Job Discussion Forums

[Mister Al]

"Survive' being the operative word.

[amudbc]

Ok then what about 5800? If I get offered the job I'll ask for that....otherwise I'll be taking another one elsewhere

[7969]

you can easily get by on 5000 if the apartment is provided.

I live in a fairly expensive city but good food is available from a real restaurant next door to our building for RMB10-12 for a complete meal (any combo of pork beef, rice, cabbage, peppers, tofu etc), delivered to my door free of charge. then there are 50 other restaurants within a 500 metre radius.

beer is the same price here as it is in any other city, small or large.

buses cost RMB2 per trip, subway RMB 6 from one end of the line to the other.

I could spend a fortune here if i wanted to but basic living expenses are not much different between where i live now and the much smaller city i used to live in.

as it is, i live well in an apartment provided by my employer and i still only spend 2000/7500 every month. stay away from nightclubs and expensive restaurants and you'll be fine.

[Sinobear]

I wholeheartedly agree with the above! In fact, all you need to do is apply for Chinese citizenship (throw away your current passport, who needs it!) and yes, YOU CAN LIVE LIKE A TYPICAL (uneducated) CHINESE WORKER! GLORIOUS!!!!

Forget the current stats that the average (educated) Chinese worker makes 8K RMB/mo in the major cities (plus benefits, plus, plus, plus). You WANT to be poor and SNIVELLING! Yes! You WANT to live paycheque (Canadian spelling)-to-paycheque. Hand-to-mouth! That's what we've always aspired to in the west.

Life is cheap here! 2 RMB for a beer! 10 RMB will fill your (and the surrounding countryside's) gut with palatable food! Even if you get sick, a helicopter will whisk you away to one of the most sanitary and respectable hospitals that no 5-star hotel could even dream of competing with!

Hey! You don't need that decadent western lifestyle - clean, potable water, aircon (to bring the interior room temperature down to a livable 26C in summer or at least 21C in the winter), you don't need to have any of the obscene decadent utilities such as power, water, gas 24/7! Live like the locals, man! There is not a single, and I can attest to this, not a single BMW, Mercedes, Land/Range Rover or other decadent sports car in this entire country! As soon as the well-to-do accumulate wealth, they give it all away and start again!

7969 is so right, man! After reading his post, I have no idea on earth why it costs me 22000 RMB/mo to support my wife and kids here. Why am I working three jobs just to make ends meet? I could just move to the middle of nowhere and live like a king!

On a more serious note, if you're so into "teaching", want to make a difference and do some good, volunteer to teach in Africa in the poorest countries and where the people would be most appreciative.
If you want to have a lifestyle and make money, don't think of China and less than 8K RMB/mo all inclusive.

As the old saying goes, "If you don't know who's the shmuck, then you're the schmuck."

I just remembered something! If you're a pensioner, or have a wonderful trust fund to live off of, independently wealthy, or Mommy and Daddy's basement is always open to you, come on down! You'll have a great time!

[dragon777]

You can do much better than that buddy. Just haggle a bit.

[7969]

sinobear, the poster asked a question. i answered it (w/o the attitude).

[Zero]

The Dave's faithful do love their pissing matches, but who's actually wrong here? Nobody, other than the fact that it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. A single person can live above abject poverty on 5k-ish per month. A married person with kids needs every bit of 22k, or more. You could do with less, but the sacrifice is that you're not able to raise your kids the way you'd like. That is unpalatable for most parents. When your horizons include saving for college and such, you can never really earn "enough" in ESL (or most other professions).

[amudbc]

Ok then - realistically what wage should I ask for? 6000 RMB per month? Its only an 8 month uni gig. I could try and pick up extra hours elsewhere

[Paul D.]

Better yet, ask the school for extra hours. Why travel or work nights/weekends to earn extra money if the school will give you extra classes?

5 years ago I worked at a university in Nanjing, which I mentioned in another topic. The salary was 4600 per month back then for 14, 45 minute classes a week. With the extra classes I had 6k a month to spend.

I can't type that I saved much, but, I had fun, ate pizza once a week at 'Bella Napoli' (or something like that) as well as ate sandwiches at a place near Nanjing Normal Univ. once a week. I danced the night away at Scarlet's in the 1912 District after enjoying a turkey club at "Phil's Place" (??), the list of places in Nanjing goes on. I wonder if the Australian bar is still there?

I also traveled to places such as Huangshan Mountain, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shanghai. I even had enough "saved" to put 2 months rent down on an apartment in Shanghai. I could have paid the 3 they wanted but I did need some cash to spend!

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that 6k a month to spend is enough. I agree with what someone else said in a different topic -where can someone new to China find a 10k a month job?

Something to ponder - after moving to Shanghai, I was making around 15k rmb a month before taxes, rent, commuting etc.. After all of the bills were paid, I had 10k to spend. Nice, but I also worked double the hours, commuted for approximately 2 hours each day, worked nights and weekends and did not have the longer holidays. It's been typed here before - basically, I made more per hour at the university.

As I typed in a different topic - enjoy the low amount of hours and think about the next job.

[amudbc]

Ok heres the story I could get a 6500-7000 per month job in Harbin but really don't think I'd enjoy the cold. Another one in freezing Shenyang at 8000rmb per month - (6 month contract).

Im still tempted to go to Nanjing for the following reasons
1. I want to teach adults and Ive got a bit bored teaching kids
2. Nanjing has a bearable winter and seems more my kind of place
3. Its an 8 month contract which is ideal for me,
4. I have a month free in winter during which I could devote myself to finding extra work
5. I like the idea of the extra time, partly because as I write as a hobby and could pursue that

But at 4800 rmb per month the pay is bad.

There are perks tho - lower hours, 5000 rmb flight allowance (Harbin pays 1000 rmb towards this a month but its only 2000 rmb for the Shenyang option). Ive been told it would be easy to get extra hours and I'd have a month during winter break to organise these. However I read on another post about Wenzhuo:

'it's hard to get consistency from private students. A lot of no-shows, a lot of hassle. You might make an extra 1,000 a month from it without too terribly much effort, but beyond that the hassle might be too great'

So how 'easy' do you think it would be to establish a situation where I making enough to save a small amount each month

Should I take a risk and go somewhere I really want to go in terms of career and lifestyle or choose the easier but less attractive option. Any thoughts are appreciated ......I supppose a lot of these questions are difficult or impossible to answer