I have carefully read all responses. Thanks a million to y'all!

I was expecting to have to shell out 1,500 to 2,500 rmb a month to live my kinda life in North China. I was wrong. I think I'll be rockin on about 800 without needing to visit greasy spoons to live so cheap.

I'll be buying rye and smokes at the duty-free, also Hershey's chocolate for an additional Chinese official before flying out.

Thanks for your thanks. Have a great time teaching, and I'm sure you'll be able to save much money.

He might just get a bottled gas hob liberally coated with half inch of grease and an empty gas bottle; and the fridge doesn't work. Take my word for it I have worked in China for a year and know what I am talking about. It's true to say that, like Turnoi I shouldn't wonder, my status has given me special treatment and special accommodation and the best food. But I am no snob and have befriended ordinary Jo FTs. I have seen the pigsties they get lodged in and haven't seen too many gleaming rice cookers. He can wait until he returns to America for chips. It's best he toddles to the restaurants and eats noodles. He can then prudently calculate his monthly food costs to within an accuracy of 2 yuan. That should come to about 600 yuan and extra living costs should bring that up to 800.

You have already showed your hand when you presumed him to be on a thin salary because he was looking to save money. He never said why he needed to save money. That ain't your business!

I don't think he will want to waste time cooking all the foods from his homeland that he can't get locally. You may be a PhD, but [edited], as well as being incapable of analysing that guy's post. Gas/gas cookers were never mentioned! You seem to have gotten your knickers in a twist!

I would never advise any FT to slum it at el cheapo Chinese restaurants. No need for that.

China is on its knees recruiting FTs for state-run establishments, these days. If he is shown a pigsty, which I doubt will be the case in Northern China, he can ask the FAO to get it cleaned. Yep, he should buy a bottle of rye and 200 smokes at the duty-free before departing America. Presenting one to the FAO and the other to his Head of Department will likely ensure that any problems he reports in the future will be dealt with promptly and efficiently.

Cook at home is in theory good advice but not if you are going to need to buy cooking equipment which you can only give away at the end of your contract. May not be cost effective?

I think a microwave and an oven are not essential for cooking. He will surely find an electric hotplate, a wok and a frying pan in his apartment. There will also be a sauce pan or a pot for boiling food, and, of course an electric rice cooker. He can use the wok for frying chips. That's what I do.

Ryan should certainly have the hep a jab before he negotiates Chinese food. In a way the sooner he is violently sick the better for building up his defenses.

When I first came to China, security at Edinburgh airport removed the hepatitis medicine that I would have to finish taking in China to protect me! I have never bothered with it since. Yep, maybe he needs to spew up here to allow his body to develop antibodies. Advice, eat bananas and drink Cola to cure yourself. I bought an anti-diarrhea medicine here. It works well - its white tablets in a narrow orange cylindrical bottle about an inch and a half long. It contains about 9 tablets, costs 3RMB. Funnily enough, I had more stomach problems in Blighty than in China. And I have dined out in China many many more times than I ever could afford to do back home! Not only fry-ups using old/rotten fat in restaurants and company canteens, but also dirty pipes, or cleaned pipes without the cleaner removed properly, in pubs has also made me sick as a dog.

It is unfortunate for him that he needs to save out of a tiny salary, which is usually just enough to have a spiffling time.

I dunno if his salary is tiny. For all we know, his debts might be large! I also dunno if he's into travelling. What you might think is spiffing needn't necessarily be what he thinks is so!

I am not a big meat fan. My cooking skills are adequate and I will be living in a school apartment free, except for water and electricity charges. I am a teetotaller and a non-smoker. I will be in North China in a small city.

If I live as economically as I can, how much do you think I will spend in a month?

Cook at home, as a rule. Eat out now and again at a medium-sized 'Dongbei' Chinese restaurant. The dishes there are clean and tasty, generally speaking. Avoid dining out at small Chinese restaurants. You don't want a stomachache. Buy fried chicken legs with shanks if possible from Chinese takeaways. Eat them at home or on the street. Avoid western fast food restaurants as their dishes are expensive. Visit Chinese supermarkets as well as Walmart. Look for bargains. Avoid buying imported products that are too expensive. Buy their Chinese equivalents or do without. Visit wholesalers and street markets to buy staple foods, such as rice and potatoes in bulk at reduced prices.

Looks like you can survive with a full stomach without episodes of diarrhea on at most 1,000 RMB a month if you avoid unnecessary taxi journeys and the tempations of touring that involve overnight hotel stays.

The school will probably provide you with a fridge and gas hob. If you want to buy a small oven and microwave that will come out of future savings so you will need to price that up. It's probably better to not cook for yourself but rely on the slop the working Chinese eat at a maximum of 4 yuan a meal. But msny meals should only cost you two yuan in the street. Always take a flask and fill it with free water when you can. Nip in to KFC's but don't buy, rather steal the sauce sachets- enter their toilets and empty their soap dispensers into your own container.

Wait for students to buy you stuff- you are doing them the favour not the other way around.

Never accept an invitation to KTV, otherwise you will start smoking like a chimney and drinking like a fish.

Make sure any girlfriend buys her own noodles. You are doing her the favour of free English lessons, so accept all payments from her.

You should be able to support yourself on 800 yuan a month.

I seem to recall the nearest big city to Draycote Water is Coventry.

Correct. That is my home town.

As for the Scottish secretary.....jobs for the boys eh?

Ah, Draycote Water....my old stomping ground....I know every inch of that rezzie!

That's one thing I DO miss about Blighty! I was a fly fisherman since I was old enough to hold a rod - mostly reservoir fishing, but awesome. There's nothing more tasty than a fresh trout grilled with butter - I never did taste Grayling though.

Yep, grilled trout wih butter is heaven on earth. I qualified for the Scotland team on 4 separate occasions. I took part in 4 internationals against teams representing England, Wales and Ireland. One international was fished at Draycote Reservoir in the English midlands. One was at Lough Conn in Eire, one was at Scotland's Loch Leven and two were in Wales, one at Lyn Brenig and the other at Lyn Trawsfynedd.

The freezer was always full of gutted rod-caight trout and grayling. Shoals of landlocked char from the Ice Age inhabit some of Scotland's deepest lochs. Near dusk they will leave the depths to feed on flies near the surface on a summer's night. The photo is of a Loch Earn char. Ferox are huge cannibal trout that feed on char. Ferox can attain weights in excess of 15 lbs. I have never fished for them.

I used to fish for brown trout, rainbow trout,

That's one thing I DO miss about Blighty! I was a fly fisherman since I was old enough to hold a rod - mostly reservoir fishing, but awesome. There's nothing more tasty than a fresh trout grilled with butter - I never did taste Grayling though.

What is more I know two supermarkets locally, one Chinese and one foreign that sell presentable frozen cod in batter- prime cod not horrible paste and skin.

I used to enjoy haddock and chips, and sometimes lemon sole and chips, purchased locally from chippers. But that was years ago. Maybe these days those kinds of fish have been fished out and are protected species. I dunno.

I used to fish for brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout, freshwater char, salmon and grayling. I caught all except the last species with artificial flies. I caught grayling with small earthworms and gadgers. I grilled them all in butter with garlic and chillis. I fried chips to complete the meal. Loch trout, freshwater char -always from deep lochs, sea trout and salmon were pink-fleshed and tasted best due to their diet of freshwater snails. River fish, such as brown trout, rainbow trout and grayling were white-fleshed. They were good to eat. I fished for grayling during the winter months/ It is known as 'the lady of the stream'. The photo is of a River Tweed grayling.

I should mention something about Chinese chillis. Dried ones that are small are the hottest. Now, the deep red kind are not as hot as the orangey red variety. You will see both kinds on sale at street markets. For 5 RMB, you'll be able to buy about 100 of them, not sure exactly. Very hot eaten raw or boiled! With mutton hotpot, I'll eat 6 on average. And the 'Dachongqing' I mentioned in another post can be drunk without affecting your stomach. Unlike the spicy sauces used in hotpot restaurants.

There's another kind of chilli that I enjoy. It's dumpy and dark green, 1 -2 inches long, and from Hunan, so I'm told. It's matured in a kind of vinegar. Seriously hot, too. It's available in big street markets. Maybe for 5 RMB you can buy about 20, I can't say for sure. 0.5 of one will make your mouth VERY hot.

Avoid buying small bottles of chilli sauce. Expensive and ineffective, unlike the mustard oil, which is seriously hot!

The photo shows you the dried deep red Chinese chillis.

What is more I know two supermarkets locally, one Chinese and one foreign that sell presentable frozen cod in batter- prime cod not horrible paste and skin.

You do sound well assimilated. Wife has spicy noodles last night and I opted for egg and tomato roll with butter.

Well, I feel food's important. I know North Chinese love their jaozi and baozi. However, I think the pastry sucks. When my wife cooks jaozi and baozi, I can trust the fillings. As for restaurant dumplings, who knows what they're chopping up when they make them? Only the cooks!

Talking about fillings reminds me of a bad experience my first wife had at a small Muslim restaurant in a satellite city of Taiyuan. She was a dumpling lover, and ordered beef dumplings. One of her jaozi had a hard centre - 'twas a short metal bolt! She complained to the waiter that it could have damaged her fillings. That put her off Chinese dumplings for life!

When my present wife cooks jaozi, I eat the fillings. The pastry is passed to her.

I did like Indian pakora. Can't get it here. It's similar in appearance to Chinese dumplings, but pakora is oven -baked. It's far superior.

Just me, but I dislike rice.

'Bigheaded carp' is from Westlake. It's wild, and very popular in Jiangsu among Chinese middle and upper class people. See photo.

You do sound well assimilated. Wife has spicy noodles last night and I opted for egg and tomato roll with butter.

Sichuan Youlian Seasoning and Foods Co Ltd does a red bag of seasoning, brand name Youliandachongqing in a red bag with a picture of a hotpot with fish.

The photo is an alternative spice block in a red bag. Keep in the fridge. Use a 1 inch square block to spice up your hotpots/casseroles/boiled noodles.

It says the tofu is 55%, so what is the remaining 45%?

It's the fermentation liquid, not for drinking. It keeps the tofu fresh. A jar will cost you around 6 RMB, and will last ages if you stick to one cube of tofu/meal.

Stinky fermented Chinese tofu (bean curd)

See the attached photo of a jar. Don't eat more than a cube with each meal. Otherwise you might get a stomachache!

Cheese triangles, they were taped together in twos. Much stronger taste than Kraft, quite nice. Normally I would not pay Chinese cheese prices.

Ah yes, cheese spread, which is processed cheese. Yep, the stronger the taste the better.

Here you can buy a jar of bean curd. The Chinese call it 'Cho Doph'. That isn't in a red sauce. It's stinky. When you open the jar, it smells like someone has pumped. It tastes like mature cheese of the strongest variety. I guess some non- native English speakers would say that it stinks to heaven...LOL!

How about Walmart's special offer re Kronenbourg? Details, please! Or is it a figment of your
imagination?

Oh pleease! Look at the OP again......Given that the line is written inside parentheses, do you really think that it's true?

I heard there were Tesco stores in China but haven't seen one yet- thank god.

Why do you say 'thank God"? What's wrong with Tesco? I thought Geordies liked TESCOs

Walmart do reductions; two packets of cheese for the price of one.

Lack of details. What kind of cheese, and what's the price? Phily cheese or cottage cheese ain't cheese imo. Processed cheese, is a different animal from mature cheese. Kind of like comparing bright beer to real ale, u know what I mean?

You need to be English, Scottish, Welsh, or from English speaking ex-colonies to appreciate the power of Mr Bean as a speaking aid-although the odd foreigner like amused or Turnoi would be up to standard.

Okay mate, I have no problem with what u say about that Mr Bean stuff. Clearly u are unhappy that I WON'T agree with u. ThAT'S THE WAY THE COOKIE CRUMBLES!

Your walls and ceiling-do you,can you buy emulsion paint or do you use distemper. My freshly distempered wall got splattered with bacon fat today-what to do?

Haven't a clue, mate!

How about Walmart's special offer re Kronenbourg? Details, please! Or is it a figment of your imagination?

BTW, when Western companies have introduced new products to the Chinese retail market, and later things have gone pear-shaped, said products end up being sold in Northern China at knockdown prices, in many instances.

For exanple, Craven 'A' smokes were available at 5 RMB/pack in the dim and distant. Now they can't be bought locally for love nor money!
Same scenario for 'Black Cat' smokes, also at 5 RMB/pack. Dunhill at 7 RMB/pack. Long since gone.

Smacks of market penetration failures imo!

"There's a sale on Kronenbourg in Walmart. I'm playing a Mr. Bean movie and leaving class early."