I'm asking because I'm considering moving to Kunming- not just to pry into someone else's business. In the U.S. I teach some classes for as short as 45 minutes and I've taken college classes that are as long as 4 hours. I'd rather get specific information and not assume anything.

Sorry I missed the questions to me lately! I'll try to answer all of them:

Jonny,

Not too many secrets to tell, I guess. Because we live on campus, we walk to work. When we do go out, we almost always take buses and very, very rarely indulge in taxis (only when we can't figure out how to get there from Google maps). And because we're married, we don't go out for drinks 3-4 times a week or go on dates all weekend! We both indulge in 1 hobby separately (my husband takes tae kwon do, I do calligraphy lessons every week), and like I said, we only eat out on the weekends. Eating at home we either eat ramen-like noodles or in our school's canteen (about 7-10 RMB per entree). One huge help with our finances is the way we get paid. One of us gets a cash allowance at the end of the month, but one of us gets direct deposit. The cash envelope is our "living budget" so it's easy to see when it gets low to cut back and start slumming it more. But we consider the direct deposit account sacred and almost NEVER touch it except in emergencies. Also, we don't travel much due to our teaching schedules (Sept - Jan, March - July) with really only 3 breaks long enough to go anywhere, and in those times often students will help us arrange cheap or free travel.

Billc,

We EACH teach 8 classes a week (each class is 80 min, so we EACH work 10.5 hours a week). Also, we have separate contracts with the same university. One of us is salaried, meaning we don't get paid any extra for things like English corner, judging contests, etc. It's like someone else said earlier, we basically just do whatever they ask us and it's not overtime. But, one of us gets 60 RMB/hour, so 90 RMB per class period, plus 1 hour of English corner. 90 * 8 = 720 + 60 = 780, the total weekly salary.

I agree that a lot of your budgeting really depends on your activities and how well you can adjust. If you only want to eat Western food you will need more money. If you always want to go out and drink a lot and do a lot of traveling, you will need more money. But it's possible to live on a smaller budget if you are more disciplined and can find enjoyment in smaller, cheaper things.

I also feel that part of your happiness here is based on your employer. If you choose a nice university who values you and genuinely tries to make you comfortable, you will be much happier and won't feel the need to constantly buy things. But if your job sucks, of course you'll want to go out more often and spend more money.

I think the top end figures here are way overblown. I'll be attending University in Kunming from Sept., and expect to work part time to supplement savings I've built up from 7500/month (for six 80 min. classes a week) College English teaching position I have in Guangzhou. Granted, my apartment and utilities are free so that cuts out a lot of expense. I live on 1800 a month, and that's about the cheapest I can reasonably do. I don't date or go out, but I want for nothing as all I'm doing is studying for the HSK anyway.

Last year however I was dating, taking trips to Yunnan, etc. and still saved about 6000 USD. This year I'll take a trip to Japan to see my kids but expect to roll into Kunming with at least 10000 USD (well, I hope!) leftover after tuition and whatever housing arrangements I make.
As far as I know, teaching English in public institutions in China was never considered a lucrative deal and I don't think it is now (private schools are a different story- be prepared to put in the hours though). But like anywhere else in the world actually living costs can be surprisingly affordable if necessity dictates it. China may be attracting more and more foreigners these days with attractive salary packages, but this is a recent phenomena I think.

Finally, I sometimes worry when I hear that the lowest median incomes in China are catching up with mine! I heard on an NPR clip for ex. that 'poor' people in Shanghai were 'only' making 300-500 USD a month! Actually, that's a pretty good wage. I think there is some obfuscating going on here, but never mind. I am in fact genuinely happy to see the standard of living rising in China and why should it bother me if my wages are humble? China is still a great, inexpensive and fascinating place to live.

2006 gasoline / diesel was 4 rmb+- a liter
2013 gasoline / diesel is now 8 rmb a liter

Cost of everything is based on fuel.. therefore cost of living doubled.

Workers, skilled or not never adjusted for wages therefore their living expenses declined.The ones who haven't notice, or just ignore and slum it live in slave conditions.

The middle class cope.

The rich are so rich it doesn't matter.

That's China

comparing shanghai and kunming is like compare newyork and sacramento

Y5000/mo. is fine, I can do it and I spend more than I need to in bars, western-style cafe-restaurants, etc. - that's my choice - but I'm not sure what you mean by 'I'm from north america so the money is not going to be enough' - if you mean you'd like to make enough money here so you can move back to north america & take some with you then you're probably right (though on Y5000/mo. you could do it, because it's certainly not impossible to live on Y3000 mo. here, healthily). Y5000/mo. is fine here (even without the housing & health care, which universities will cover). If you decide to go back to north america, well, then you'll have to deal with those folks when you get there.

Please note, this was posted 3 years ago and if the same question being asked now will certainly elicit different responses due to inflation/wage rises etc.

I would struggle to live on 5000 a month here. In Hebei it was fine, but everything was a lot cheaper there.

This is an interesting subject for me because I'm in the process of creating a China-based clientele for my business. The biggest single element is that Chinese businesses can't pay the Western rates for the type of consulting services that I do. So rate adjustment is necessary in this market. But, determining a "fair rate" is more complicated. I'm using the cost of living as my baseline.

In most industrialized countries, it is ideal to use no more than 25% of your income for housing. (Anything over 35% is considered pushing it.) Another 10% should go toward health and insurance. So, you have somewhere between 55% and 65% of your income to provide for transportation, food, clothing, savings, and non-essentials. (In China, they save up to 40% of their incomes, so this would leave them between 15% and 25% for discretionary spending.)

If I used housing as my benchmark data to determine the larger cost of living, the number would hang around 7500 RMB, per month. In terms of survival, you could get by on as little as 4800, but you will only be surviving at that level.

money.eastmoney.com/news/1583,20130222274422478.html

According to this 2950 is the average in Kunming in 2013 and those Kunming ladies born in the 90's are looking for bf's with salaries pushing 4000....