What questions do you have for us after living in China for 4 years?

@rayhuang6155

7 ай бұрын

I have lived in China for 43 years, so you can ask me any questions. Just kidding, don't mind!😂

@demboy2563

4 ай бұрын

How chinese people treats foreigners?

@SaintAsoulDiana

3 ай бұрын

@@demboy2563 Actually they will often be surprised, especially from Europe, North America, and Australia. They will often treat them like guests. However, they would not welcome western politicians or BBC/CNN journalists who will often have a biase on China. As a Chinese student studying abroad in U.S, you are welcome to visit Shanghai my hometown!😘

@ivanjonathan4240

3 ай бұрын

How do you upload the video to youtube? Is it using VPN or something?

@SaintAsoulDiana

3 ай бұрын

@@ivanjonathan4240 Actually I am a Chinese studying abroad in the US. If I am within China mainland, yes, a VPN is a necessity to access youtube.

Thank you, James, Kelly, and Aleese for this video. I have been following many expat KZreadrs in China and this is the FIRST time I have watched a video with detailed info on salaries and expenses. Very informative! I have been following everything about China for more than 4 years; politics, economy, science & technology, high-tech stuff, history, culture... and even Chinese dramas! If I were younger I would move to China. IMO China is the BEST country to live in.

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for your comment! We felt that sharing as much as we could would definitely help people interested in moving to China in the future 😊

My hubby and I dine out in Shanghai quite often, and for two the price varies between 100-300. There are some very decent inexpensive restaurants. 😀

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

There are cheaper international restaurants for sure. But getting drinks really add up the bill quickly.

@charleneji6759

7 ай бұрын

I see. International restaurants can be quite expensive, and I didn't consider drinks. 😁

Thanks for sharing the information. Most of cell phones in China have dual SIM card slots so that you can take advantage of the extra SIM cards from your internet plan.

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Honestly, I never thought about that! We have dual SIM card slots, but never thought about putting the other SIM card in it😢 that’s such a smart idea!

Such a great breakdown and comparison between the two cities!

Thanks for your candor! Very informative

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful! 😊

Very nice video🎉

Thanks for this video, great information.

Great information, thx

I live in Yiwu, a third-tier city in China (where many Chinese commodities in the world come from), about 20 minutes drive from the city center. One bedroom, one kitchen and one toilet, about 30 square meters. The rent is 600 yuan a month (USD 84), the mobile phone bill and wifi fee are 100 yuan a month (USD 14), the water and electricity bills are about 100 yuan a month (USD 14), and for food, I usually only eat in restaurants and order takeout, which costs 1,500 yuan a month. ($210) Commuting costs nothing. These necessary expenses total 2,300 yuan ($322), and my monthly salary is 7,000 yuan ($980).

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

3rd tier cities are definitely cheaper to live! It’s great you are still able to save money off of your salary 😄

@baskjhdgkasgd

7 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli But local house prices average 30,000 yuan ($4,200) per square meter.

@leanlifer

5 ай бұрын

@@baskjhdgkasgd don't buy unless you plan to live there permanently

In Australia, the grocery is about 700-800 for a family of 4 on average currently and has only shot up this high after covid in 2020, this open my eyes on how outrageous Coles and Woolworths pricing are.

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

This is very true!! Cost of living has only been increasing, we even noticed this in China. Even though it is still relatively inexpensive

@calvyncraven1141

7 ай бұрын

U earn AUD, thus Coles pay salaries in AUD too.

👏👏👏

其实现实购买比网络购买要贵一些，如果通过社区团购购买实物，购物网站购买商品，还会便宜很多，不过住房在这种大城市花费很多

The major expense is accommodation in Shanghai

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

It really is 😭

❤

hi JamesandKeil !!! I am a university student from xi'an,have you ever been to xi'an? and why you chosed to go to china four years ago?

that is very high a salary. Many Master and PHD locals in Shanghai and Beijing dont earn that much

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

That’s very true. Expats often have a foreign price to pay for things thiugh. For example housing costs are different for expats than they are for locals living in the country. We are lucky to have the salary we did while in China though.

@jjtt5585

7 ай бұрын

Actually housing costs are the same if that is not their home city. They just have to resort to living in poorer conditions. But that their choice as expats often have to be paid well and treated very well for us to consider working in China. In recent years, very graduates have been leaving major cities and return back to their 2nd or 3rd level cities because they could not afford the housing.@@JamesandKeli

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Housing is very expensive in top tier cities! @@jjtt5585

@jjtt5585

7 ай бұрын

Yes, what i meant is that these chinese have to pay the same high housing rents as expats, because they do not belong there. They come from 2nd to 5th tier city. @@JamesandKeli

请开放中文字幕翻译

Uh I am sorry, there is something very charming about a guy cooking with a Chinese wok😂👍

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

😂😂 Chef James always here to impress people

@xelkim9666

7 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli anyway, I'm a newcomer to your channel, this video is very insightful so I just wanna leave a comment to hopefully help the algorithm. Have a bless future endeavor

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Thank you so much 😁 we appreciate it!

Internet cost me in LA for $89 dollar, but my question is how much do u save, going out to eat is expensive in LA, $20 for a bowl of noodle and rent is so expensive $1500 per person, $4000 for a three bedroom

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

In China with our lifestyle we were still able to save $1,000-$2,000 a month with our expenses.

@jenme4796

7 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli wow

Internet, TV monthly payment are much cheaper in China. Renting may be not cheaper too much compared to NY.

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

The housing cost is really our biggest expense while living in China.

@joey3291

7 ай бұрын

but renting cost in smaller cities is much cheaper

@christinalin5658

6 ай бұрын

Can’t compare to NYC, my friend went to NYU and rent a tiny one bed room apartment in Manhattan and that costs her $5,600 per month😢

how much would a tourist spend a day in food, attractions and taxi in beijing (excluding hotels)?

You only spend half of your income every month, that's pretty good.

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Yeah! Even though it feels like we spend way too much money 🤣

@sstchan924

7 ай бұрын

In America , it is from paycheck to paycheck from one or two jobs.

Curious what allow you guys to live in China for extended period of time? What was the process or type of visa?

@JamesandKeli

2 ай бұрын

We were both English teachers during our 4 years, so we had a working visa provided to us by the company we worked for.

How is the air quality in Beijing/ Tianjin?

@ahkoy973

4 ай бұрын

Following government environmental actions the air quality has significantly improved from say 15 years ago.

ofcourse if you'll be using pay as you go for the simcard, it goes up to 200yuan but with a package it will be almost 50yuan :/

You actually earn three times more than ordinary local people. The Shanghainese's average monthly salary is only 12000. But of course, you spend more than them. Anyway, you still save a lot. Good for u!

There are much cheaper options. Some Shanghai apartment cost 1k

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

If living in a shared apartment or very far from the center it is possible to find cheaper apartments. But as an expat it is not easy to find anything lower than 6,000 in Shanghai.

Basically everything apart from housing is super cheap. So for a local Chinese person it's very low cost

I have one question. Does your school offer you the health insurance in China ?

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Yes, our school offered us an international health insurance. When we worked at a local kindergarten we had the local health insurance.

@bryandeng570

7 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli thank you for your response.

Thank you for sharing, I appreciate the openness and honesty, it can be uncomfortable being transparent with the world on your finances. That said it is very helpful to have a lived experience shared to this level of financial detail so thank you once again for sharing. I am curious to know the labour cost in China compared to the rest of the world, particularly in the manufacturing sector. I notice the minimum wage is significantly less compared to your earning. That is, minimum wage is around 2690 yuan a month compared to your income of around 34000 yuan a month. So my question is, what do most manufacturing jobs pay? What kind of jobs attract minimum wage, I assume entry level like cleaning and receptionist, does it include factory worker? Why are your wages so high? is this normal for most Chinese or is this typical for a degree qualified worker? Are foreigners paid more than local Chinese, for example were you on a special rate not available to the average Chinese person? Where you paid or gain any benefit from the CCP for this presentation? what is the ratio of people on or near minimum wage compared to people on wages like yours? Thanks in advance :)

@JamesandKeli

13 күн бұрын

We are not paid at all by the CCP. we currently no longer live in China. This was our wage as foreign teachers, we do not know salary’s for local Chinese. Sorry we can’t answer more of your questions.

30k is a lot tho. Holy moly

Can I turn American money into yuan?

Those prices are still really good in Shanghai compared to Miami LMFAO

@Weed

4 ай бұрын

Monthly minimum USD costs to live/survive in Miami right now for a citizen living alone starts at 2500USD-3000USD for slave-like living conditions. Aleese is talking about having: *UNLIMITED INTERNATIONAL CALLS + Local data + texts and calls *FASTEST WIFI POSSIBLE IN HER AREA (Most likely 1GBPS+) *A nice apartment for a really good price *Posh transportation and dining situations All for the same price that you would live like a slave for in all of South Florida. This is why the USA is about to disappear in less than a decade. LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

3 ай бұрын

Crazy to think about, Miami is at most a tier 3 city in Chinese standards... Maybe a tier 2 if you scratch a little bit.

1st

@JamesandKeli

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for your support!! 😄

Anyone can you tell me like how much rent I can find apartment one bedroom in Shanghai I wii study in ECUST

@JamesandKeli

5 ай бұрын

In our video we talked about the cost of an apartment. We had only a one bedroom apartment which was 16k a month for a place in the city center.. cheapest maybe you can find is 7,000yuan.

@seattlecity2455

5 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli expensive hhhhh i find website weellce I think so cheap almost 2000 I think yunan in line 1 metro but I think not correct

@Banmuyuan

5 ай бұрын

⁠@@seattlecity2455it could be true, depends on the location.

@dengist8172

3 ай бұрын

@@seattlecity2455 It can get very low, as low as you want, if you are willing to live in bad conditions. There are a lot of people who earn very little in China and they have to live somewhere.

@cocojumbo197

Ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli 16k is 3500 AUD.... thats 2-3 bdrm apartment in central Melbourne or Sydney. Expensive af

You don't mention anything about any insurance. Do you have one, in case of accidents and you need to get home to US? And I assume hospital bills aren't cheap either being a non Chinese citizen. What are your thoughts about that?

@JamesandKeli

2 ай бұрын

We don’t mention insurance because our company provided us with insurance. We have had both international coverage (but doesn’t cover the US), and local insurance. Overall the cost of public hospitals in China are not overly expensive if you do not go to the Foreign Department.

Save some money Guys for kids, there are so many things you can reduce your cost of living,

@JamesandKeli

2 ай бұрын

100%! We definitely realized how much money we were spending, and made some adjustments. It is so easy to over spend if you don't track it.

@rekopathuso1506

2 ай бұрын

@@JamesandKeli wishing you a happy and healthy life🙏

LOL, SO much cheaper!I I wish it was easier to move to China - I'd move my family there in a second! Safer, cheaper, cleaner, friendlier - what does the usa have to offer that is better??????

Cost of living in Bay Area San Francisco. 😅

@JamesandKeli

6 ай бұрын

Life is expensive 😔

I assume you guys speak Chinese or ? How long it took you to learn the language good enough that don’t need a translator?

@JamesandKeli

2 ай бұрын

We still needed to use a translation app! We knew enough just to get around or get by. To get to know the language we took lessons with a private tutor for the first few months when we arrived.

James is cute.

What apps do u use for renting an apartment in China?

@JamesandKeli

7 күн бұрын

We personally don’t use apps for renting because they are all Chinese and some require a Chinese National ID. We would go through local agents who help us.. however it does require an agent fee.

@Mika-ie9lr

Күн бұрын

@@JamesandKeli thank you for the information 😊