When ESL teachers first come to China by ESL job portal, they often get confused by different offers from different cities in China. Here is an example about the cost of living comparison among three different cities.
Assume you maintain the same standard of life in Shanghai*, Shenyang** and Liaoyang***. The following table presents the consumer prices in different cities.
| Restaurants | Shanghai | Shenyang | Liaoyang |
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | ￥30.00 | ￥20.00 | ￥15.00 |
| Meal for 2, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | ￥240.00 | ￥100.00 | ￥60.00 |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | ￥30.00 | ￥30.00 | ￥30.00 |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught) | ￥19.98 | ￥5.00 | ￥3.00 |
| Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle) | ￥30.00 | ￥15.00 | ￥15.00 |
| Cappuccino (regular) | ￥29.42 | ￥21.00 | ￥21.00 |
| Coke/Pepsi (0.33 liter bottle) | ￥3.78 | ￥2.88 | ￥2.88 |
| Water (0.33 liter bottle) | ￥2.31 | ￥2.00 | ￥2.00 |
| Markets | |||
| Milk (regular), (1 liter) | ￥17.43 | ￥12.33 | ￥6.00 |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (500g) | ￥16.17 | ￥9.00 | ￥6.00 |
| Rice (white), (1kg) | ￥6.60 | ￥9.33 | ￥7.80 |
| Eggs (12) | ￥15.64 | ￥10.67 | ￥10.89 |
| Local Cheese (1kg) | ￥183.75 | ￥42.50 | ￥42.50 |
| Chicken Breasts (Boneless, Skinless), (1kg) | ￥31.00 | ￥14.67 | ￥14.67 |
| Apples (1kg) | ￥15.42 | ￥10.00 | ￥10.00 |
| Oranges (1kg) | ￥11.82 | ￥11.33 | ￥11.33 |
| Tomato (1kg) | ￥8.33 | ￥6.00 | ￥6.00 |
| Potato (1kg) | ￥6.44 | ￥5.67 | ￥5.67 |
| Lettuce (1head) | ￥7.56 | ￥4.50 | ￥4.50 |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | ￥4.00 | ￥3.00 | ￥3.00 |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | ￥100.00 | ￥100.00 | ￥100.00 |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | ￥5.60 | ￥4.00 | ￥4.00 |
| Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle) | ￥14.78 | ￥15.00 | ￥15.00 |
| Pack of Cigarettes (Marlboro) | ￥15.00 | ￥10.00 | ￥10.00 |
| Transportation | |||
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | ￥4.00 | ￥1.00 | ￥1.00 |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | ￥200.00 | ￥50.00 | ￥50.00 |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | ￥14.00 | ￥8.00 | ￥5.00 |
| Taxi 1km (Normal Tariff) | ￥3.00 | ￥2.00 | ￥1.00 |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | ￥30.00 | ￥20.00 | ￥20.00 |
| Gasoline (1 liter) | ￥7.28 | ￥7.97 | ￥7.97 |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendine (Or Equivalent New Car) | ￥175,700.00 | ￥150,000.00 | ———– |
| Utilities (Monthly) | |||
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment | ￥431.73 | ￥765.00 | ￥367.89 |
| 1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discount s or Plans) | ￥0.17 | ￥0.20 | ￥0.20 |
| Internet(10Mbps, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | ￥137.5 | ￥123.33 | ￥70.00 |
| Sports And Leisure | |||
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | ￥275.47 | ￥91.67 | ￥75.00 |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | ￥92.22 | ￥60.00 | ￥45.00 |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | ￥80.00 | ￥55.00 | ￥50.00 |
|
Rent Per Month |
|||
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | ￥6,166.72 | ￥1,333.33 | ￥1,000.00 |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | ￥3,000.00 | ￥966.67 | ￥500.00 |
| Apartment (3 bedroom) in City Centre | ￥16,500.00 | ￥3,500.00 | ￥2,100.00 |
| Apartment (3 bedroom) Outside of Centre | ￥7,035.00 | ￥2,201.68 | ￥1,200.00 |
|
Buy Apartment Price |
|||
| Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment in City Centre | ￥73,902.43 | ￥9,500.00 | ￥5,500.00 |
| Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | ￥28,935.96 | ￥5,750.00 | ￥2,750.00 |
|
Salaries And Financing |
|||
| Average Monthly Disposable Salary (After Tax) | ￥9,495.61 | ￥3,666.67 | ￥2,566.67 |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly | 6.11 | 6.00 | 6.00 |
From the tables above, the consumer prices vary a lot from cities to cities. The same amount of money has different purchasing power in different cities. If you get three offers with the same amount of money from Shanghai, Shenyang and Liaoyang, what will you do? Three suggestions here. First, if you want to save more money, go to Liaoyang. Second, if you like big city life, go to Shanghai. Third, if you want both, go to Shenyang.
Sunrise has a professional and experienced consultant team, who can help you figure out your best package according to your case. Find more information about cost of living in China, go to www.numbeo.com .
*City like Shanghai, Beijing is Tier one city in China.
**City like Shenyang, Chengdu is Tier two City.
***City like Liaoyang, Anshan is Tier three or Tier four city.