad I'd be back in South Korea but it's a different type of life there.

[Moon Over Parma]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[Anda]

I think its funny saying that one of us can live on 1,000 RMB a month. Sure it's possible as many Chinese I know live on less. However how do they live on this money?

One widow I know that has a kid sleeps with a man so as to have somewhere half decent to live. Prior to this she sleep in a tiny room in a three quarter size bed with her daughter and the room had a sink in it so the tiny two bed size room was kitchen, bedroom, washroom, dining room plus TV room. The toilet was three floors down and was public. Take her and her kid out for a meal and they both eat meat like pack rats trying to store up on protein. Yeah cheap greens and cheap vegetables along with bulk rice are the normal diet

Guess what a 30 RMB pillow is seen as a big outlay by one of the girls I work with at my part time job. Then again she only earns about 35 RMB a day; meaning 1,000 RMB a month with no days off.

So anyway I eat well and have my good quality green tea etc and would spend about 2,000 a month on this alone a month. Then I get a massage a couple of times a week. Buy stuff for my apartment and take some friends out to dinner. So I'm up around 4,000 without much problem at all.

My main job brings me in 4,500 at the moment that is why I do a bit of weekend work on the side. I make an extra couple of thousand a month with my part time work and find that it makes a big difference to acquiring a few material things like a good computer, TV and so on.

The life is better here I think than what is on offer back home in Australia for someone my age so I�m here.

[Tsuris]

Most economic analyses I�ve read compare the real purchasing power of the RMB from one-third to one-fifth of that of the U.S. dollar. That means that a salary of RMB 6,000 in most places in China would have the same buying power as USD/CAN $1200 to $2000 across the United States and Canada. It is unlikely that Beijing will allow the renminbi to appreciate past 6:1.

Just based on my own personal experience, I would say that 6,000 yuan in China (outside of the international cities) does have the about same purchasing power as CAN $1500 would in many cities in Canada if you didn�t have to pay rent. If that salary of $1500 is totally discretionary, then you can be comfortable, but you won�t be rich and if you spend the money to make yourself comfortable, you won�t save very much if anything. I think that about describes the existence of most foreign teachers in China. They are paid enough to live comfortably on but not save, but can save if they live frugally. Start buying large screen TVs and satellite dishes and you�re living paycheque to paycheque as you would with $1500 in Canada. Comparisons to how the Chinese live are pointless. I have no intentions of subsisting on mostly rice and vegetables or taking the bus to work and neither do most foreigners that I�ve met. Every time I go to the western market and buy cans of soup, large containers of spices, imported bacon and blocks of Mozzarella cheese, I don�t leave there without at least dropping 800 yuan, and that�s once a month.

Of course the really big difference is that most foreigners are only working one-third of the hours they would have to work to maintain about the same quality of life they would have living on $1500 in Canada, without rent. That's why many of us are still here I guess.

[lou_la]

What about 6200RMB/month in Qingdao? This is including accomodation allowance, so need to pay rent etc out of this too. Enough for a fairly local-type life (well, I mean not running round like a big company expat) with occasional Western splurges on pasta and marmite, maybe a night out once a month or so?

[patsy]

You definitely can't beat the pirated dvd's for only 6 kuai. I think though, it depends on the living situation you have. If you have a decent apartment it's nice. But if it's freezing 6 months out of the year with no heat, and doesn't have hot water, or sometimes any water, it can be rather nasty no matter how cheap it is. Also, most living areas they give teachers aren't very good for things like walking, running, or any kind of exercising. unless you do laps around the school track, if they have one.

[Leon Purvis]

I have NEVER figured out any way to compare the buying power of RMB vs USD while living in China. All I know is that 6,000 RMB in Jiangsu with uni-provided living quarters, utilities and cable tv, I live well. I take friends and students to lunch frequently and I have difficulty spending over 60 rmb for four people, five courses and three beers for myself at the local Mom and Pop restaurant. (Chinese people don't drink around me. Strange). Dinner? same story. Four or five people at the popular working-class restaurant, god knows how many courses, PLUS a huge Beijing duck and three Prince premium beers for yours truly, and dinner comes out to 100 rmb or less. Seven yuan for a cab back to my apartment. I couldn't do that regularly in the states, for sure.

I have no rent to pay. No utilities except gas and telephone/internet.

I am VERY happy not to own a car, pay for gasoline and auto insurance. I enjoy all of the inexpensive stuff that everyone else enjoys. If I had to pay for all of the freebies, six thousand would not allow me the luxury of knowing that I'll have money at the end of the month.

In the states, my teaching position paid me $48,000 per year. I did not live on that salary in any way NEAR the way in which I live on my salary in China. For some strange reason, I always have an accumulation of cash at the end of the month.

Maybe I'm living too frugally.

Or maybe subconsciously, I'm saving up for an extended hospital stay.

Hmmmmm.....

[11:59]

I have a question for those of you above who wax lyrically about the benefits of cheap (i.e., pirate) DVDs: How would you feel if, when walking through the streets of whatever Mainland city it is you live in one day, you saw VCDs and DVDs of some lessons of yours which had been clandestinely recorded and which were now selling like hot cakes (but from which of course you were not receiving any royalties)? Would you espouse the benefits of bootleg DVDs then? Is it not the case that, morally, purchasing illegally recorded DVDs is a form of theft?

[Shan-Shan]

[Moon Over Parma]

[Adeem]

Who buys all of these DVDs? People here (Chinese) seem to live on ppfilm, 56.com et al, and don't waste their hard earned sheckles actually BUYING dvds. I find myself simply downloading films or renting and copying these days. It isn't particularly hard to set up schemes to manufacture your own cheap dvds back home either, so why does everyone think of buying dvds here as such an amazing perk?