349 rmb on a salary of 4,500 rmb a month (and yes, there are some teachers with chinese wife and without qualifications who earn low salaries-believe it or not!), is a lot of money for a turkey to a poorer, married FT. You may well be richer than most, and in a 2nd or 3rd tier city, where the living costs are low, but 500 rmb a week is nothing, even to some poorer chinese, and especially to the wealthier expats. It is funny how FT's in China like to argue about living costs and money saved in China, when normally these things would not concern them outside China.

Also where did I say I was missing families...I have no wife and child, so watching movies makes me happy (I studied film studies, and to me watching a good movie is like reading a good book all over again, I can enjoy things in it, that many people would miss and not think about!).

As many posters say, each to their own! Merry christmas to you either way.