REAL Salary Expectancy and Costs of Living

[Hypiereon]

I've been asked this question enough times now I think this thread is way overdue. My e-mail is full of people wanting to know what they should expect by way of salary, what things will cost in the way of food, housing, and travel, and other small daily things. Well, here it is as of February 28, 2006.

(Please keep in mind that the economy is changing, and even this thread will probably be out of date several years from now.)

Salary expectancy: No matter where you are in China, the new magic number is 4,800 RMB. If you're not getting paid 4,800 RMB, then someone is skimming off the top of your salary. Be it a recruiter, the hiring face, personnel at the school, or the principal himself. If your contract does not say 4,800 RMB at the very least, then say "No." Reason is, the new law regarding Personal Income Tax on Foreigners states that a foreigner may be taxed 20% on amounts OVER 4,800 RMB each month. So, if you're getting paid 5,000 RMB each month, the over amount is 200 RMB - of which you would owe 20% in taxes, or 40 RMB. Schools do not want to pay the tax for foreigners, so they try REALLY hard to limit the amount of money they pay foreigners to stay under the 4,800 RMB / month threshold.

As well, I do not know this for a fact, but the word on the grapevine is that the government funded schools who are qualified to have foreign teachers are given the money to pay foreign teachers. Meaning, for each foreign teacher that works at a particular school, the government pitches in 4,800 RMB for each one, so that only the amount over 4,800 RMB is taxed. Makes sense really. The government is not going to tax itself (the 4,800 RMB it provides) but will tax anything over that amount the foreigner is making. As I said, this is only hearsay at this point as I have not been able to find a source for this information on the internet I can link to, so if anyone else has any information on this, please post it here. Thanks.

If the grapevine is true, and I have a strong suspicion it is, then that means whatever you're not getting paid, up to 4,800 RMB, is being put into someone else's pocket instead of yours. A hiring face at a school may be real reluctant to hire you if it means money out of his pocket, but he's under intense pressure to find foreign teachers as well. If he can find someone cheaper, he'll hire them, but if everyone starts demanding the same thing - nothing less than 4,800 RMB each month - then he's not going to have a whole lot of choices out there.

You should easily be able to get more than 4,800 RMB if the school is reputable and you are TEFL/TESL Certified, and have a B.A.

Next comes rent, and this is a very tough question to answer because the range varies widely by region. However, living in a 200+ sq. meter apartment, we pay 25,000 RMB per year, which comes to a little more than 2,000 RMB per month. Keep in mind though, this place was not "furnished" which means it only had bare concrete walls floor and ceiling, windows, and a front door. We installed everything else from the wood flooring downstairs, carpeting upstairs, lighting fixtures, toilets, and the kitchen sink plus everything else you'd want in the way of furniture. Total cost for EVERYTHING was about 100,000 RMB. We were prepared to make that investment though because we're trying to make a life over here.

A German teacher found a fully furnished apartment, about 125 sq. meters, for 3,200 RMB per month in ChengDu. So, living off-campus, no matter which way you go, will be more expensive than living on campus - but you'll enjoy living off-campus a whole LOT more. Depends on your priorities - saving money, or making a life here. If you're coming for a year, I wouldn't even consider living off-campus. Just suck it up and enjoy the experience for it's "story value" when you get back home.

That said, if you are living off-campus, try to include something in your salary for living expenses. Living expenses is an ambiguous figure you come up with based on a percentage of your rent, your food costs, and other things. For me, "Living Expenses" came to 1,500 RMB. We spend about 300 RMB per week on food for a family of three. We don't have breakfast, we eat Chinese dishes for lunch every day, and my wife tries to cook a western meal for dinner every night. We also go out to eat at KFC, McD's, and other western restaurants once in a while. So, what you work out with your school on expenses will not - and should not - cover EVERYTHING you're going to spend on rent and food and what not, but a small percentage should be acceptable to them.

As for traveling, Public buses are 1 RMB for a non-air-conditioned bus, and 2 RMB for an air-conditioned bus. You don't get to choose, it's just whichever one pulls up to the bus stop at the moment. Taxi's are 5 RMB to get in, and 1.45 RMB per kilometer. After maybe 8:00PM, the "get in" price goes up to 6 RMB and 2+ RMB per kilometer. These are the major forms of transportation in ChengDu. I've never taken a train, and the subway system in the city is just beginning to really get under construction. Taxis are higher in other cities, as are the costs of food and rent, so being out here in the cheaper west side of the country, I'd say the prices I'm quoting are the minimums of what you could expect around China. More than likely the prices you will come across in Beijing and ShangHai are going to be higher.

I drive an electric scooter that I bought for 2,800 RMB. I also bought an extra battery so that one battery can be charging while I ride out the other one. Total cost: 3,200 RMB. I now can get anywhere in the city faster than I ever could with a taxi, and the scooter will easily pay for itself in what I would have paid in taxi and bus fees within two years. For my money, if you're going to be here a while, get the best electric scooter you can find. Spend the money to get a nice one, and you'll be better off for it.

If that's more than you're willing to spend, a nice bicycle (mountain bike type) will run from 1,500 RMB - 2,000 RMB for a durable nice one. They will also get stolen very quickly. So, if you choose to go the bicycle route, get four or five different types of locks, and use all of them all of the time. Not that they can't pick all of them, but when there are 5 locks on your bike, it represents an inconvenience to them, and a greater risk of getting caught as it takes them more time. Even with my scooter (which for some reason is less likely to be stolen) I still use four locks, plus the ignition lock. Chinese people laugh at me, but it's always there when I get out of class.

Computers range widely based on what you want. I chose to have mine built for playing the top-of-the-line computer games, I chose a super nice 17" flat screen monitor, nice speaker system, 2 CD ROM drives, and a DVD / CD-ROM drive to boot. I have no 3 1/2 floppy drive as that software is now obsolete. I have a nice printer as well. The hard drive is 120 Gigs with a 1+ gig processor. Total cost was a little less than 6,000 RMB. Laptops of the same specs will run nearer the 10,000 RMB range.

Clothes are not very expensive unless you really want some high end stuff. I went shopping for bargains and found 5 pairs of jeans and 7 nice shirts for less than 1,000 RMB total cost. It just depends on where you go and when. Bring your own socks and underwear. Shoes are nealry impossible for me to find. I have a mens size 10 1/2, and my foot is about one full size too big for what the shoe people in China consider normal. Finding good shoes is next to impossible for me, because even if I do find a pair to fit (snug though they may be), I usually hate the look of them. So, if you have a shoe size above a men's 9, I'd bring my own shoes as well.

Another note on shoes - this country is really rough on them. I have a pair of steel-toed leather workboot type shoes, and they have nearly worn out in two years time. Being in China, you'll do more walking than you probably did in your home country, so buy new shoes, and one extra pair of the same before you come. Also, bring extra shoelaces. I usually burn through a pair of laces every 6 months.

As for utilities, in the winter we average around 800 RMB for electricity (heating mainly) and the same during the hottest days of the summer (for cooling), but we also have 5 units in our home - two main ones (one for upstairs and one for downstairs), and three smaller ones for each bedroom in the house. So, I wouldn't really expect someone who only uses one heating unit to hit this high on electric bills. If you're living on campus, you don't pay electricity - it's that simple. If the school is trying to charge you for electricity and you live on campus, then you're being ripped off.

Our phone is pre-paid, so we just put more money in when we need to. We don't use it very often so we don't put money in it very often. Gas for cooking is REALLY cheap - around 15 RMB each month. Water can be expensive if you don't have a hot water heater in your home. We do, and pay less than 50 RMB each month for water. Water is charged by the metric ton, and 1 ton of cold water goes for 1 RMB; however 1 ton of heated water goes for 10 RMB. Because we have a hot water heater, it is actually much cheaper for us. Again though, water, gas, and electricity should be paid by the school if you live on campus. The only living expense the school should not be paying is the phone. International calls can be quite expensive if you don't use the little IC/IP prepaid calling cards.

Going out to eat at McDonalds for a family of three runs us about 60 - 70 RMB. Same for KFC. The nicer "sit-down" type western restaurants can be high or low depending on what you eat. I've walked out with a bill for myself parked at 30 RMB for something rather simple, but a genuine Angus Beef Steak can run you 150 RMB easily - and it happens to be worth the price.

In all, someone making 6,800 RMB in ChengDu is going to be able to live pretty well. I'm making 5,500 RMB per month on my salary, plus whatever I make on the side in tutoring. We do just fine. We live comfortably, we are able to take care of all our own expenses, and save a bit on the side. This is not my long-term plan as I do eventually want to get into my own business, but getting this part of my life stable was rather easy based on what I'm making.

If you're only going to be in China a year - two at the most - I'd say 4,800 RMB should be the minimum you should expect if you live on campus, and it should be enough to take care of everything else you want to do around the country as well. If you're TEFL/TESL Certified and have a B.A., then 4,800 RMB certainly is not enough for those qualifications. Make sure you're getting more for the extra work you've put into getting the extra education.

If you're living in BeiJing, ShangHai, or the HongKong area, then 4,800 RMB is not going to really cut it. Ask for more. How much more depends on your ability to bargain with them. Hope this helps answer your questions, but if you have anything more specific to ask, just e-mail me: hypiereon@hotmail.com