Salary Negotiations and Living Expenses in Beijing

[BawaBoy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I've been interested in moving to China for a while now, and I've been applying for different jobs for the past few months.  I'm currently outside of the country but I've had a few Skype interviews, and two of the most promising opportunities seem to be as consultant for education companies. 

The last company offered me 19K base salary, plus a 3K monthly allowance.  They are also offering bonuses for extra hours worked.  From what I gather that's not a bad salary for teaching / education.

 

To get a sense of living expenses, I thought I'd post a couple of questions:

 

• Will there be tax deductions, and if so what could I expect?  Anything (protocols?) I should be mindful of when negotiating a salary with the company? 

 

• Also, this job will be in Beijing.  From what I gather Beijing is fairly pricey in terms of rentals.  Would I be able to find a decent one bedroom place for around 3-4K RMB per month?

 

Any other tips / suggestions for saving money over there would be welcome.

BawaBoy

[hutong_denizen]

That’s a pretty competitive salary for teaching in Beijing and should be sufficient to cover expenses and have something left over.

 

I’d say that you should budget more for accommodation if you want a decent one-bedroom apartment in a reasonable location, though. I think 5,000 to 6,000 RMB per month is more realistic.

[BawaBoy]

Thanks hutong_denizen. 

 

Do you think I could save around US$15k per year on this salary?  That's around US$1250 (¥8600) per month?

[atongmu]

if it is at an international school it is way too low. but if it is a language school thats pretty good i reckon.

[BawaBoy]

Hi atongmu - it's a language school, and the role is as a 'project consultant'.  Naturally I would like the best pay possible.

 

What kind of salary would they typically offer at an international school?

[Guest]

Here's a handy rough guide to income tax in China. As for other expenditures, a small chunk of your monthly salary will go towards social security. This is mandatory and usually quite cheap (mine's around 500/month) and the full amount of deducted social security is returned to you once you've completed your contract and you go home.

 

As far as living costs in Beijing go, rent's the big killer. You might be able to find a one-bedroom place for 4k/month, but you'll be looking further towards the outskirts and definitely not the centre. Do you know roughly where you'll be staying/where you school is in the city?

 

Beyond the cost of rent, living here's as cheap as you want it to be. Public transport is ludicrously cheap and taxis are very affordable, but nights out can range from pennies to fortunes depending on whether you like cheap Chinese noodle bars or crazy high-end Sanlitun nightclubs.

 

Welcome to Beijing!

 

 

[BawaBoy]

It's a job where I'll be working remotely, so I'll be traveling around the city and will only have to visit the office every so often.  I'm happy to live a bit further out, if the transport is still convenient out there.  Would it be sensible to get a bike (scooter), or is better just using the train system?

[BawaBoy]

With a base salary of ¥19K here’s what I got from a couple of simple tax calculators.  After-tax (including social security payments), the take-home pay will be:

http://www.icalculator.info/china/salary-example/20000.html

¥12,272

http://salary.directhr.net/

¥15,254

http://www.sjgrand.cn/individual-income-tax-calculator

¥14,999

http://www.expertsrc.com/expertsource-media-page-102169

¥15,123

 ---------------------------------------------

Mean = ¥14412

Median = ¥1506

 

---------------------------------------------

I’m not sure why the first figure was so low, but does ¥15K as my take home pay seem reasonable for a gross salary of ¥19K?  If the ¥3K allowance isn’t included in the tax calculations, then that will be even better!

[grawrt]

On 4/2/2017 at 8:52 AM, BawaBoy said:

Would it be sensible to get a bike (scooter), or is better just using the train system?

 

Right now the rental bikes are huge in china, you'll find them everywhere so it's quite convenient. 
There's mobike (orange), ofo(yellow), and then other brands but Ive seen more of mobike and ofo. The deposits are different. Mobike requires a 300 deposit that goes toward your bike rental (.50 rmb for 30 minutes) ofo requires a considerably less deposit but the minimum is 1rmb per hour regardless of how long you ride it for. 
I would go with that as you don't have to worry about returning back to your bike to unlock it and can find them pretty much everywhere. The bikes are restocked daily and I see them come in hoards everyday, I think twice a day now since the weather is so nice. 

 

Train is good too, bus is considerably cheaper. For me to go to a place that's relatively close (one train stop away) is 4 rmb, vs. 1 rmb bus ride same direction. I alternate based on my mood. if I'm in a rush, then its train, if not bus is good. The only annoying thing is having to put your bag through the scanning machine and occasionally have your water checked. 

 

p.s I live on the outskirts of Beijing (dalianpo station) it's not so bad. 

[ChTTay]

You need to ask the company if the salary is before or after tax. My Intl School just states the salary you actually get, they take care of tax on their end. 

 

Actually the salary is quite good also for some international schools. There are a huge and increasing number of Intl schools in Beijing. The top tier ones would pay more but you'd be surprised at the pay at other. However, the accommodation allowance isn't so great.

 

As a few people above, you'd be hard to pushed to find a decent one bed place in a good location for that amount. 

[BawaBoy]

That's great - thanks for the feedback.

 

What suburbs would I need to look at for a relatively cheap one bedroom place?  What's the price around dalianpo station grawrt?

[grawrt]

13 hours ago, BawaBoy said:

What's the price around dalianpo station grawrt?

 

Hummmm I would say 4000-5000 is more reasonable. Anything below 4000 and you'll be shown really horrible looking houses. My roommate moved in with her bf last semester and spent a lot of time going through horrible housing before she finally settled on one for 4000, and even that is like basically a room with a common kitchen and stuff. 

 

I'm a student and dorming so I can't really speak much for rent sorry lol. But i can tell you a bit about this area if you're interested. I think a better place would be qingnianlu (1 subway stop away) as its more developed than this area or changying (two subway stops) but even these areas are still outside of the 3000-4000 price range.