Never said that foreign teachers could not live well here, if you re read my post I in fact said they often would live better then in their home countries in the west. That said saving a lot of money here requires one to sacrifice. I also said that indeed people here can and do make good salaries locally, it's only when they try to save what back in their home country would be a decent amount of money that they may run into a problem. As the Op was asking about saving money, I assume for the purpose of being able to go home with some cash in her pocket, that is what I addressed. If someone decides to live here long term, that's a different matter, and not one I addressed in my post. You indeed can save money here, to say you can save a lot is can be a bit misleading, depending on where you live. For example, if you are living in Shanghai or Shenzhen, and make 8,000 yuan, and your apartment is free, and you only buy food and never go out, you can save a fair amount. My guess is most people coming here though will want to have a life, go on actual vacations they could not afford back home, hence in such expensive cities saving won't be as easy. I do not recall ever speaking of simply buying imported goods, I only buy Chinese myself. Posters saying you can live well only buying local goods are correct to a point, but if you want to save money, a lot, you will have to curtail every aspect of your spending. Even Chinese goods in big expensive cities and get pretty pricey. You can shop for deals, but that can be time consuming. Again, if your purpose is to only save money, you will have to live pretty frugally, Chinese products or not. Others may wish to disagree simply for the sake of doing so, however this is more a matter of perspective, and what one persons considers "alot" to be when speaking of saving money. My idea of "alot" is likely different than that of others, so it's a rather subjective issue to try and reduce to the status of bickering. Some people on this board just can't seem to help themselves from what I've seen. Pity ain't it.