Today, I read a draft salary guideline to foreign teachers employed by China’s higher education institutions. The guideline has been released for a while, but salary level doesn’t make sense, specially for the most experienced teachers in first-tier cities like Shanghai.

Per new draft guideline,  a pre-tax monthly salary of up to 15,000 yuan (US$2,239) is for the most experienced teachers in first-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing. In previous guideline released in year 2000, the average pre-tax ceiling was 6,000 yuan a month.  In year 2000, 6,000 yuan per month is a significant income to locals, but now 15,000 yuan is not big deal even to most local young professionals. So gap is shrinking which means we may need to compromise quality of teachers.  Read More…

Report has been published by local Shanghai government in 2010. Yearly average income by employees in Shanghai is 42789RMB (about $6386), and monthly 3566RMB (about $532).

Compared to year 2008, average pay rise is about 8.3%. Read More…

Shanghai is a most expensive city in China and even around the world. Average salary of local Shanghai residents is about 4000RMB per month in year 2008. About 4000RMB salary per month, I would like to say you just could afford your basic life in Shanghai which includes food, cloth, shared shelter, and basic entertainment. It is hard for you to have savings and buy an apartment in Shanghai. However, different people have their own life style, here what I talked about is just an average case. Read More…