Living in Beijing and Shanghai is too expensive

[Pokarface]

If living in both of these cities is too expensive, how can you teach English as a foreigner and live comfortably?

wouldn't it be better to live in an affordable city for the purposes of teaching?

Do you have additional part time jobs? How is it like? 

[Saxondale]

It doesn't have to be expensive; it's all down to the life style you choose to live.  My rent is 2450RMB a month, i take my scooter everywhere and could live off the food around my apartment if money was tight (15-25rmb) - that's a comfortable life for me and it doesn't cost that much.  Most of my friends that are English teachers live in fairly nice apartments and frequently dine out at western restaurants.

[roddy]

Teachers can make good money, and if they live carefully you can save plenty. Pulled this job ad up at random. Say you end up in the middle of that salary scale at about 15,000 a month. Say 4k for rent, 50 a day for food is 1,500, you've still got RMB9,500 a month left. Sure, there are other expenses, but there's no reason you can't be saving a big chunk of that. 

 

For everyone complaining about how expensive Beijing is, there's someone eating 5Y bowls of noodles and taking the bus to work, putting $$$$ in the bank every month. 

[vellocet]

Every teaching job is required to provide accommodation for its teachers, as part of the labor contract.  Or did this change?  I thought it was the law, right along with "we pay your airfare coming and going" to make sure that English teachers can go home when their contract is finished. 

 

I'm not so sure about those 5 yuan bowls of noodles, though.  They make them with ditch oil, how else can they sell so cheap? Let's be honest, Western people like to eat Western food.  Especially in Shanghai and Beijing...a friend of mine who recently came back from there said, "It's basically London, wot?"  I personally know of several laowai who never, ever eat Chinese food unless it's for a special occasion.  And why not?  Shanghai and Beijing are chock full of delicious, cheap Western food.  You don't even need to leave the house, they'll deliver!

[boctulus]

Anybody know if a non-native english speaker can teach english at schools in China ? What are the usual requirements ? 

[Pokarface]

Thanks for the replies! 

Exactly, the reason why I'm asking is because I hear people complain about being expensive to live in these cities and people telling me that if I were to work in either city,

I wouldn't get paid enough. Likewise, there's people telling me it's a good idea and I could get by. So I really wanted to ask this.

@boctulus I believe I read on a forum thread that you might be able to find a job if you come from the Scandinavian countries, and I think there was also someone from Netherlands teaching English in China. Take my advice with a grain of salt since I can't recall where I read it.

The usual requirements are a passport from: U.S, England, Canada, Australia,  New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa.

and a bachelor's degree in any field

or in case you don't have the bachelor's degree, TESOL certification.

[boctulus]

Thank you Pokarface

 

About your concern, maybe living outside the main city but close enough with good transportation access ?

[roddy]

There's plenty of schools, especially in the big cities, not offering accommodation. Maybe 'assistance', but that might just mean handing you off to an agent or getting the receptionist to take you round on her day off, thus making her hate you forever.

 

" Western people like to eat Western food."

I'm sure they can close their eyes and think of a good English curry, or a nice American burrito, as they force down their stinky tofu. 

 

Pokarface, what kind of lifestyle do you expect? That's what it all comes down to. 

[ChTTay]

Also consider that "more affordable" cities often pay less because they're more affordable. Then when you leave, everything is more expensive.

Anyway, I don't find Beijing expensive really. As above it all depends on your lifestyle. You don't have to eat at questionable restaurants or street venders to keep it cheap either. My salary isn't high or low and I live well. Likely better than I would back home. The biggest expense is rent. If you're eating Western food very regularly things will get expensive fairly quickly. Drinking in western bars often will also hit your wallet hard.

As for schools providing accommodation, this is largely true still. Sometimes they tell you the gross pay and deduct an amount from it for the wages, other times they just give you an apartment, then sometimes they just prefer to give you some money for an apartment and send you on your way.

[eion_padraig]

You can get by and have a reasonably nice life style as an English teacher, but you'll be near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder when it comes to foreigners. Sure, there'll be foreign students lower, but few others will be living at that income level. Eating foreign food is expensive whether you cook it yourself (ingredients can be hard or expensive to purchase) or expensive at restaurants.

 

English teachers won't have access to the lifestyle that the corporate folks, the embassy/consulate folks, or even the international teachers have.

 

If you have a job that allows the time/energy to do side teaching/tutoring jobs, it can be easy enough to double your salary. However, this means using "free time" and having to find these side jobs that come and go. Roddy is right that it comes down to the lifestyle you expect.

Eion

[imron]

Shanghai and Beijing are chock full of delicious, cheap Western food.

Since when? When I was last in Beijing (which is admittedly a few years ago now) out of 'delicious', 'cheap' and 'western' you could have any two.

[The_]

.

[roddy]

Eoin, I'm not sure if things have changed from my day, but back then in terms of salary (if not status), teachers could actually be higher than entry-level local hire corporate jobs. In those days an expensive kindergarten might be so desperate for foreign teachers they'd be paying well over 10k, while foreigners keen to get out of teaching or fresh graduates trying to make it big in China might take less than that just to get into a 'proper' job.

 

Mind you, nowadays those entry level jobs are probably full of interns getting paid big fat zeros, then going home to teach English to a homestay brat. [/cynic]

 

Edit: There's no point in saying if something is expensive or not. Is it expensive compared to other food? To the average salary? To your salary?

[Pokarface]

Exactly! Even to this day I have coworkers in the IT field living in the U.S. Complaining that their pay is so low.

I have the same job as them and I don't know what are they doing with their money. I can live very comfortable.

I have 0 debt, 0 children, no girlfriend,  0 pets, 1 friend with benefits, and my car is paid off.

 

I enjoy my current lifestyle which involves learning Chinese on my free time, playing poker for hours (there's a reason why I'm nicknamed PokarFace), playing video games with my buddies, Watching YouTube videos. I'd like to go to anime expos as well (COMIC-CON)

I usually eat home-made food or fast food. I used to drink, but it's kinda awkward to drink when my roommate doesn't join in, so I stopped doing it. I haven't gone to clubs in a long time and I don't miss them.

 

Overall, I cannot think of anything missing in my current lifestyle. I'm sure life in most cities will be affordable with my current habits, unless the city where I live offers plenty of opportunities to burn cash at a fast rate, and even if I had those opportunities to burn cash, would I really do something I don't enjoy and costs me lots of $$?

[Chris Two Times]

Let's be honest, Western people like to eat Western food. 

 

Maybe yes, maybe no. I, for one, prefer Chinese food when in China. Even in Beijing, I find that a lot of the Western food, even at the highly raved about restaurants, is pretty mediocre, so I've decided to mostly skip it altogether. Why pay higher prices for an inferior product, especially when I can get excellent Chinese food for much cheaper? I'll satisfy my Western-food cravings when I am back Stateside.

 

Such a mindset does help prevent Beijing from getting too expensive for me.

 

I lived in New York City and I find that that helped prepare me for Beijing living. Clearly, both cities can hit the wallet rather hard, but with a bit of due diligence and discipline (oh! alliteration!), the two cities can be managable. I learned in New York City that eating out is nice, but I limit it greatly. For me, in both New York City and Beijing, preparing food at home regularly is a big way to keep the two cities affordable, healthier too, and more enjoyable as well, I find. Of course.

 

Pokarface, I find that your post immediately above this one is a good one: your methods of budgeting in the U.S., even if not in one of the more expensive cities, can be equally applicable to China living; they'll be effective here as well in keeping day-to-day living affordable and even profitable and enjoyable for you.

 

I have 0 debt, 0 children, no girlfriend,  0 pets, 1 friend with benefits, and my car is paid off.

 

All of these are key, especially the "no girlfriend" part?   

 

Also consider that "more affordable" cities often pay less because they're more affordable. Then when you leave, everything is more expensive. 

 

Indeed. In both New York City and Beijing, I find that even though costs of living are much higher, professional opportunities may be much greater and one may be able to charge a higher price for one's services and still find buyers. I'll take this trade-off: higher costs of living for these potentially increased opportunities found in the first-tier cities to enhance my professional and personal life on a greater level than in second-tier cities.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[roddy]

Pokarface, are you actually serious about a possible move? You've posted at least a couple of times about possible work in China. Basically if you want to do it, go for it - it's very viable, and if it turns out you don't enjoy it, you go home in a year a bit wiser. You seem to have the right attitude though, and I think you'd really enjoy it. 

[eion_padraig]

@Roddy, when I said corporate I meant overseas hires on an expat package who are generally higher up in the corporate ladder. So they've been working for one of those companies are are transferred to China. Fewer of those around than there used to be, but there are still people like that around. Companies like Proctor & Gamble, Nike, Nestle, etc. You don't generally come to China to get those types of jobs.

I've known people getting jobs at Chinese businesses and the salary ranges quite a lot depending on the company and the type of company. Not easy to get those plum jobs either.

[Pokarface]

@Roddy. Yes, I can't hold the idea anymore. You've uncovered my thoughts [blushed face].

 

Now I only need to determine if I want to work in:

 

-Beijing; I met a couple when they were here in the U.S. researching for my local university. We used to hangout often and eat a lot, hehe. They went back last year. We still keep in contact and they helped me find my hotel for my upcoming 2-week vacations in China. Chances are that I can use half vacation day for a job interview if they help me apply somewhere.

 

-Shanghai; I met an associate professor working here at my local university who said it will be relatively easy for her to find me an English teaching or entry level corporate job.

 

-New Taipei; close to Taipei, better weather than Beijing. Unlike the last two, I haven't met anyone in the physical world that lives there.

 

I'll be two weeks in China after the May holidays. 

2 days in Shanghai

1 day in Hangzhou

1 day in Suzhou

 

3 days in Xi'an

6 days in Beijing

 

1 day in Taipei (I'm there because incidentally my airplane back home is delayed a whooping 22 hours in this city!!)

This will allow me to do this: http://www.taiwanholidays.com.au/free-half-day-tours-for-transit-pax ... or go to a job interview, hehe. Why not both?

[Flickserve]

I would do it if wives = zero

[Chris Two Times]

@Roddy. Yes, I can't hold the idea anymore. You've uncovered my thoughts [blushed face].

 

Oh oh! At the great poker table of chinese-forums.com, Roddy read your cards!

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Time