Job Discussion Forums

B�te T�te

Hi,
I'm trying to find employment as a "Foreign Expert," in Xinjiang. I thought Urumchi would be a good place to start and if i liked it, maybe, another year in a more western city in that province. The salary, and, really, the over all contract offers I'm receiving are ridiculous!

3,200 a month = salary
7,500 airfare reimbursement
100 a month for utilities
500 a year for medical

And, this... "4.Textbooks
Textbooks will be provided by Party A. If Party B prepares textbooks and supplementary teaching materials, then he must seek approval from Party A in advance. "

I've never had to ask for permission to use supplementary teaching materials.

And, another confusing statement to me..... "b. It is necessary to ask for leave from Party A. if Party B wants to travel outside the Urumqi area."

What does this mean? is,"leave," really permission? Is this common in Xinjiang?

Any help? Advice would be warmly received.

Orrin · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 206 Location: Zhuhai, China

Dump this deal immediately! It's not worth your time and effort to even consider it for more than a few microseconds.

B�te T�te · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:28 am Post subject:

thanks for your insight, i really mean that in all sarcasm. that doesn't help me at all. i know its shitty. i'm curious about the other questions i asked.

sorry, i'm a newbie backpacker idiot!

k3o3r9n0 · Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

While I've never been to Xinjiang, I know it's a politically sensitive area because of the Uyghurs, which most likely explains why you can't travel freely without the school's permission and their requirement that they approve all texts. The wages I have no idea.

killian · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:00 am Post subject:

"exotic" or "cool" destinations can afford to lowball. lots of adventurous types want to head out to the provinces to such places.

back in the day i lived in hualian, taiwan, one such outpost. everyweek, "backpack" types were literally pounding on the doors of the schools i worked at. their wages were much lower than then normal 500 NT$ per hour.

the school bosses aren't stupid. wages meet what people are willing to accept.

i always dreamt of urumuqi. recently i googled up photos. now it looks like any other chinese city.

B�te T�te · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:23 am Post subject:

right. i expected it to be a little lower anyway than the east coast, but 3,200 is really low. i make my income solely from being a teacher. i also am aware of the politics, but i was just wondering if anyone has been told this by their school or seen it before.

killian · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 am Post subject:

check the offered wages for hainan and yunnan. same story. low wages...kinda the "price of paradise".

danielb · Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 490

OP wrote:

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

B�te T�te · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:22 am Post subject:

touch� daniel b!

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

If you're really keen, why not go out there and shop around. I'd almost guarantee you'll do better. Wink

B�te T�te · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject:

william wallace,

you mean physically o out there?

do you know anyone who has done this?

Mpho · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 58

To answer you questions about "leaving" Xinjiang.

In reality anywhere in China, you are supposed to inform the PSB when you are leaving the area that your school, hence your residence permit is in. This can mean leaving the city, the province or China.

Here in Xinjiang it means leaving the County. This is a politically and economically sensitive area. It is just a formality to inform your FAO that you will be traveling to some place.

I have always done this and never a hassle. Matter of fact, no one in 3 years in Xinjiang has ever asked for my passport, ID or anything like that while traveling, except of course to buy tickets or check into a hotel. I once was asked for my sales receipt for my bike while biking.

Low wages are common in Xinjiang because the cost of living is low, except for travel by air.

But you can jobs offering Y4000 or even Y4500-Y6000 (at some private schools that are legit with Z visa, etc. ).

Urumqi is not the best place to teach in Xinjiang as it is a big city, polluted with nothing special to do or see. But once you get out of Urumqi almost all other locations are unpolluted, interesting and accomodations much better. Accomodations provided by most schools in Urumqi are bad to poor. And unlike most other places, they don't scrape the ice and snow off the pavements during the winter, it just gets smashed down by the people walking on it.

The good thing about Urumqi is that everything in Xinjiang goes through there and if you travel you will spend time in Urumqi.

There are many good places to teach in Xinjiang (Karamay, Korla, Kuitun, Dushanzi, Miquan, Changji (low wages) all within 1-3 hours by bus from Urumqi or further out Hami (isolated and 10-12 hours by train) or Yili (6-8 hours by bus). Yili is a great place to teach (contract at the College a little tough) and very touristy and scenic once you get out of town.

Mpho