What's a good salary?

[天空神]

I'm sure this question has been asked a bunch of times, but is 15,000RMB a month in salary a good amount for teaching English in Shanghai? I'm considering moving to China because of my girlfriend and I can't figure out what I could do over there other than teach really. That's besides the point though, how is 15,000 a month is that enough to live comfortably and save up?

[Zbigniew]

I think 15000 is comfortably above the average salary for Shanghai, but house prices (and presumably rents) there are precipitous. Unless your girlfriend owns an apartment outright or has minimal repayments on it, and/or is on a good salary herself, I wouldn't expect to be able to put away a great deal each month, unless you plan on having a fairly austere lifestyle. What credentials do you have to offer as a teacher?

[天空神]

None, but I was approached by an a staffing firm. I do have my bachelors degree, but it's only in Clinical Psychology and my background is in mostly hotels. So as you can tell I really don't have much to offer

 

My Mandarin is quite good though. Speaking and Reading at almost a fluent level, but I can't write any. So that's a problem too if I wanted a job OTHER than teaching English

[grawrt]

If your background is in hotels why not try looking for a job at a hotel? the salary will probably be about the same except you'd be happier than teaching English. 

[天空神]

Most that I've been seeing require "fluent" in mandarin. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough

 

Plus with the English jobs they have someone setting everything up for you. I'm not even sure how to go about getting a hotel job over there. How would I interview? Skype? WeChat? 

[ChineseBon]

There're Chinese hotels or travel agency need foreigner staff, such as in custom service, marketing, e-marketing. They want to enlarge their oversea market.  

[ChTTay]

I also see foreign staff in all the major hotels in Beijing, I'm sure it's the same in Shanghai. They mostly seem to work at reception/front desk type of areas. 

[vellocet]

I don't know, man...I've seen the way that Chinese people treat service staff and it ain't pretty.  I don't know if I could deal with being treated like that day after day in a hotel.  Dealing with preschoolers at an English school might be preferable.  

[eion_padraig]

If your housing will be provided, that salary is liveable. How much you save depends a lot on your lifestyle. I find myself spending about 1500 - 2000 RMB a week. About 200 - 300 of that is transportation costs and the rest is food/drink. I eat out the majority of my meals, but I eat everything from Muslim pulled noodles for 15 RMB to Western restaurants that might cost me 120 RMB.

 

 

[jiangwei]

15,000RMB in Shanghai is definitely enough.