Moving to Suzhou China. Living costs?

[sruby]

My husband received an offer to teach (not English) in china. The contract includes all living expenses i.g. flat, gas+ electric, cable... and the salary is $1400 US tax free + a small $200 US living allowance. What would be the living cost and how much on average would we be able to save?

[JenniferW]

Is the basic salary of $14,000 for a year's contract? I'm sorry if that sounds an idiotic question, but I'm not American and am not used to how you give salaries. In the UK, we usually give annual salaries - but in China they give salaries by pay per month.

If it is the salary for a year, for a qualified and experienced teacher. and for a couple to live off, it's not high.

I retired in in 2007 from a teaching job at a university in Shenyang where my monthly pay was 5,500 RMB. My accommodation was provided, including heating, electricity, telephone calls up to a sum I never went above, and an Internet connection. There were some free trips thrown in. This let me live comfortably, but I'm single, and by western standards, have a pretty frugal lifestyle. It wasn't enough to do much for my savings.

Since 2007 the prices of everything have gone up, too. It's still possible to live relatively cheaply in China because some of the basics are still much cheaper than in Europe (for example), but other things are definitely not.

[ABCinChina]

I am assuming she is saying $1400 per month tax free which roughly equates to about ￥9500 per month and $16,800 yearly salary. (Not including the $200 living allowance) Actually, I think that is quite a lot as compared to some salaries I have seen for English teachers with university-level teaching experience.

Do you and your husband like to go out for nights on the town? Do you both like to go to bars? Certain things in China cost a lot of money. But like Jennifer said, if you live frugally, you'd be able to save some money between the two of you. I make about that much and between me and my girlfriend (who stays at home watching soap operas), we save about $300~$440 per month. (I, by no means, live frugally and could be saving much more and recently due to traveling expenses, I've been spending much more than I make)

[rdferg]

My partner and I are making about 11000RMB combined, housing and all bills paid. Months when we're feeling particularly frugal we'll save 5-6000. Over winter we've been going out to bars and foreign restaurants about twice a week. As a result, we've only saved about 1500 a month. We are saving a lot less in Suzhou than we did in Sichuan because of all the expat goodies on offer!

Here are a few of our recent expenditures in Suzhou:

250grm imported cheese 39kuai

taxi base fare 10kuai (about 40kuai from downtown to our suburb)

entree at TGIFriday's- 60-120

cocktails- 40

6-month family,subscription to the Bookworm- 300

new laptop- over 6000

fresh milk 1litre- 14RMB

yoghurt 750ml- 9RMB

bus to Nanjing- 75RMB

city bus 1 to 5 kuai

Also, take a look at some of the Suzhou expat sites.

[clara]

Hi

We as a family looking at moving over to Suzhou for at least six months for my husbands work, what are the schools and colleges like and possible costs. what about costs to learn the manderin when we arrive. what type of place is it. what are the general weather conditions compared to Britainwhat are the costs of living now we are looking at early part of next year moving?

Thanking you for any help or advice you can forward