One of my biggest worries was would we make enough money when teaching in China to be able to support ourselves when only earning about 700 Aus a month.

the following is a list of prices for things in China.

Value of Goods and Services

The current exchange rate (March 2004) for the Australian Dollar (AUD) to the Reminbi (RMB) is $1.00AUD – 6.00RMB.
Thus, everything is China is very cheap. These are just a few examples:
- Intra city bus fare 0.5-1.00RMB ($0.08AUD - $0.16AUD)
- Mamu 2RMB ($O.32AUD)
- Packet of cigarettes 2-10RMB ($0.32AUD - $1.60AUD)
- Bottle of beer (600ml) 2RMB ($0.32AUD)
- Average breakfast - 1-2RMB
- Average lunch - 5RMB
- Average dinner - 5-8RMB.
- 1/2 Kg pork 11RMB ($1.93AUD)
- 1/2 Kg beef 15RMB ($2.50AUD)
- Weekly supply of vegetables - 10 RMB
- Bottle of coke or fanta (600ml) - 2.5RMB
- KFC - ZINGER BURGER - 10RMB
- MacDonalds – Big Mac – 10RMB
- Purchase of a VCD/DVD disk - 2-5RMB
- CD’S/Tapes 1-5RMB
- DVD player - 800RMB ($130.00AUD)
- VCD player - 200RMB ($33.00AUD)

Clothes and shoes are extremely cheap. As China is primarily a market - based economy, items such as gold, silver, diamond, jade Chinese artifacts etc are extremely cheap. The opportunity to bargain is there also.( It is a generally accepted rule of thumb that when buying clothes and shoes to begin bargaining at 66% off the marked price. On most items a discount of 50% is acceptable to the customer and the merchant alike.)
Again, a liaison with this organisation and/or the school will aid the Foreign Teacher in order to “show him/her the ropes” concerning living and working in China.