I'm a bit of an adventurous type, and I'm considering taking off for China without having employment lined up there beforehand.

I would be open to anything from a corporate job with a U.S. company's Chinese operations, to completely freelance tutoring/teaching English.

I do not speak Chinese (but I'd love to learn). I recently graduated from college with a business degree, but I couldn't care less if I work in the business world or not. I simply want to live in China, experience the culture, and save a reasonable amount of money.

How good of a shot at success do I have if I go over there with nothing but myself, a couple suitcases, and my wits? What problems am I likely to run into?

Thanks much!

The current problem you may face is getting a Z visa. You can come initially with a L or F (tourist or business) but once you gain employment you will need to apply for the Z visa (working visa). Previously foreigners could make a quick trip to Hong Kong or Macao to apply for the initial visa, but in March 2008 the policy changed to foreigners having to return to their home country to apply. Now this policy is supposed to return back to normal after Sept. 2008, but if there's one thing I've learned about China it's this: "The one thing you can depend on is change."
Other than the visa thing, come on over! China is an awesome place to live and experience.

well, if you are just looking to teach English, it will be no problem at all

as far as corp. jobs, forget it, too hard, you need to get the job in the USA and get transferred here

freelance tutoring is good pay but extremely unstable and it will not provide the needed visa to be here, I had a friend that had tutoring lined up making about 6,000 RMB per month, in one weekend ALL her students canceled on her

You could always come and study Chinese for a year, teach part time, to help with living costs and after that look for a job in your field

Problems - it is much better to research opportunities from the USA, if you come here on a wing and a prayer you may find yourself hating this country, email me if you want some more advice

You need a work visa to work in China, you can go, find a job, leave the country and apply for a work visa - go to Hong Kong to do it - thats what most people do.

You wont find work in business, Chinese, US or anything else unless you are fluent in Mandarin - the best you can hope for would be to teach ESL, and without qualifications it will be a very low paid position and you will find it very hard to do the job of a teacher without teacher training.

The good schools ask for a degree AND certification in TEFL or ESL - If you have qualifications the average pay would be around $1500 - $2000 Cdn/US $ a month PLUS a free apartment.

BUT there are hundreds of schools that will try to offer you a pittance - you dont need to work for bad wages, not if you are qualified and know what you are doing.

The $400 Cdn/US jobs are those that young people with NO qualifications or professional experience find themselves in.

My friends are earning $4500.00 Cdn/US a month because they are qualified teachers, with a teaching degree, and you can live very well on that in China !

You cannot convert a tourist visa to a work visa in China and it is illegal to work without a work visa - if caught you will be on the next flight out of the country with no stops to say goodbye to anyone -

>> to completely freelance tutoring/teaching English.

If you do not arrange a job a head of time, that is probably the only thing you can get. And you are subject to scammers too.


Good Luck...

You want to save a reasonable amount of money? Try another country. China does not pay as highly as Japan or South Korea. I've even had friends work in Thailand and Cambodia for more pay than jobs in China. Pay tends to be based on the cost of living in the area and what teachers already there will accept for pay. Where I was living low pay was 2500 yuan (US$358) a month and pay on the high side (teaching computer or science English) was 8000 yuan (US$1,143) a month. Average pay for most teachers was 4000-6000 yuan (US$572-858) a month. The cost of living in the area is quite low so they didn't pay highly. You'll find living in China that you will want to travel and explore so you'll end up spending a lot of your salary doing that because it's so hard to save the money to just go travel at home. There are places that pay more, but you usually have to work longer hours or the cost of living in the city is high. It all depends on what you want your quality of life to be like. Teachers in my city were aware they could make more somewhere else, but the locals and expats were much nicer than many places where the money was better, so many have stayed for 2-5 years. I would not recomend going to China without having a job lined up. If you are going to go there you'll want to have a Z visa. It gives you the ability to travel in and out of China as much as you want within it's time limit so you can easily visit Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and other countries in the area. Check out ESL/EFL websites to get more info about how to find a job in China and what you should look for in a contract.