I live in Beijing, the capital and a salary of less than 15,000RMB is considered to be low. There are plently of very low paid jobs out there as the schools like to keep it that way, however for a reasonable but not affluent standard of living, 15,000 RMB is about right.
Please bear in miind that although living in china is a lot cheaper than the West, we are charged far more than the locals and the practice of over charging foreigners is fixed in stone. You can expect to pay anything from 200% to over 1,000% more for nonprice marked goods such as clothing etc.
Schools will also take their cut as well as paying you peannuts! Visas of which you will need a Z-type are charged for even if they state that they will pay for it in the contract. They do pay for it but then take it back out of your salary. They also control your visa too, this means you cannot find another job with out their expressed and written permission, including the official company stamp!
Many employers make deductions from yo ur slary but refuse to account for them in any form of salary statement. These so called 'official' deductions ar supposed to be tax etc but that is in serious doubt with most of them as theyclaim to be able to avoid tax for you... where does it go?
Offered accomodation is also risky, yo uhave no control over its standards and when you couple that with the fact that they can evict you at a moments notice with the question of your job security failing... (and they will do that!) then yo uare completely at the mercy and under the control of your 'employer'. Chinese companies/schools are to be dealt with extremely cautiously and even then they can change your contract without your permission... because they can!
In China a contract is seen very differently than in the West. A coontract over here is just something that is broken or enforced by the biggest person with the most power. A Chinese school/company will have that power and even lie to your face about what they can do. They ALL break the tax and employment laws! To clarify my point, Dong Xiao Ping is often quoted, "We don't care if the cat is black or white... so long as it catches the mouse!"
In short, salaries are what you actually get depositied into your account, NOT what your contract agrees with you!
Good luck!
CSL.
