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dakelei
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 351
Location: USA
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 Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 3:48 am Post subject: Anyone working in or familiar with Harbin? |
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| During the holiday one of my only real Chinese "friends" and I had lunch together. He was born in Harbin but has spent the past 20 or so years down south here in Guangdong. He's now in Shenzhen. He really wants to move back to Harbin and because of his fluency in English he was drawn to someone who wants to partner with him to open a school there that will specialize in preparing Chinese students to study in England and the USA. He specifically mentioned the SAT and "A Level" type things. The partner has the guanxi and connections and the plan is to work together with a local key school. Anyway, he wants to hire some foreign teachers and asked me for advice. I of course pointed out that Harbin doesn't exactly have a wonderful reputation with the foreign set because it's freakin cold and possibly a little scary. However, I know very little about the place. I was there for 2 days but it was in May and the weather was fine. My friend is mostly interested in knowing what kind of salary, benefits and whatever he'd have to offer to recruit foreigners to Harbin. I encouraged him to please just tell the truth because so many Chinese trying to find teachers lie their behind off. So, to anybody familiar with Harbin: What's a good salary there? How would one "market" the city to recruit foreign teachers? Any advice I can pass onto to my friend would be greatly appreciated. For the record, he is a good guy or I wouldn't even bother helping him. |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 4:02 am Post subject: |
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Edited
Last edited by likwid_777 on Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:57 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Harbin
Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:44 pm Post subject: Re: Anyone working in or familiar with Harbin? |
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| dakelei wrote: |
| So, to anybody familiar with Harbin: What's a good salary there? How would one "market" the city to recruit foreign teachers? Any advice I can pass onto to my friend would be greatly appreciated. For the record, he is a good guy or I wouldn't even bother helping him. |
How many hours, how much experience, and what level of credentials does he expect? Does he want a degree + CELTA or a warm body? Will he provide housing or a housing allowance?
You mentioned a language mill gig, so I'll assume the standard 32 hours per week. A fresh off the boat newbie will probably start at about 8-9k here and 1,500 is the going rate for housing. Someone with 2-3 years experience can easily demand 12,000 plus housing in Harbin. Rent is actually quite cheap in Harbin - 800 RMB per month is what most Chinese pay, but that jumps up to 3,500+ in the central area. 12 months paid up front is the standard in Harbin, but you pre-pay 6 months for a higher rate.
Harbin is a pretty boring city and I can't think of many creative ways to market it to foreigners. It's very cold in the winter and there is little to do outside of drinking related activities. However, there are quite a few Russians here and there's a bit of Russian influence in the food and a lot in the architecture. Some of the older people speak Russian and people will generally assume that all foreigners are Russians. Harbin does have a very nice winter culture, which manifests itself in the famous Snow and Ice Festival and Central Street, which is bustling with people in -30 C weather. Maybe that gives you a few ideas to work with?
| likwid_777 wrote: |
Harbin could definitely be scary to some. |
How? I've been here almost one year and no one has attempted to pick my pockets, assault me, or anything like that. I've been cheated a few times at markets, but nothing outside of locals making and extra 5 or 6 kuai off someone who didn't know any better. |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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Edited
Last edited by likwid_777 on Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Harbin
Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| likwid_777 wrote: |
| How? I was mainly referring to the rough night life. I suppose you could add (for non-Chinese speakers), that almost no-one speaks English in shops, restaurants, etc. |
Ah fair enough. I'm not single, so I don't make it out to the night life places. I've heard the local men like don't like foreigners interacting with "their" women.
| likwid_777 wrote: |
| So it can be isolating, or a good place to learn "pure" Mandarin. The locals are nice though. Really nice. I learnt this after comparing it to only about a week in GZ. The GZ folk seem much "trickier". I don't have any other experiences of other places in China. |
True. But to be fair, I've found that many shopkeepers know enough English and Russian to tell you simple prices. Harbin is a great place to learn Mandarin because there are quite a few language schools here and you'll be forced to use what you learn  Also, you'll find that most banks and hotels have someone around who speaks enough English to help you complete transactions. |
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BlueBlood
Joined: 31 Aug 2013
Posts: 261
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| Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| likwid_777 wrote: |
| How? I was mainly referring to the rough night life. I suppose you could add (for non-Chinese speakers), that almost no-one speaks English in shops, restaurants, etc. So it can be isolating, or a good place to learn "pure" Mandarin. The locals are nice though. Really nice. I learnt this after comparing it to only about a week in GZ. The GZ folk seem much "trickier". I don't have any other experiences of other places in China. Watch Anthony Bourdain's episode about Harbin. Last I checked, the whole episode was free on Youtube. This was nothing like reality. I think he simultaneously made Harbin look not only nicer than what it really is, but more backwards. Come on Anthony, you're not the frontiersman you're making out to be, at least in the case of the Harbin episode. |
What makes the nightlife "rough" there? |
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Harbin
Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 11:27 am Post subject: |
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| BlueBlood wrote: |
What makes the nightlife "rough" there? |
The locals like to drink and fight. Dongbei men are quite large and they can drink 5 or 6 liters of beer in an evening. Harbin is famous in China for its bar fights. |
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Toast
Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 428
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| Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Harbin wrote: |
| BlueBlood wrote: |
What makes the nightlife "rough" there? |
The locals like to drink and fight. Dongbei men are quite large and they can drink 5 or 6 liters of beer in an evening. Harbin is famous in China for its bar fights. |
Yeah - there's a stereotype that the southern guys talk a lot of smack - will start pushing, chest bumping and reapplying mascara as the tears start to well up, but in places such as Harbin and Changchun the fists come out quickly. The cold weather toughens people up. No point wasting time with pesky words and diplomacy. Many locals dislike the Russian populace and get confused about whiteys especially with their wimmens, so after a few beers, and the fact that just about every guy I see in Jiangsu who towers above me at 6'2" is from Dongbei means at times whilst out on the sauce situations can get sticky. I guess in general the "stupid people drinking stupid amounts of booze and saying something stupid to other stupid people drinking stupid amounts of booze" rule applies. Not frequenting drinking establishments and if so keeping your wits about you, and not being to proud to back down or walk away should things start to escalate will minimize the risks. |
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chinaroman
Joined: 30 Oct 2010
Posts: 61
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| Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Freezing cold! Tough to get taxis! Loads of Russians (not saying that is bad/). Free booze for ex-pats at many clubs! Save a good deal of money! Metro and Hamamas for decent eats! |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:56 am Post subject: |
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Edited
Last edited by likwid_777 on Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Harbin
Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Toast wrote: |
| Not frequenting drinking establishments and if so keeping your wits about you, and not being to proud to back down or walk away should things start to escalate will minimize the risks. |
Excellent advice -- this is exactly what my Aikido instructor, who held godan (5th degree) in Aikido and yodan (4th degree) in Judo, drilled into our heads. Awareness and avoidance of dangerous situations is 95% of avoiding assaults. |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Edit
Last edited by likwid_777 on Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Harbin
Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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One more note about Harbin's people:
Sometime last week, I lost my portable tea bottle. My first thought was that someone stole it from my desk at work or that I left it in a classroom and a student took it home.
I stopped by a supermarket yesterday afternoon and an employee asked me a few questions about a bottle. My Chinese is terrible and my first thought was that he wanted me to bring plastic bottles back to his shop and I said no thanks. As I was walking out the door, he handed over the missing tea bottle and said "No. You don't understand. You left this bottle here last week."
It's easy to become extremely negative about an entire country when culture shock strikes -- and it seems to have struck me particularly hard in China -- but on the whole, people in Harbin are quite honest. |
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Markness
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Posts: 738
Location: Chengdu
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| Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:45 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, Harbin can be a good time, I know a few people who live there and they seem to like it. Salaries seem lower than average there, and the climate is crap, so it doesn't make sense. I somehow avoided getting my arse kicked a few times in bars and the key is exactly what someone mentioned before, just don't be too proud to back off if a fight comes around, because they do fight like crazy there. This isn't just the Chinese i'm talking about, the Russians were morons for that too, it was quite annoying. I'm sure it would be an absolutely phenomenal place to be when it's warm however. I just can't do the cold.
But OP, I don't think the wages are that high there, someone pointed some out, I don't know if those are typical though, last time I was there the language mill was paying everyone around 5-6k RMB for 22 teaching hours a week with a free apartment and meals... this was just a few years ago. |
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BlueBlood
Joined: 31 Aug 2013
Posts: 261
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