Job Discussion Forums

migot · Joined: 22 Aug 2014 Posts: 7

Because while travelling in China those two cities have appealed to me, I will probably relocate to either of those.
Both cities have their merits in terms of beauty and tourist spots, expat bars and developed transportation systems.

However, what I would like to know is, in which city it is easier to get private students. They both have a fairly large expat crowd, so I am afraid that there already enough foreign teachers available.
So if anybody is here form Nanjing or Suzhou, please share your experience in getting students.

jimpellow · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 913

I lived between both and travelled to both quite a lot. I enjoyed both but have to say I preferred Nanjing personally. Knowing some teachers there it seemed that Suzhou was the better opportunity for tutoring because it has a larger Korean community where pay and opportunity can abound for the savvy ESL teacher.

Wo Dong · Joined: 02 Sep 2014 Posts: 54

You may want to check out Ningbo if you like Suzhou. Ningbo has lots of clean rivers and lakes and lots of green yet a modern city with plenty of convenient comforts and friendly locals.

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

I have worked in both Nanjing and Suzhou.
The administrators at both schools arranged private students for
me, and I was paid 250 or 260RMB an hour.
I changed my fee to 260RMB after learning that the number 250
in Chinese sounds similar to the Chinese for "I am stupid".

ETA: I enjoyed Suzhou more than Nanjing due to the wider availability of Western goods in Suzhou. Suzhou is also only about 30 minutes by train to Shanghai.