Hi, I came to Beijing at the beginning of 2003 and stayed until the end of 2005--my first job there was 15k rmb + an apartment. I know prices are higher since the Olympics and the exchange rate is half of what it was when I left. I have a BFA and MFA yet 13k rmb + apartment seems to be the standard wage now. I'm not sure I can live decently on this in Beijing these days. I would be living alone, private apartment. WIth taxis, utilities, groceries and such, is this a wage that would be sufficient for Beijing in 2015-16? I have no problem with cooking at home and I lived in Haidian in the "Chinese part" of the city, no other foreigners around, shopped at local flea markets and vegie stands, ate mostly at Chinese places, and had a gym membership--would this be possible to do on 13k rmb/mo? I would like to be able to save some back each month as well, for a little traveling and to go home at least once a year to see my family in the US.
Living wage in Beijing
Hi GeorgiaRose,
Welcome to Expat.com! 
You may have a look at this thread as well : https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=438933
hi! It is possible, but will depend mostly on
Transportation - can you bike or subway or walk to where you need to go regularly? Taxis are very high priced now. But, Uber is much cheaper (like, 28-34 out to Shunyi for me from Lido rather than taxi nearly 60 rmb.) So if you need to travel by car regularly, set up a Uber acct with your western credit card and learn how to use it! Or get a Bubble Bike or E bike to get around. Best to get a used, beat up looking ebike, new ones tend to get the batteries stolen more often.
Food - chinese food is still reasonable. Western restaurants are massively expensive. Are you ok shopping at chinese grocery for food? There are organic options, for meat and eggs and veg, Tootoo.cn and BJchano for delivery if that is important to you.
I think with careful planning it can be done!
Hi, propose use more subway lines or E-bike, metro lines network can take you where you want to go in beijing more conveniently now than before. If you do cooking more than outside daily eating in restaurant and make proper daily expense plan, normally 10K is enough for your monthly life expense, you may save more money for your traveling in China.
13K per month will be ok, however, the biggest change since before the Olympics is apt costs - average private apt, even a studio, costs around 4.5-6K depending on location and quality, and before it was just 2-3K per month.
Restaurants, groceries and cab rides got more expensive as well.
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