Living costs for Shenzhen

[Col]

Hi I have just been offered a graduate engineering position at a company called chinatoolhk.com and would like some advice.

The salary offered is 13800 a month, my apartment and travel costs to work are covered, bills are covered so all my salary is for food and social activities. Is this amount reasonable to live comfortably on? im 23 and enjoy the night life at weekends also going for meals ect the usual social stuff.

Has anybody had any experience with the peninsula apartments in shekou( i think), or if not the general area of shekou/shenzhen. is it a nice area? busy? shops, bars ect.

Will i need any injections prior to arriving? iv been told different storys you see.

Please reply as I would love to take the job and live in a different culture, ( from England ) perhaps make a very poor effort of speaking the language but i will give my best! but i am very worried about being able to afford to live on my salary as i have heard its an expensive city!

look forward to your response!

colin

[abcdefg]

but i am very worried about being able to afford to live on my salary as i have heard its an expensive city!

13,800 RMB a month of disposable income (all fixed expenses paid) is a lot, even for Shenzhen. You will be able to live quite well. You will even be able to invest in some Chinese language lessons. Shekou has lots of expats and lots of expat services and amenities.

EDIT: In the light of @BrandeX post, I'd better ammend this to make it completely clear I don't live in Shenzhen and I could be all wet.

Edited July 18, 2011 at 03:04 PM by abcdefg

[BrandeX]

That's the same salary that Chinese pay people to stand in front of a room and be "white and funny" and not really require any other skills. For an Engineering job, I'd expect a lot more money, or just stay in my home country and (hopefully) get on a career track earning far more.

[skylee]

That's the same salary that Chinese pay people to stand in front of a room and be "white and funny" and not really require any other skills. For an Engineering job, I'd expect a lot more money, or just stay in my home country and (hopefully) get on a career track earning far more.

Is that true?

I am not sure what "a graduate engineering position" is. I guess it means an engineering post which requires an engineering degree?

Since the company is in Shenzhen and has "hk" in its name, perhaps it is related to HK? There are some statistics on the internet that might be useful. If you go to this page and choose the statistics under "graduate" and then the latest version of table 05, you can see that the most recent average salary of engineering graduates (graduated in 2010 summer and data collected in December 2010) in HK is HK$154K per annum (~ HK$12,800 per month). But if that position requires more than an engineering degree then perhaps this is not useful reference.

[roddy]

That's the same salary that Chinese pay people to stand in front of a room and be "white and funny" and not really require any other skills.

The English teaching market is distorted and there's no point using it as a point of reference for wages in other sectors. It'd be like pointing at the price of salt during the Fukushima crisis and claiming pepper should be more expensive.

[Yang Rui]

I think you could probably live comfortably on that if, as you say, accommodation is included. I'd ask to see some more information on the apartment they have lined up for you because there can be a lot of variation in quality. Accommodation in Shekou is quite expensive, so if they're providing a nice apartment it could make the package as a whole look quite attractive.

I lived in Shenzhen from 2006-2007, and from 2008-2010 I lived in HK and regularly visited friends in Shenzhen. A lot has probably changed - prices of everything have gone up a lot in the last few years - but here are my two cents:

Shekou itself is almost like a little suburb of Shenzhen. It's where a lot of overseas companies have traditionally been based so it's home to a lot of expats and has foreign restaurants and bars. The quality of these has increased over the years - some are good and some are tacky. It seems to me that in recent years a lot of the nightlife has moved into the centre of town, near CITIC Plaza and/or Coco Park. Shekou might feel a bit claustrophobic after a while as it's quite a small area, and it's a fair way to travel into the centre of the city.

Another thing that may have changed, but which is worth mentioning, is that when I was in SZ the expat crowd was "of a certain age". I was in my early 20s and they were mostly in their 40s. I think this reflects that fact that Shenzhen is not a cultural city with lot of attractions and historical/political interest - it's a place people go to work, and most of the foreigners who are employed there are employed because of some relevant experience they have. Whereas in Beijing you might get lots of students, young creative types, journalists, diplomats, business people, artists etc all in one place, in Shenzhen you're probably limited to English teachers and engineers (which might not be a problem for you!). Of course, that's a massive generalisation and things might have changed, but it's my general view.

It will certainly be different, and with the job climate the way it is in the UK, it might be an interesting thing to do. It will probably change your life forever. I started my early career in China and eventually found my way back to the UK in a reasonable job, but it can be quite a tough thing to do - most people would probably recommend getting solid experience in your own country before heading out to China in order to maximise pay etc. But then who knows what will happen? You'll probably fall in love and end up out there forever or something. It's certainly an exciting option...

[abcdefg]

I am not sure what "a graduate engineering position" is.

I believe it means an entry level job for a recent graduate without an advanced degree and with little or no experience. The term could be used differently in the U.K.