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Posted on May 10, 2010 @ 7:17 PM
Salaries in China: What is considered good?
What would a typical salary in China look like for an ESL teacher? What would considered a decent salary...?
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Posted on May 11, 2010 @ 9:36 PM
All relative really. In the city 2-3k US dollars, in the countryside, 400-800 US dollars is great. Where are you living, that would help estimate what is good.
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Posted on August 22, 2010 @ 2:07 AM
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.
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Posted on January 25, 2011 @ 10:22 AM
Hello Everyone,
My name is James , i am from England... i have been a foreign teacher in China for 3 years, after meeting many people (and learning from my mistakes) i now specialise in finding good jobs for foreigners.
We only send people to schools that have had a good reputation from foreigns' previously. We only deal with schools that can obtain visa, and we only deal with school directly.
When i first came to China, my first contract turned out to be really bad (got completely lied too) so i had to change at a hugh expense sue to further travelling... i've met many people here since then, and since then i have helped many teachers from native countries find work in China.
All we want to do is make sure foreigners dont get a raw deal, which, unfortunately, is frequent.
We have many jobs for you to choose and we only send you jobs that we feel would be good for you...
If anyone needs a job in China, please let me know......
James
Recruit China Teacher
recruitchinateachers@mail.com
skype: recruit.china.teachers
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Posted on February 23, 2011 @ 10:22 AM
I have noticed real quickly that salaries are all over the board. It definitely depends on where you're located. Offers in the bigger cities are substantially higher than those in remote towns. Though I imagine the smaller towns have a lower cost of living. Either way, from everything I've seen, it's more than enough to live on wherever you go. Though I don't think you could save the kind of money you would in Korea.
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Posted on February 23, 2011 @ 8:11 PM
It's quite important to take into consideration a number of factors other than salary when making the decision to take a job teaching in China.
As some people have already mentioned, the cost of living can vary considerably in different parts of the country. The cost of living can even vary significantly from one part of a city to another! One must take into account where a school is located, and if housing is not provided, how much housing in that area will run.
Many jobs require 20-25 teaching hours per week. Clarify with your potential employer how they define 'hour'. It is not uncommon for an employer to claim they pay a certain rate per hour, then define an 'hour' as 100 minutes! It's also important to ask what responsibilities a teacher has outside those hours.
Ask to speak with current teachers at your prospective school. You should be given an opportunity to talk to them about their experience in an out of the classroom. What kind of support do they receive from their colleagues and administration? What are the most common problems they face at the school? Are they paid on time and according to contract? Is the administration flexible when issues arise?
And, as Cas says, it's important to find out what your after-tax income is - how much money will you have in your hand at the end of every month? What bonuses or benefits do you qualify for? How much paid vacation is included? What about paid sick days? Visa? Health insurance? Airfare?
Salary is one part of the reward of teaching in China. It's important to think about the other rewards and costs of taking a job - a higher salary with poor working conditions and unreasonable administration may not be worth it.
In the end, regarding actual pay, Cas is about right. I'd say 12,000-17,000 in total compensation per month is the range for big cities in China. 4000-6000 with housing is average for smaller cities and towns. But remember to ask about all the things mentioned above.
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Posted on March 4, 2011 @ 2:57 PM
Make your money in Korea, spend it in China or Thailand. If you are doing the ESL thing for a few years, can't beat this model...
