Job Discussion Forums

[creeper1]

Scratching my head and thinking of reasons I came up with the following

1. Opportunity to learn a language that may be useful in the future (some economists see China overtaking the US as the biggest economy in the world.

2. Opportunity to live a nice lifestyle - I guess I would earn much more than your average Chinese.

3. A change from my current location - ( It is frowned upon to discuss this location on this forum)

I can think of some reasons not to as well

1. Possiblity of having dirty accomodation
2. No more youtube or facebook
3. Maybe strict Chinese procedures.
4. Pollution

Can anyone stick a fork in my expectation or placate my fears?

[roadwalker]

Fork:

1. I don't think that the Chinese language will ever be important to know on the scale of English or Spanish or French or Arabic. It just doesn't lend itself to international communication. Too context-dependent. But living here and learning a few phrases and more importantly getting to know the culture could be valuable in a business context some day.

The other two are more persuasive. You can have a comfortable lifestyle (while you are here) and you can earn more than average, but less than you would at certain other East Asian countries, so I am told. It's all relative, and parts of Chinese culture are becoming very materialistic, so much so that a mere foreign teachers salary doesn't impress. Fortunately that doesn't apply to all Chinese. And people of modest means far outnumber the nouveau riche(r).

Placate:

Accommodations, like another East Asian country, are usually provided or subsidized in some cases. And they vary in quality, environment and cleanliness. Generally speaking, clean here isn't anti-septic, so even in a good apartment, people that like more than tidy will want to spend the first day cleaning. But really the apartments can be very nice. And cleaning materials aren't at all hard to come by. The outsides of older and some newer apartments tend to be gray, dusty and sometimes littered with trash.

Youtube, facebook and others are currently blocked. That can change or others can be added to the blackout. You can find workarounds with a VPN for example. Usually works.

The Chinese aren't very strict on many things. If you are referring to some kind of police state vibe, it isn't here, with the exception of "sensitive areas". There are plenty of cops here, but you might have a hard time telling them from parking attendants, private security guards and doormen. Most of the time, China is very casual. (Don't overstay your visa or do anything too obnoxious.) Dress is casual, rules are casual. Rules change from day to day or place to place. If the clerk, boss, cashier, etc. can't be bothered, then the rules are very strict that you can't do that, buy that, or get there from here.

Pollution. It's here all right, but I haven't had any trouble. Some places are better than others, and it's a big country. I think mainly it depends on how sensitive you are to different types of pollution. I can't take certain chemical smells but haven't had any difficulty with Chinese air pollution (search the threads, I think it's a common topic). Usually it's a product of coal burning so some places have sooty air. There are more and more cars now, so I wouldn't be surprised if an LA type of smog becomes more common from car exhaust.

Take a chance, come on over. Good luck whichever way you go.

[johntpartee]

[xi.gua]

I disagree with Roadwalker that Chinese won't be as useful in comparison with other languages. In America people have this big thing about needing to speak Spanish, I have NEVER seen anyone with a professional job that HAD to speak Spanish because their business partners couldn't speak English. The only people that spark this debate are people with low end jobs or professionals that supervise people with low in jobs, like a HR Manager. Chinese has a much higher percentage of professionals and with as many millionaires and billionaires in China now, they will be moving out of the country eventually to do business elsewhere. If China continues on it's current trend, Chinese will be MUCH more needed than Spanish or lol French. The question seems to be though, if China's bubble explodes or if their expansion is sustainable (Unlikely)

As far as the OP's fears: they seem to be fears of change. A dirty environment, well, i've been to a ton of cities that are very clean and quite beautiful, it's all relative to where you live.

If you can't live without facebook or youtube, and that is something that is seriously holding you back from taking a job somewhere, well, I just feel sorry for you. I feel quite happy not having to mess with facebook and youtube.

pollution, sure, there's some of that, but again it's not everywhere. Chinese policies, almost everything is debatable. I've had no problems with that.

You also forgot that coming to China is an opportunity to experience a culture completely opposite of your own, a chance for you to have your eyes opened about how good we really have it back home. Granted if you refuse to leave Beijing or Shanghai you don't get this experience to its fullest. It's an opportunity to better yourself and experience new things.

[cormac]

I'd also suggest that Chinese is becoming more important in some countries. Ireland, for example, has recently had increased numbers of both Chinese immigrants and also relationships made with Chinese companies. Where once the job market only asked for European languages for jobs, now Chinese is becoming a very popular choice since the supply doesn't even come close to meeting the demand at the moment. While the Chinese immigrants are reasonably good at learning English for their time in Ireland (compared with some European nationalities), there is are plenty that don't to fluency levels.

As for China:
1) While you earn very low amounts (�500-�600 per month) you can have a standard of living comparable with those in European cities of �40k, and still manage to save. You won't get rich here unless you get very lucky with the type of students you have, and make valuable connections for the long term future.
2) Most Chinese in Xi'an earned less than my wage of 5k rmb maxing out around 4k tops. There are quite a few successful businessmen, and rich families who will have extremely high average monthly incomes. As with anywhere, there are the rich, the middle, and the poor.
3) After living in Moscow for a short time, pollution never was a big issue for me. Don't really notice it, but that's just me. Most westerners I knew found it annoying, but still stayed on regardless. The main reason I found for westerners leaving China was being unable to give the expectation that they should have everything they have at home, but have it in China too.

Personally, I'm returning to China because I loved the food, the women, the lifestyle, and the amazing number of good people I met there compared with the low numbers of twats. It also helps that I actually feel welcome in China... In the West, you're just another "body". So, my ego has a strong say in things too. haha

[kev7161]

[7969]

[Laurence]

[johntpartee]

[Laurence]

[cormac]

[cormac]

[DoubleDutch]

5000 may be the average, but from what I've read the modal income is about 1500/month.

[Zero]

[cormac]