Job Discussion Forums

[teacherbel]

I taught in Wuhan International School (WIS), which does not exist anymore, between 1998-2000. All of us FTs were paid 10,000 CYN/a month plus free aprtment. Our CTs were paid 4,000 CYN/a month.

I was not interested with what the others were getting. I accepted the job because the offer was good enough for me then.

It was on my second year when we had FTs visitors and I found out that they were receiving 4,000-5,000 CYN/a month plus poor apartment and poor heating.

But that was then and my attitude has not changed. I will only look at the salary in relation to what I believe is acceptable to me under the circumstances I am currently in..

This new school I will have offered me 1 1/2 times that of what I got from WIS. I just came from NY and NY teaching certificates, and the salary was acceptable to me. I didn't have free lodging in NY!..

I read in my contract I received last week that I was not supposed to reveal to anyone the content of my contract. I have revealed it to you now, but you don't know the school. So, I guess, that is ok.

In short, yes, salary must be secret in China..but really I am only interested with what I get..

[flutterbayou]

People new to the job market in China do not know that the initial terms of an employment contract are negotiable, nor will the employer let you know - why should they?

In China, when an offer is made, you are not stuck to the salary being offered when you say "yes." "Yes" means that you are ready to discuss matters; it does not mean that you are finished negotiating.

I'll give an example. Very recently I responded to an ad for a teaching position in Shanghai. The salary range was 8,000 - 12,000 RMB.

After a telephone interview I was offered the position. I accepted and then we began negotiating. I was offered 10,000 and we haggled the amount for a day or two because I have an MA and JD. I was then offered 11,000 and turned it down. Day 5 I received an email offering the 12,000 I felt I deserved (which is still substandard, comparative to my work history). We then discussed the tax responsibilities, and whether the wage could be net. Approved.

The positive factor was that the salary covered a 20 hour work week, no weekends, no evenings. The director suggested that I give private lessons to students on the side to boost up earnings to 20,000, which he approved. I figured that at 325 per hour, I could make substantial savings.

At that point we began discussing airfare. I was first told told I would be reimbursed at the end of the year, which I disputed because I never pre-pay my airfare. In another day, I was told that I would be reimbursed upon arrival, which terms were then put in writing.

Unfortunately, the airfare from my current area to Shanghai is unreasonably high. At that point, all negotiations came to a standstill.

Yet, we are still on good terms for future placement, because both parties understood communications on the same level.

An employer should not be blamed for paying different wages among staff. Negotiations are open up until both parties sign with ink on the dotted line. I do not recommend making a game of negotiations (I really have begun to miss China), but want to encourage new people to China to politely shoot for the wage they desire.

[kev7161]

[flutterbayou]

Kev, I agree with you in principle.

My point was that negotiations begin with a yes to confirm interest but that at that point, negotiations begin.

It just so happened that the airfare was more than 2 months' wages. Too much for me to consider and far too much to expect the employer to pay.

[A'Moo]

[kev7161]

. . . yeah, I was kinda wondering the same thing. Did the poster (sorry OP, we're diverging from your post for a moment) perhaps fly business class? If that were the case, I don't know many (or any) school that would reimburse that fare.

[Song&Dance]

Offer letters and contracts contain confidentiality clauses for several perceived reasons.
Whether the perceived reasons are valid or not, we need to look at why this trend has developed in recent years.

Clue #1 � when new provisions start appearing in Chinese employment contracts, it is usually an overreaction to a single incident, involving a single foreign teacher, at a single school, but the Chinese grapevine is very effective.

A public uni in Beijing was visited by a Chinese lawyer demanding higher pay for his foreign teacher client who had a PhD, but was paid less than a foreign teacher with a Masters. A private uni in GZ was threatened with legal action because all foreign teachers were paid the same, no matter what their credentials.

With the existence of a confidentiality clause it is impossible to argue for a pay raise based upon a comparison without being blown out of the water for receiving confidential information. Pay raises must be on their own merits but you will be hit with the proverbial, �the salary was agreed to when you signed the contract so you should honor the contract.�

[flutterbayou]

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I needed to prepay a round trip fare in a hurry (economy class), which is extremely high from where I am located, and the rates I received at this end were higher than the quotes given by some of you here.

The airline quote online this morning is 6,177 USD, Turkish Air.

[Anda]

Well I learnt recently that the middle school where I currently work and get 5,000 plus the normal extras a new teacher after a few years is on 2,500 RMB a month and a teacher with 20 years service at the same school is on 4,000 about month or a little under. Teachers can normally get a good deal on buying a school apartment. It is very hard for a government school teacher to move to another city so most keep the same job for life.


Wages vary from city to city and I am in the second poorest big city in Jiangsu.

[vikuk]

[Anda]

At Funing Teachers College teachers started on 700 plus a bed in a dorm for about four. A Head English teacher got about 1,900 and with extra about 3,000.

I have a friend in a private high school who is on 1,200 For 18 hours teaching.


At the last institute the Chinese teachers made about 1,400 all up a month.

Another friend's girlfriend just started on 4,000 straight out of Uni at a city not far from Shanghai.

So it varies a lot especially in the private sector.


About a year ago government wages went up by about 20% but not for foreign teachers.

South Korea is thinking about allowing nationalities other than Westeners in to teach English and this is happening here in China a lot already. I wouldn�t hold ones breath expecting wages to go up for our lot.

A lot of the Chinese teachers will have a number of private students that they teach for 2 hours a week and charge up to 1,000 RMB a semester.

[kev7161]

At my school, from what I understand, the Chinese teachers make a certain base salary which increases year by year as set out by the government (sort of a cost-of-living raise as well as a reflection for years served). In addition, they also get paid a certain amount for each class they teach. It's not much, maybe 20 yuan. So a teacher could earn, say, 2000 yuan as their base salary every month (more or less depending on how long they've been with the school) and then teach maybe 10 classes a week x 4 - - around an extra 800. This way if they're sick or need leave, they would lose the 20 yuan for each class they miss and the other teacher who takes over for them gets that 20 yuan. Also, some have extra duties that they may get paid for and I'm sure there is at least a yearly bonus or maybe even twice yearly. Don't get me wrong, I think a teacher's salary is much too low but you also can understand why a lot of them play on their computers or whatever instead of more "dedicated" work. Who wants to work their ass off for such a paltry sum? But, by the end of the year, I suppose they are no better or no worse off than your average office worker.

If I ask for leave (which I will do on December 26th, I miss 1/30th of my salary (which is actually in my favor as we have around 22-23 days of school each month) but I know the Chinese teacher that has to cover for me won't get 1/30th of my salary, which would be a MUCH better deal for her!

[A'Moo]

[wailing_imam]

Some people are useless at finding sensible priced airline tickets.

The cheapest to Shanghai US$6000, my arse.

If you are in Turkey, then you do not fly direct, you fly with Qatar, Emirates or even a European Airline.

Madness....

[loboman]