snowflake, negative attitude, name calling? i think you are projecting mate

@misfit: How much would a good salary be for those outside the categories you've mentioned?

@Alien If you are outside those categories that means you should be familiar with the market and know that every job is different, it depends on location, level of English of the kids, curriculum to develop etc.
So according to that you can always negotiate your price.

From my own experience, jobs that have more responsibilities, require greater skill sets (e.g. curriculum development, course design) or where you are teaching towards internationally recognised qualifications (e.g. GED, IB, IGCSE, AP) will pay better. But there often is still limited potential to negotiate.
However, being a more qualified (not just certs.) teacher increases the number of higher paid jobs you are eligible to apply for.

@tiger totally agree with you.

A thought on negotiation. Very often the employer has little to no room to negotiate on pay. Pay can be fixed by higher authorities, and/or it is something where nobody wants to start setting new precedents. Getting hung up on pay is often a dead end.
However there is often room to negotiate on other things. Scheduling is one area. I always asked for, and mostly got, all of my hours pushed to one end of the week.

This gave me all my days off together, instead of split. This has a financial advantage as well, as there are fewer days with travel expenses.
Some schools will allow a small budget for you to buy training material, where you provide receipts they reimburse you. They can claim this against tax, so no cost to them, and it save you from covering the cost (or not doing some valuable activity).

Some schools will pay a small bounty for further training. For example, I know one school that will pay you 400 (once per year) if you complete agreed Coursera courses. These will increase your career/personal development, and will also improve your prospects for the future.

"How much would a good salary be for those outside the categories you've mentioned?"
Read more: www.gokunming.com/[...]

A salaried position on a bridge program, in Kunming. Taught one subject to high school gao san, and

another subject to students in year one of an overseas university program (teacher needed a masters in that field), and some academic English (CELTA). Teacher had to have experience teaching in China.
Pay was controlled by overseas universities' that set up the bridge arrangement. As such it followed the requirements for qualifications, pay scales (based on qualifications), allowances, holidays and other conditions.

Base pay was 16k upwards, living allowance was 4.5k. The lowest paid bridge program teacher was clearing 20.5k.
At the other end of the scale, you have universities in Yunnan paying less than 4k, but providing accom, and flights home.

Where did the students come from? Was this all expensive for them?

Middle school students were selected (don't know how) from the middle school we operated from. Class sizes were up to 20. Some of these students graduated to the bridge program.

Like almost every bridge program the parents had to have the ability to pay, as well as the students had to have the ability to participate. Class sizes were under 10.
Students on the bridge (1st year uni) program had to pass an on-line entry test (managed by the universities) to be accepted.

This is somewhat different from AP, where anyone can participate.

No idea how much these bridge programs cost? Interesting to know where students in these well-paying programs come from - i.e., who's paying how much, and where the money goes (besides, of course, to the teachers' salaries).