Sanguine, you sure can live well on mainland on a FT's salary, but if you don't like the cheap local products that are mostly sold (pushed to you), you'll quickly get frustrated. There are fewer and fewer western products on mainland as local authorities promote their own businesses and production. If you walk into a bookshop, you'll find little or nothing that's from abroad. The local material for teaching English is so inadequate, but if you want to spend you money, you'll have to consider it. This comes with food, electrical appliances, sports equipment, clothes and so on and on. Some that are foreign branded are made on mainland and of a lower quality as local workers separate imported products from mainland. If you stay on for a longer period of time on mainland, you may spend more and more on such cheap local products questioning yourself why you have to buy them. REALLY, YOU GET PAID LITTLE TO SPEND LITTLE ON LITTLE. Cheers and beers that are still imported :)