Right, 280k RMB (after tax) equals 41k USD a year. Per month you will have roughly 23,5k RMB which should be fine to live on. However if you need to rent an apartment in Beijing things could be very tight. Found out how much you want to spend on housing and what the market rate is.

Health care should be covered for 100% and do not forget:
- return flights
- shipping allowences
- relocating allowences
- furniture allowences
- visa costs and medical checks

Personally I had a very bad experience with a Chinese firm which hired me overseas. Go for a Western or international company.

Good luck.

allowences = allowances

I think I might have exaggerated a bit: 23,5k should be well enough to live on and save a fair bit. But do find out what you are willing to pay for accommodation and if you can get what you want for that money.

I just asked a colleague of mine, who is a Chinese national from Beijing. He agrees with macRoen and thinks the package is more than enough to live on and probably save some money to boot. But he cautions that what you get asked by landlords to pay for rental housing might be considerably more than the going rate for comparable housing for locals, so check on housing costs and availability before you go.

thanks for the responses.

they also offered to help me find a place near by the office for about 4-5000rmb a month for a 1bd room so i am basing of that too.

it just seemed low compared with what I make here about 70k in nyc area, but of course living expenses is lower in beijing too.

i am curious, however, how much does a fresh graduate make compared to someone with 5 years or 8 years of experience there?

"just seemed low compared with what I make here about 70k in nyc"

He. I think it's probably safe to say that the age of the expat package is over with in China, for the most part... and the premium for us waiguoren (foreigners) is probably disappearing as well. Urban professional salaries in major Chinese cities are about 1/2 of what you'd make in the US, and that's probably all they would be prepared to pay any of us.... sure, people transferred over to their by their American and European companies will make much more, but if you had that arrangement, I assume that you wouldn't need to look for a job there in the first place.

i think it is a good offer but not a great offer, considering you are a foreigner and have 8 years experience. what's the agreement on the bonus? many chinese architects receive a year end bonus that can be as much as the base salary or more. is this the best one you got so far? how long have you been looking? did you try shanghai or shenzhen?

again, thanks guys for you inputs.

archi003, i have been talking to a few places and yes this is the offer i got so far. they are offering me free housing for 3 months with the salary and if all goes well i can renegotiate for better pay. sounds like a win win situation, what do i have to loose?
i have always preferred beijing over other cities in china for its cultural and modern developments...shanghai is too much like nyc too busy, and shanzhen is way too warm for my taste.
the bonus actually occurs 3x a year based on performance.

for a chinese office this is pretty ok, but honestly with 8 years experience you can even get more in a pure chinese office, at least some allowances...

foreign offices are still paying higher salaries if you are worth it, this could go up to 40.000 or 45/48 in HK

You may want to check into the tax situation in China. There are some extremely good tax breaks that Americans are entitle to while living abroad if they meet all of the IRS's requirements - specifically the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

Following the same thread regarding salary in China:

I am a recent M.Arch grad with 3 years of exp. I just offered a job in China (north of Shenzhen) at a local (?state-run) arch/planning office branch for 150K RMB annually. Is that considered decent ? I don't have much of reference, though from the responses here salary seems to be 50% of what we enjoy here in N.A.

They also agree to arrange and paid for accommodation, though whatever that means.

Could anyone share some insights of the situation of whether this is a decent offer ? What is the average rental / living expense in China outsides of major metros like Shanghai /Beijing / ShenZhen ?

based on what i found out per sites and friends there the living cost can be comparable to non-metro areas in the US. Having been there on vacation, the cost of food and living is probably about the same as texas or less if you spend carefully.

obviously i am not talking about living like the crowned prince here but very comfortably. perhaps even with 50% us salary, you can live 110% life in most places in China.

for a nice modern 1 bed room apt in beijing can range from 5000rmb to 12000rmb (/6.8 = $735-1765) depending on district and I assume shanghai & shenzhen will be similar. as i understand most rent will cover water, heat & gas, some even include satellite TV. of course outside major cities can be much less even.

some ballpark figures:
assuming this is after tax, 150kRmb = $22059 net this also means about $30000 before tax in the US.
given state of the economy lets compare that to $45000/yr for 3yr. exp. salary before tax, you are probably still making 66% US salary.
the kicker here is of course is you life style, but i will not be surprised if you manage the same if not better live style you have in the US with less salary in China.

personally, it is an adventure. worst case scenario is that you come back after 6mo.-1yr. if it turn out to be a bad exp. in any event, it is a good opportunity to make connects there in the long run, it also can't hurt to have international exp. on your resume.

funny how people simply assume i don't speak chinese.

tempo01
"foreign offices are still paying higher salaries if you are worth it, this could go up to 40.000 or 45/48 in HK"

are you saying 40000/mo in HK dollar?

i did in fact got some leads at a couple international firms in HK as well, but they will not pay me to come for a face to face interview. also, i was in HK last year and it is probably one of the most expansive place to live in the world, comparable to NYC if not more.

if the you are talking in HK dollar (7.7=$1), RMB has a higher value at 6.8=$1 when its all said and done with the math, i do not think the foreign offices pay a whole lot more considering the cost of living in crazy HK.

of course the best deal is probably making US salary outside major cities in China if we are just talking about numbers :)

Lika, thanks for spilling out the economics. And I have been traveling for the last 8 years during my arch (coop) program, so I am always ready for an advantage.

How much is the difference of the working environment ? I do know minimum level of mandarin, though I presume working in China would require a much higher level of proficiency, esp in terms of the specific arch working language. How difficult is it take to acquire on the job with the Chinese office ?

well, since i started this thread i couldn't tell you what the requirements are for other chinese offices.

in my case, they didn't care if i spoke or not. knowing chinese is a bonus. For the senior designer position, they want me to come up with ideas rather then joining the production team.

i was told the culture there is pretty much like most US firm and i believe it to be true. the owners and directors who interviewed me over the phone are all educated and have worked in the US. plus just cause its chinese owned, it does not mean everyone there is chinese. i was told 10% of the office are from outside china and few speak a word of chinese. perhaps this is something you should ask to get a feel.

the drawings will be mostly in chinese, but they will have a few people support me on that and i am sure i can pick it up as i go.

i think the bottom lines is to be honest. they are buying your service and you need to let them know you limitation as far as language goes. you don't want to claim something you are not capable of. if its not an issue to them, i am sure they will provide help for you.

70k job in nyc is better than 55k job in beijing. Unless your dream is havign a career in asia.

hawk, perhaps, but as a native nyker and having work there all my life, i am tried of waiting for shit to happen the speed of realizing a design is turtle speed in nyc compared to many other parts of the world. if you have dealt enough with clients and put up with the bull in nyc, i say enough is enough.

architects are not respected in the states, its a simple fact. but in many other part of the world it is still considered well respected profession.

i also noticed a lot of ads for senior architect requires international experience. you can be a valuble comoditiy with foriegn experience under your belt. imagine in a couple years when the economy picks up, you may become rather attractive for international companies to hire as liaison for their branch, be it asia or working on foreign projects from the state.

i have been told many times that architect need to goto where the building is happening and atm, nyc is in a giant hole.

i.e. 9 years later, where is WTC??? they build cities in china with that amount of time.

Lika: I´ve worked long years in china, also in HK and now heading back to europe - just had enough :)
but for the figures in HK i can say that its still possible to earn a good 40.-60 HKD depending on experience (china experience of course is better paid), but also as unexperienced one without chinese experience you can get up to 35.000 hkd...

sure the living costs are a "bit" higher, i´ve paid 1500€ for a 40sqm studio flat the first months, but the living quality in HK is top, much better than shanghai (worked there long time too) and much greener too, easier to understand people etc...

if you go to china try to be there at least 2-3 years and fight through the first (cultural) crisis. it wont be easy but worth it and like back home expect long hours, but thats old news...

good luck with your job hunt and regarding Interviews: its much more successful flying over there and staying around 3 weeks doing multiple interviews and with success staying right there...

one more point: dont fall into the trap of seeing the work culture the same like in the US. Chinese work culture is significantly different, how they make plans, sketch, deal with problems etc etc etc...you will have lot of mental shocks ongoing...dont underestimate this...