Hi! I’m an American looking to make the big move and settle down in Yunnan. I’m recently married, my husband is Chinese, and we’re looking to possibly move to Lijiang. We’ll be traveling there next year for our wedding and possibly purchase a house there but I’m curious if there are any teaching opportunities in the city. I don’t know anyone or have any connections in the province so feel free to share some advice. I’ve been living and teaching in NE China for the past four years, it’s time for a change. We’ve considered Kunming or Dali but the housing market is just too expensive. I plan on buying the house on my own so if any of you also have experience owning a home in Lijiang or other parts of Yunnan, I’d love to hear more about the process.

If the postings in the classifieds over time are any guide, my sense is that teaching jobs in Lijiang are few and far between. You could get lucky and happen onto an opening when someone is leaving, but I wouldn't count on it.

Normally I would say to look into teaching online, but the big companies that recruit internationally are deluged with applicants who have been laid off due to the pandemic, to such a degree that some have stopped taking applications entirely. You might explore teaching online with less-huge Chinese companies -- some prefer to hire foreigners who are already in China rather than recruit abroad for various reasons including cultural fit and time zone.

She wrote:"We’ll be traveling there next year for our wedding and possibly purchase a house there but I’m curious if there are any teaching opportunities in the city."

Who knows what will happen this year much less next year.

I'm reluctant to sidetrack the thread, but I will say: The number of people now unemployed in the US alone is larger than the entire population of Canada. I doubt the economy can snap back fast enough by next year to meaningfully change the labor market dynamics I mentioned, even if we get lucky soon with a vaccine or treatment.

I need to correct OP. Lijiang housing prices (near old town) are relatively higher than Dali's. Historically the case, unless you're referring to specific outlying projects.

For perspective, both renowned developers Wanda and Vanke will 开盘 in early June, SE of Erhai where Dali's new high speed rail station is slated to move to (900m away from sites).

Vanke's lakeview 80m3 units will go for 14K - 18K/m3. 44-storey buildings equipped with furnished smart AI home apparatus. Wanda prices are slightly less than 14K/m3 , larger 100m3 - 200m3 floor spaces for families. Wanda's non-lake view community with shopping center is situated further east of Vanke near newly constructed government buildings and public elementary schools.

To herenow's point on the economic fallout and possible slow recovery, the pulling of breaks on China's housing market may align with OP's future plans to relocate from 东北 and buy a house in Yunnan.

I guess let me rephrase my question, I’m curious if the local population in Lijiang is enough to warrant the sustainability of English schools because there’s just no information available online about this topic or about the expat community in Lijiang. Also, with the pandemic effect on the ESL industry, it’s anyone’s guess what the market will look like in the foreseeable future. We’re pretty flexible about when exactly we’ll move but I’m just trying to figure out if Lijiang is going to be a sound choice because we’re definitely going to buy a house next year in Yunnan.

The housing market in Dali is actually even more expensive than the city I’m now, Shenyang, and we’ve been looking for a while. I’m well aware of the plans to make NW Yunnan an even greater tourist destination than what it is so I’m hoping to snag a decent secondhand home before that happens. I’m just a teacher surviving on an average teacher’s salary so 14K a square meter for a house is quite above what I’m looking to pay.

@wendy. I am wondering what the non lake view prop is selling for. Even at 14K/sqm, that is cheap as it will probably double in price once the high speed rail arrives, if it is less than kilometre away.

@kp6562, anjuke is a decent tool for comparing prices of secondhand homes.

Dali:
dali.anjuke.com/market/

Lijiang:
lijiang.anjuke.com/market/

Kunming:
km.anjuke.com/market/

Shenyang:
sy.anjuke.com/market/

For the month of May, Lijiang's secondhand homes are cheapest according to anjuke data with average prices of 7,753元/m2 compared to Dali's 12.9k/m2. Shenyang is ~10k/m2. Kunming is ~13k/m2.

So I stand corrected regarding secondhand homes.

Following the price trend charts for above cities, only Lijiang secondhand home prices went up during last five months, whereas Dali prices have steadily dropped during the same five-month period.

二手房 in Lijiang seems doable for you w/ combined salaries next year after wedding. Perhaps consider taking out a bank loan if short.

@DanDare, the larger, non lake view Wanda units are 毛坯房 (unfurnished "rough housing"). The sales agent was tight lipped on tba prices slated for June. 售楼部 agent hinted a Walmart would enter the shopping center, so you may be right about doubling of price.

The high speed rail station within the 1km vicinity is one of the selling points, yet common knowledge among housing speculators looking to buy Dali's dip, thus prices may already be baked in. Nobody knows how far into the future housing prices will double given the sluggish economy in recovery mode. Tourism, hotel, and airline industries are all actively slashing prices trying to shore up consumer confidence to no noticeable avail. Tourism industries are hit particularly hard and seemingly slow to crawl back up. Bad news for tourist towns like Dali and Lijiang. IMO, conservative shoppers are not parting ways with their disposable income like they used to.

This may be the worst time (in history?) to buy an apartment, in China, or any country dependent on the world economy. Having said that, there will be people panic selling to free up some cash, so you might get a place slightly under the going rate, it's unlikely though. OP, how well do you know Lijiang? I would strongly advise not buying until you are sure that you like living in the area. It's got beautiful mountain scenery, but it is quite remote (Kunming is pretty remote as a city and Lijiang is about 10-20x smaller and even more remote). Prices may go up in future, or they may stabilize or even fall. Hard to say.

It gets cold there. Yes, Shenyang may be colder but there is very little to no indoor heating in Lijiang. Then there's the altitude. In short, visit the place and stay for a few weeks before you decide anything. On the plus side, it's beautiful, mostly very peaceful and cheap to live. However, you can count on a much smaller salary (roughly 20 to 40 percent of what you get now). Jobs are also much more difficult to find (you may find it easier if you're a practicing Christian).

The market for English teaching is just not there.