Good post, sir! Further to what you have said, I think the following is worth reading too:

In the old days, charities such as VSO and the Peace Corps flew foreigners to China to teach English at public unis and colleges. The contracts were oftentimes 2 year contracts, and the charities paid for the return flights on behalf of their teachers. The salary was 1,200 RMB per month and the travel allowance was 1,100 per semester taught. So the travel allowance was almost equivalent to a month's salary.
These days foreign teachers in public higher education jobs can earn around 6,000 RMB per month, but the travel allowance has been caught in a time warp! It is still around 1,100! Safea should perform the necessary adjustment to the standard contract.
In the old days, 1,100 allowed limited local travel and the cheapest hotel accommodation in the cheapest hotels for around 30 days, including cheap restaurant food.
However, nowadays, it's far too low to justify being termed "travel allowance"!