Living and working in China

[Michelle]

I'm thinking of moving to China (either Beijing or Shanghai) to teach English for a year. Does anyone have an idea of how much living costs would be for example for a three bed apartment for my family of two children and my husband. Could you give an average living cost?

Thanks.

[phbriggs]

Michelle,

I suggest that you look at smaller cities within 1-4 hours of Beijing or Shanghai. These smaller cities will be far cheaper to live in and also have some of the local Chinese culture which is lost in both Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai is also very western and does not appeal to me.

Also, Beijing and Shanghai are the popular cities for foreign teachers and as such, the schools in these cities tend to offer the bare minimum to foreigners. In some cases they will not even off this as they know that there will be another foreigner around the corner itching to teach in Shanghai/Beijing.

I suggest that you look at cities around Shanghai like Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou or Zhenjiang, Changzhou. These cities are within 2-3 hours of Shanghai alowing you to travel to Shanghai easily, if you need to. These cities are also well developed and have the amenities of most western cities. My personal pick would be Nanjing.

If you and your partner both teach, it is likely that the school will offer a house/large apartment as part of the package. You possibly will be up for school fees, but this can also be negotiated if you both teach and you kids are willing to attend the local school for the year (the younger, the easier this will be for them).

The salary for a teacher starts at about 4500RMB per month (take home pay and assumes school pays for your fully furnished accommodation, holiday loading, electricity and local calls, return airfares for those who teach etc). This might not sound like much, but this can easily be doubled by extra work (tutoring, freelance editoring/teaching). 4500RMB per month should be enough for you whole family to live off assuming that you do not live like westerners, eat frequently at western fast food outlets and do a lot of cooking youself. Schools pay more than 4500RMB for those with higher degrees or past teaching experience in China.

Good luck with your searches. If you need a hand to find a school, send me an email. My email address is phbriggs2000@yahoo.com.au

[Michelle]

Thanks for the info, its great. Had a quick look at your time in China, but will spend a little more time to read through your experience when my two little boys are not tugging at me for their attention.

Thanks,