Job Discussion Forums

[Badboy Blue]

Thanks everyone, your information is very helpful.

But.....

I guess it was my fault, because I thought the cost of living meant how much for certain items, such as (and not limited to);

1. Food (rice, milk, meat, etc.)
2. Taxi rides
3. Transportation (subway, buses, taxis, etc.)
4. Apartments
5. Beer
6. Movies
7. etc.,etc., etc.

How much do basic things cost in Beijing, thats all....

Stuff like this, I am far from being an economist, I just wanted to know if my salary (about 9800 yuan) would get me by in Beijing and allow me to save a smidge.

[bukowski1234]

Badboy,

My question to you is "Does knowing the GDP of the provinces in China tell you anything about your ability to live on your salary, or the standard of living you'll be able to maintain?"

It tells me nothing.

I did a search on Google with the words GDP in (city or province name) and found news articles which addressed this topic. In many of those articles, I found references to average per-capita income. Though this info told me little about HOW WELL I will live on my expected salary, it DID tell me that my salary at the university is WELL above average for my area. When I factor in the accommodations which will be provided by my university (at no charge), I can determine (inferentially) that i will be adequately-compensated, and at a level which is well-beyond that of the average Joe in my city.


Will I live high on the hog on my salary in my city? I'll have to see how tall the hogs and how long the step ladders are when I arrive.

Your best bet is to find others who are living in nearby areas of your city in similar accommodations arrangements and just ask what they're making and how well they're living.

[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

Lets make this simple. When I move to a place, I want to know how much it is going to cost me.

In Hangzhou, you can live OK on 5,000 RMB a month, have fun with some travel on 7,000, and live a good lifestyle here for 10,000 RMB (1200 USD) a month. Hangzhou is not a cheap city, I would say the only places more expensive would be Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen and HK.

My rent is 1300 RMB a month for a small one bedroom. A nice place costs about 3,000 and up. I lived in a huge two bedroom, two bath, big kitchen, living room and office for 3000. I have unmarried students who rent rooms for as low as 400 a month, but that's them and not us.

If you speak Chinese, you can eat out in good restaurants for 20-30 RMB a person. Cheap places 10-20 (good food with less surroundings). Greasy KFC or gut bomb McDonalds meals costs about 20 RMB. In my humble opinion, don't eat western food in China.

My electric bill will probably run 300-400 this month because Hangzhou is hotter than hell in the summer.

Taxis in Hangzhou are 10 RMB to start. Why buy a car? A good car here costs about 100,000 (12,000 USD) and that does not cover the license plate, insurance and official hassles. No used cars here.

I spend about 4500 RMB a month and that is for absolutely everything. I go to bars when I want, eat out everyday, take taxis everyday plus rent and bills. As stated above, you will do fine on 5,000, but you wont save any money.

Senor

[Xin]

To be more specific, let me give some real shopping comparisons:

Henan Province/Shanghai

Watermelon 4.00 rmb/15.00 rmb
Men's suit 180.00 (custom)/800.00 (rack)
Apt rent 600.00/3,000.00


However, prices at Carrefour or Metro are the same all over China.

Compare salaries:

Henan Province/Shanghai

18 teaching periods 5,000/5,000

But it is not always about money. Night life, social activities, other foreigners, clean air, clean water, trees are all issues, to varying degrees.

[bendan]

[Xin]

Bendan possibly you missed my point. It is much cheaper to live in Henan Province than in Shanghai, so long as you DO NOT shop at Carrefour or Metro where the provincial prices are just as high as their Shanghai stores. Since the basic salary is the same, living in the province may be more economical but there are other things you may miss.

[Lee_Odden]

[bendan]

I live in Tianjin, but I often go to Beijing, so I'll try and provide some information.

I pay about 40 RMB at Metro for a 5kg bag of good Thai rice (I prefer it to the local stuff when I'm cooking)
I pay a little under 1 RMB for a 227ml bag (yes, a bag) of milk (long life).
I pay between 13 and 20 RMB per kg of chicken breast.

In my city, a 3km taxi ride costs 5 RMB, and a 6km ride costs 9.5 RMB.
In Beijing it depends on the type of taxi, but 3km would cost 10 RMB and a 6km ride would cost between 12 and 15, I think.

The bus is 1 RMB, or 2 RMB if it has air-con. In Beijing I think the buses are the same. Subway is 3 RMB. Trains have various prices according to the speed of the train and the comfort of your seat/bed. From Tianjin to Beijing (a bit over 100km) the price varies from about 10 RMB (slow/really crap) to 45 RMB (best seats on a fast train at peak time). To fly from Beijing to Shanghai costs from 500 to 1000 RMB for a one-way ticket.

I have rented apartments ranging from 1200 RMB a month up to 3000 RMB a month, always furnished. I've seen a few cheaper, but they always had a major drawback. For 3000 RMB I had a small apartment in a good location, great view, decent management, OK furniture, foreign TV, IDD telephone etc. I think the prices in Beijing would be at least 50% higher than that, maybe 100% more.

A 600ml bottle of beer costs from 1.2 RMB up to 10 RMB. I usually buy beers for between 2 and 4 RMB. Cans half the size seem to be the same price as the much bigger bottles. In a bar, a smaller bottle usually costs between 15 and 25 RMB in my city, but prices vary. You can get a big bottle of Tsingtao for 8 RMB in one place, and you can pay 30 RMB for a small one elsewhere. I don't find Beijing too much more expensive than that.

If I eat out, I pay anywhere between 10 and 300 RMB for two people. Usually its between 50 and 100. I find Beijing a little more expensive than my city at the bottom end, but the same at a higher quality level. Of course, Beijing has some really expensive places, but similar places don't exist in most Chinese cities.

[bendan]

[Xin]

Bendan:

Watermelon last Friday in Shanghai and last Saturday in Henan, courtesy of overnight train.

Suits same material and quality. Have you tried to locate a tailor in Shanghai? Henan factories do sew for the Shanghai rack. Shanghai discourages tailors in favor of the state owned Silk Factory.

Anyway, although I teach Marketing and know how to compare prices and products, we need not argue the point. I am happy to see your further constructive post.

Edit: On second thought, the custom made suits are much better. I was just fitted for three more. They will be ready in three days. I am gonna look dapper back in Shanghai!

[bendan]

[ContemporaryDog]

I think its more or less true that 10,000 in Beijing/Shanghai is about the same as 4000 elsewhere. I get around 5800 in Wuhan and have a good time on it (never out of money which I always was when working in London). When I went to Beijing I noticed everything was 2-3 times the price of Wuhan. We went to one bar where we paid 150 yuan for 2 beers and 2 bacardi breezers - that's London prices! The same thing in Wuhan would be about 80, and drinking in bars is the only thing that's remotely expensive in Wuhan.

[ContemporaryDog]

One thing that always gets me is that you see these lists showing most expensive cities, and Beijing usually comes out near London! I mean wtf! In Beijing for 6000 yuan a month (about 420 quid) you can rent an apartment in a block with its own private swimming pool. In London you'd be looking at about 1500 quid a month.

I think those surveys are done by comparing the costs of full roasts and jars of marmite or something, that's the only way its conceivable, as even in Beijing the average bus journey is 28p, whcih is far cheaper than London.

Unless, of course, they're scaling it relative to local earnings.

[ContemporaryDog]

Also one must consider rent. My pay is 5800 but my school provides a nice flat on campus, with a large front room, and pays all bills (aircon, heating, internet etc).

[ContemporaryDog]

I've got to say 9800 a month doesn't sound that fantastic in Beijing if you've got to pay for rent, bills and stuff. A friend of mine was offered a job in Beijing (not a teaching job, but in fact a broadcast job working for a English-language radio station) paying 11,500 a month, and he ended up turning it down as he's better off on 5800-odd a month in Wuhan.