Shanghai Expat

Questions and Answers - 4000 yuan a month?
woodstock128 - July 05, 2009 - 02:57 AM
Post subject: 4000 yuan a month?
What's it like living on 4000 yuan a month in China. Doesn't sound that great.
findus - July 05, 2009 - 05:58 AM
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Where in China? Makes a big difference.
woodstock128 - July 05, 2009 - 05:59 AM
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I was thinking Beijin
Juan_Tamad - July 05, 2009 - 06:28 AM
Post subject: Re: 4000 yuan a month?
woodstock128 wrote:
What's it like living on 4000 yuan a month in China. Doesn't sound that great.


It would be pathetic...after taking out rent, you will be eating instant noodles all month long
bloomark - July 05, 2009 - 12:39 PM
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To be considered well-off in Beijing, you are supposed to live on a monthly income over 8000 yuan.
woodstock128 - July 05, 2009 - 02:32 PM
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4000 + free rent + overtime
8lrr8 - July 05, 2009 - 03:55 PM
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bloomark wrote:
To be considered well-off in Beijing, you are supposed to live on a monthly income over 8000 yuan.
and what is it allegedly for SH?
woodstock128 - July 05, 2009 - 04:06 PM
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What's "SH"?
bloomark - July 05, 2009 - 04:07 PM
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8lrr8 wrote:
bloomark wrote:
To be considered well-off in Beijing, you are supposed to live on a monthly income over 8000 yuan.
and what is it allegedly for SH?


No less than 7000 I suppose.

Beg to differ?
cantcheckemailnopw - July 05, 2009 - 04:22 PM
Post subject: Re: 4000 yuan a month?
It is way below any western country standard.

However, I know a few that are making less than this. 4 people in one bed. share the
rent (300-500 RMB per month). They all put in 10RMB per day for food.
8lrr8 - July 05, 2009 - 04:40 PM
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bloomark wrote:
Beg to differ?
dunno & dont care.

does that imply BJ's COL is ~14% higher than SH's?
bloomark - July 05, 2009 - 07:26 PM
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8lrr8 wrote:
bloomark wrote:
Beg to differ?
dunno & dont care.

does that imply BJ's COL is ~14% higher than SH's?


Not neccessarily, but I think the transportation cost and house rent in Beijing is much lower than Shanghai.
BONNIE - July 05, 2009 - 07:48 PM
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Actually Woodstock, if your rent is paid and you get the chance for some OT - it's doable - you won't live like a king but you'd be ok.
woodstock128 - July 06, 2009 - 01:30 AM
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Amsterdam/Shanghai? Do you party?
victorinchina - July 06, 2009 - 05:20 AM
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woodstock128 wrote:
What's "SH"?


That my friend is: Shanghai...
victorinchina - July 06, 2009 - 05:22 AM
Post subject: Re: 4000 yuan a month?
woodstock128 wrote:
What's it like living on 4000 yuan a month in China. Doesn't sound that great.


Probably like living on 1000~1200 Euros back home... Duable, but not really what you want in the long run...
woodstock128 - July 06, 2009 - 09:27 AM
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Do expats earn more money their second year?
70% return home?
zam - July 06, 2009 - 10:54 AM
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Since I am kind of totally mixed up with them, so I know.

Actually many of my young friends, even after 1 year of graduation, earn only 2500-3500 RMB and that is in a respectable job of being a software engineer. In fact in my team in my international company, 80% of my colleagues earn only 2500-4000 yuan.

Apartments?
Mostly 2 people will share a room that costs 600-700 RMB. The room will be really small about 15 square meter with no washroom; However there will be 3-4 rooms in one apartment and all of these rooms will be sharing one wash room and one kitchen.

Clothes?
If you notice at office, most of your colleagues will only wear same 3-4 dresses again and again. And these clothes are mostly shen zhai (fake copies of famous brands) or cheap clothes made by low class Chinese companies. Mostly one such T-shirt costs only 30-40 yuan, a pant costs 50-60 yuan and shoes cost 80-100 yuan.

Eating?
For sure, they are so hesitant in going to some real good looking restaurant because those places are expensive. In daily life, they would prefer cheap food with less taste over expensive food with more taste and quality. However, at weekends, some of them will throw eating parties for their friends in some small local restaurants that cost about 100-300 yuan.
The people who cook at home, they will just cook noodles, rice porridge or rice soup. For their dinner, they will mostly choose some thing from the street or go to some cheap restaurant like Xinjiang Muslim restaurant and eat noodles or rice.

Going out?
Interesting enough, once I took my friends to the bund near jinmao tower. 2 of them didn't even know that place while they were living in Shanghai for more than 1 year.
Most of my young friends and colleagues don't know 90% of the worth visiting places in Shanghai for which Shanghai is marked a modern and international city. So every time it is actually me, who is introducing them to these wonderful places; but since all of these places cost entry tickets about at least 100 Yuan so most of the times my friends refuse to go there because it's expensive.
So how do they spend their weekends? Mostly they will just go for window shopping, go to some park, play sports at some university or play snooker. They like to travel though and can waste a large percentage of their salary on traveling. However when they travel to some other city, they will never live in a good hotel because they can't afford it. Mostly they will stay at some hostels that cost only about 50 yuan per day.

Personal grooming?
Girls can spend much on their beauty though. One of my friends, who only earns 3500 and she is always ranting how poor she is. She just got a haircut worth 300 yuan.
Mostly young people like to have quality cell phones and cameras which takes away most of their one month's salary.

Overall it's really an inferior life style because of so low salary. Keeping in mind the money required for buying a house in Shanghai, I think it is impossible for most Chinese young people to buy a house and it's really a pity because most of these people are really warm, friendly and nice.
littlelion - July 07, 2009 - 11:59 PM
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Zam tells pretty much the fact.
Local people with the same salary are much happier. They live with their parents, saving up a lot of money, rent, meals etc.
Living in SH, a quality life, 12000 a month needed at least.
victorinchina - July 08, 2009 - 08:13 AM
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^ Living in SH as a local or as a laowai?
Chrisse - July 08, 2009 - 09:31 AM
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^ I think 12k will get you a very cushy life living as a local. Really living as a laowai (with "western" standards) might be a little tight. I mean 12k is usually less than what a English teacher (foreigner) at a private language school earns.
woodstock128 - July 08, 2009 - 10:02 AM
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Thank You
BeiDong - July 08, 2009 - 03:29 PM
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What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.
woodstock128 - July 08, 2009 - 03:38 PM
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Would I get a better paying job if I spoke Chinese?
trenchwire - July 08, 2009 - 03:39 PM
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Unnecessary, perhaps, but eminently desirable for many!
AUSCNRUS - July 08, 2009 - 04:13 PM
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woodstock128 wrote:
Would I get a better paying job if I spoke Chinese?


1.3 billion people in China can speak Chinese. What is your expertise?
aznrurounikj - July 08, 2009 - 04:22 PM
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BeiDong wrote:
What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.


Couldn't have phrased it better myself. The really expensive places aren't even known about by expats here.
Chrisse - July 08, 2009 - 04:43 PM
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BeiDong wrote:
What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.
More like buying the same things you usually bought at home (the US and Canada, Europe and so on). For example the same kind of food (and quality of food), clothes, apartment in a more expat oriented neighborhood (recently renovated, nice furniture) and so on. All of this is generally more expensive than where I am from.

Probably includes eating out once in a while (in a restaurant which serves good Western food) and a nice beer.
Chrisse - July 08, 2009 - 04:44 PM
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aznrurounikj wrote:
...The really expensive places aren't even known about by expats here.
Expensive is not always equal to good.
divergirl - July 08, 2009 - 05:07 PM
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It depends what you want to do - nearly all of my friends who weren't transferred here with their current company are teachers because the pay is so good in comparison to local wages, and it's harder to get a high paying job in another sector if you don't know people or the city. My teaching friends in Shanghai generally take home at least 12.5k after tax and find that they can live really well, and still save quite a bit. So if the job you're looking at is a teaching job, I'd say that you will be able to find something better paid than the one you have been offered.... PM me if you want details of companies Smile
BONNIE - July 08, 2009 - 05:09 PM
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@ the OP

Just curiuous as to why you want to leave home and come to a strange country and try and live off 4000 kwai a month ?

The reasons make a whole lot of difference to whether you have what it takes to succeed in this venture.
BONNIE - July 08, 2009 - 05:10 PM
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divergirl says it all
aznrurounikj - July 08, 2009 - 05:16 PM
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No it doesn't, but "good" is really subjective as well. I wouldn't consider a 5000 rmb fetal human baby soup "good" but I'm sure the people who do pay for that do.
BONNIE - July 08, 2009 - 05:19 PM
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What does a teaching job have to do with "baby soup " ?

Sounds like you are saying that the only really rich people here are Chinese ?

I am inclined to agree with you, by the way
victorinchina - July 08, 2009 - 05:23 PM
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^ Think she was anwering Chrisse
Chrisse - July 08, 2009 - 05:54 PM
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aznrurounikj wrote:
No it doesn't, but "good" is really subjective as well. I wouldn't consider a 5000 rmb fetal human baby soup "good" but I'm sure the people who do pay for that do.
Of course it is subjective... But if we start saying everything is subjective, we might as well stop discussing right now since it will lead nowhere. I gave the OP a basic idea of how it is here. 12k gets you a cushy life compared to a local, 12k might be a little tight (doesn't mean it isn't doable) comparing to the life style many westerners had before if they where working in their own country. Of course this is a generalization and definitely just a rough picture on how it could be.

And I also gave a brief explanation of what I meant with "western lifestyle" which I stand by. Apartment (2 rooms, approx 80 sqm) in a good area in a bigger town in Sweden about 4500 RMB/month (including water), a comparable apartment in Shanghai, probably around 5-6k (+some for water). Milk, cream, cheese, juice, fresh (good quality) veggies, bread, meat are all examples of stuff that are much more expensive here. The list can go on and on, of course there are some stuff that are cheaper here but I hope you get the point.
shalamazoo - July 08, 2009 - 06:03 PM
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littlelion wrote:
Zam tells pretty much the fact.
Local people with the same salary are much happier. They live with their parents, saving up a lot of money, rent, meals etc.
Living in SH, a quality life, 12000 a month needed at least.


At least 12,000 rmb
drllau - July 08, 2009 - 06:22 PM
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BeiDong wrote:
What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.


Coming from Australia, I would say the major differences in living standards are

a) expected living space ... whilst locals are quite comfortable with say 50m^2 or less, I think Westerners are more used to something more spactious ... and forget about a house with grass backyard.

b) dining out ... perhaps not every night but 2-3 times a week go out to a decent meal ... $A20 = ~RMB 100 per person. I notice that even some locals start feeling a little anxious when dishes go above Y20 ... I can understand as a lot of young grads are saving up for apt so they tend to stretch their budgets

c) knic-knacs ... impulsive purchase of relatively inexpensive curios ... I think this may be due to the western habit of instant gratification. Whereas my observation is that chinese tend to be more deliberate, waiting for bargains or specials, or expecting 2ndhand freebies.

d) taxis ... it's a matter of convenience, I just figure out which option is best ... MTR, walking or taxi but a lot of people, would automatically exclude taxi, instead thinking about cheaper options like bike. This was a nuisance when trying to find an apartment as needed to inspect a lot of scattered places so had to hike around with agent in hot day.

I hate to use the phrase conspicuous consumption, instead I think a notable difference in mentality can be summed up as "work to live, not live to work". My friends in Aussie have a certain lifestyle they aspire to, so they work to reach that level (whether MacMansion or seaside shack up to their preference). I see a lot of older generation chinese just pinching fen (pennies) for what? So their grandkids can blow it up? But when people with a Depression era spending habit look at foreigners blowing a big chunk of disposable income they must think that everyone overseas must be loaded.

Lawrence
balbon - July 08, 2009 - 06:27 PM
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friend of mine, canadian. 10k/month (approx)
- eats at company cafeteria
- lives in the suburb
- bikes to work
- shops at cityshop/carrefour
- parties almost every weekend
- travels 1~2x/year
- cool dude

simple living is the key.
RussianBear - July 08, 2009 - 06:42 PM
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In Tongzhou district you may rent a apt. for 1500 RMB. Utilites for 300 RMB/month. 600 RMB/m for transportation. Meal for ~ 20 RMB/time in KFC/MackDL or 10 RMB for hefan.
Probably you can survive.
Abramis - July 08, 2009 - 10:49 PM
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This thread is starting to sound like survival story indeed.

Expats & survival...
RussianBear - July 08, 2009 - 10:57 PM
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Abramis wrote:
This thread is starting to sound like survival story indeed.

Expats & survival...


During Beijing and New York turn to be a sister-cities in living cost.
compsolutions - July 09, 2009 - 12:03 AM
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Suggest go look at the 100rmb a week thread on cnreviews.com

Its easy to live cheaply in China, but quality of life is more important as has been pointed out above.


http://cnreviews.com/life/living-in-china/expats-100-rmb-week-day-challenge_20090505.html

Beijing is cheaper to live in than Shanghai by far, especially if you party.
Beijing costs more for traveling around though, until you learn the local transportation systems. Things are improving up there though, they have a subway now, although I still prefer Shanghai over Beijing by far.
zam - July 09, 2009 - 12:41 AM
Post subject: Re: 4000 yuan a month?
woodstock128 wrote:
What's it like living on 4000 yuan a month in China. Doesn't sound that great.

If you are an expat, please don't even bother with it.
BeiDong - July 09, 2009 - 02:46 AM
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drllau wrote:
BeiDong wrote:
What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.


Coming from Australia, I would say the major differences in living standards are

a) expected living space ... whilst locals are quite comfortable with say 50m^2 or less, I think Westerners are more used to something more spactious ... and forget about a house with grass backyard.

b) dining out ... perhaps not every night but 2-3 times a week go out to a decent meal ... $A20 = ~RMB 100 per person. I notice that even some locals start feeling a little anxious when dishes go above Y20 ... I can understand as a lot of young grads are saving up for apt so they tend to stretch their budgets

c) knic-knacs ... impulsive purchase of relatively inexpensive curios ... I think this may be due to the western habit of instant gratification. Whereas my observation is that chinese tend to be more deliberate, waiting for bargains or specials, or expecting 2ndhand freebies.

d) taxis ... it's a matter of convenience, I just figure out which option is best ... MTR, walking or taxi but a lot of people, would automatically exclude taxi, instead thinking about cheaper options like bike. This was a nuisance when trying to find an apartment as needed to inspect a lot of scattered places so had to hike around with agent in hot day.

I hate to use the phrase conspicuous consumption, instead I think a notable difference in mentality can be summed up as "work to live, not live to work". My friends in Aussie have a certain lifestyle they aspire to, so they work to reach that level (whether MacMansion or seaside shack up to their preference). I see a lot of older generation chinese just pinching fen (pennies) for what? So their grandkids can blow it up? But when people with a Depression era spending habit look at foreigners blowing a big chunk of disposable income they must think that everyone overseas must be loaded.

Lawrence


I eat out every day, lunch and dinner. Occasionally, I make some Thai food or something else if I have people over or I'm just feeling productive, but otherwise I eat at restaurants. If you want to eat at places with English menus, English-speaking staff, Italian, French, American, Mexican, Middle Eastern food; then of course you're going to need at least 30 RMB per dish and way, way up. The problem for me is I eat more than most, so ordering a sandwich at somewhere like Element Fresh doesn't really do it for me. If I ate at these places every day, twice a day; I would need to make a lot more money than I do now.

Learn Chinese. Learn how to spot which restaurants offer what kind of food. I never understand when people say, "I'm sick of Chinese food." There's a lot of different styles of Chinese food, you don't need to stick with the boring "cold or hot dish," and "noodles or rice."

I can find small, hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurants that serve delicious Korean food for 10 RMB. If you want to only eat in candle-lit, restaurants with air-conditioning and leather seats; then you're gonna have to pay the price. Ho ho.

Learn some basic phrases, such as:


Zhèli yǒu Nàlǐ cài ma?

Literally, "Here has where food?" Or, "What kind of food do you have?"

I'll post a link to something useful when the damn website starts working again.
DrShanghai - July 09, 2009 - 08:20 AM
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NO
DrShanghai - July 09, 2009 - 08:21 AM
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everybody is leaving china right now
woodstock128 - July 09, 2009 - 08:33 AM
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Thank you
woodstock128 - July 09, 2009 - 08:34 AM
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Do you think that online teaching can be profitable?
bleepingbleeper - July 09, 2009 - 08:53 AM
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balbon wrote:
friend of mine, canadian. 10k/month (approx)
- eats at company cafeteria
- lives in the suburb
- bikes to work
- shops at cityshop/carrefour
- parties almost every weekend
- travels 1~2x/year
- cool dude

simple living is the key.


that about sums it up. 4000RMB/mo = 133RMB/day. it's certainly doable if you have free rent. but don't expect to be living it up with nice meals, taxi rides everywhere, going out to bars, and loads of discretionary spending.

you will have to watch what you spend, and you will probably have to eat box lunches that typically cost around 10-20RMB. these won't be the healthiest or tastiest meals, but that will leave you a little more to spend on dinner.

i've done it before - not out of necessity, but just from spending all my time at work. i worked in south china, lived in a company apt, and had a per-diem of about 140-160RMB (in addition to my US salary). and i would actually have money left over from my per diem at the end of the week. but my life was nearly all work - eating box lunches at the company, but going out for a decent dinner. occasional spending on DVDs, snacks, foot massage. no going out on weeknights (unless the boss called us to ktv - but he paid for the room and drinks), and very little on weekends. never bought clothes or furniture/knick-knacks save for a couple fake watches, a dvd player, and speaker set.

if you want to have a little more fun, you definitely can. but don't expect to save anything at the end of the month. so if you are okay with hand-to-mouth/paycheck-to-paycheck living, then you'll be okay.
bm1026 - July 09, 2009 - 09:41 AM
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4K $ is oK
Chrisse - July 09, 2009 - 09:54 AM
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bm1026 wrote:
4K $ is oK
Yes, but 4k RMB is not... RMB != $
yu888 - July 09, 2009 - 10:25 AM
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4k rmb can be done. but its really about what one's current lifestyle is, and what expectation one has in coming here.

New grad, little experience, gets 4k with cheap housing, can do the student lifestyle just fine. 4k buys a lot of beer at 2rmb a bottle at lawsons. But if you are planning on going to bars, the price jumps at least 5x for windows and 15-20x for most expat frequented bars.

Food- depends on if you can live on local diet. As a student here my first year, i lived on 20rmb lunches daily...and considering I was taking a break from a decent payrange back home, it was quite a drop in standards, BUT i set realistic expectations and did it for awhile and it was ok. Actually it was quite fun for awhile, but only for awhile.

Living- I cheated and bought a place and mortgage was over 10k a month. I recommend if where you live is important to you, spend the money and get a place that has decent heat AC and hot water. But i could have easily rented a place for less than a third of that and been ok too. Again, i had higher expectations as I have a house in the US and I wanted certain comforts. If the last place one lived was a dorm, then by all means some 1500rmb studios will do you fine.
RussianBear - July 09, 2009 - 10:38 AM
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And don't forget about flatmating. BTW, Beijing have huge underground city, like Zion from Matrix. Rent a place for live there cost just 200 rmb/month. Anyway, i do not recommend it unless you really want make a friends with rats and another creatures who lives there.
karinalee - July 09, 2009 - 11:40 AM
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dont do it.

4k is way too little.

the girl in my office who just graduated with no real work experience is getting that.

a note to all the expats, halfpats out there - dont settle for less. i know alot of locals with somewhat experience getting 15-35k a month and half as competent.

we are giving ourselves a bad name by settling for less.

dare to ask for more.
Seen - July 09, 2009 - 12:59 PM
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BeiDong wrote:



Zhèli yǒu Nàlǐ cài ma?

Literally, "Here has where food?"


I'm Chinese and that sounds to me more like "Do you have "Where" food here?" in Chinese. Maybe you should try "Zhe li you shen me yang de cai?" (这里有什么样的菜?) for "What type of food do you serve here?"
RussianBear - July 09, 2009 - 02:05 PM
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Or "Ni zhe li you shen me cai ma ?" What a food you have (to serve) here ?
8lrr8 - July 09, 2009 - 02:15 PM
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street version: 你有啥?
Seen - July 09, 2009 - 02:26 PM
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RussianBear wrote:
Or "Ni zhe li you shen me cai ma ?" What a food you have (to serve) here ?


I think it's better if you do without the "ma" else it could sound like "do you serve food here?" instead.

8lrr8 wrote:
street version: 你有啥?


Brilliant.
BeiDong - July 09, 2009 - 03:29 PM
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Seen wrote:
BeiDong wrote:



Zhèli yǒu Nàlǐ cài ma?

Literally, "Here has where food?"


I'm Chinese and that sounds to me more like "Do you have "Where" food here?" in Chinese. Maybe you should try "Zhe li you shen me yang de cai?" (这里有什么样的菜?) for "What type of food do you serve here?"


Yeah, that's normally what I use, too. I just wanted to use some words beginners might already know. Very often, Shanghai/Anhui people don't understand when I say "nali cai" instead of "shen me yang de."

Then again, you shouldn't be eating shitty Shanghai food anyway.

The link:

http://tinyurl.com/nlkpkk

The 2nd best food in China. Wink
txaggie07 - July 09, 2009 - 03:33 PM
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just be smart with your money, set Daily budgets on food. You can buy quality food at wet markets and cook yourself, and eat well for less than 50 rmb per day EASY.

Most locals save crazy money because they have discipline for themselves. If you're eating for less than 50 rmb per day, the 200-300 you spend on the weekends at the bars isn't going to break the bank.

When most foreigners come to Shanghai, they go on a binge of bars, nightclubs, and high end restaurants, and then complain about how expensive Shanghai is. Shanghai is more expensive than any other city in China, however, it's a lot cheaper than you think.

With western food, the best thing to do is cook. However, cheese, and high quality meats are expensive.

Woodstock128 -

companies now aren't keen on hiring foreigners anymore as they are expensive.

Working in a Chinese company, knowing Chinese is a requirement, and it doesn't mean you get a higher salary. With foreign companies, the added Chinese language skill is a plus, however my former company didn't think my Chinese skill was much value at all, as they liked to have a "No Chinese" policy.
ProcrastiNation - July 09, 2009 - 04:18 PM
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Yeah Chinese language ability won't guarantee you more money but will definitely give you more opportunity. I would strongly recommend against working for a Chinese company and if your skills don't warrant at least 12k a month (unless you plan to subsidise your income with savings) then you should give it a miss.
lemongrass - July 09, 2009 - 04:40 PM
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8lrr8 wrote:
street version: 你有啥?


or the 40 y/o Shanghainese lady version: 要啥？
Bassie - July 09, 2009 - 05:01 PM
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wow living on 4k a month isnt that hard at all, especially if you dont have to pay rent you can easily do it and still have a good time going out in the weekends. You just cant go to the more expensive clubs, but well even if i was rich i'd avoid them, just waste of money...

I always wonder how places like Xin Tian Di can exist, like why blow so much cash on drinks when you can get it much cheaper elsewhere with a similar great atmosphere... Maybe my mind is still in student mode, but I think that'll never change...

Seems to me most ppl in this thread are of the "if it isnt expensive it isnt good" kind tho, personally I think most replies are quite narrow minded, that's a bit sad...
txaggie07 - July 09, 2009 - 05:07 PM
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it's because XinTianDi and these places cater to the foreigner who can't speak Chinese and demand western style service and western culture in China.
squareface - July 09, 2009 - 05:49 PM
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4k a month is more than enough for a single person, since rent is paid and all!
PNWer - July 09, 2009 - 07:16 PM
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The Big 4 accounting firms pay fresh grad 5500 RMB/month, with overtime pay when the economy is decent. Local accounting firms are 1500-2000.
The competition for these jobs are intense.

Foxcon, the largest OEM in the world, just announced a policy of promoting local managers. They said cost ratio for American/taiwanese/local managers is 5:3:1.
Chrisse - July 09, 2009 - 07:43 PM
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Bassie wrote:
I always wonder how places like Xin Tian Di can exist, like why blow so much cash on drinks when you can get it much cheaper elsewhere with a similar great atmosphere... Maybe my mind is still in student mode, but I think that'll never change...

Seems to me most ppl in this thread are of the "if it isnt expensive it isnt good" kind tho, personally I think most replies are quite narrow minded, that's a bit sad...
Have had this discussion many times. I am a student, mostly eat in cheap Chinese joints or at home. Sometimes though (a couple of times a week) I like to have something nice.

And "if it isn't expensive it isn't good" is not what people say, there is ofc always bargains to be had but most of them requires that you know a bit of Chinese. And trust me, you will change your living style as you get more money. I know a lot of friends who (after graduation) go from 7k RMB/month to about 15-20k RMB/month, after a year they all say that they refuse to go back to student life. They still agree though that it is a sweet life Very Happy
leafvert - July 10, 2009 - 09:58 AM
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zam has see through it. That's basically the fact.
monica1229 - July 26, 2009 - 01:16 AM
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BeiDong wrote:
What exactly does everyone mean when they say "Western standards" and living like a foreigner. Does that entail eating Italian and burgers every day for lunch and dinner? Taking taxis everywhere? Pretending to be rich while drinking on the Bund every weekend?

That's what I'd call an unnecessary lifestyle.



That is the life style of my westerner colleagues
They had more than 25000 per month salary.
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