Is it possible to save money and expereince China?

That really depends on what how much you want to save and what you would like to experience. Interseting to note that this is one of the few posters who has mentioned saving money instead of how much can they make.

If you want to experience "China" and save some money my advice is to go to Taiwan. You here of a lot less BS in Taiwan than you do in mainland. Also if you have been working in the Mid-east I will assume that you have good credentials. Beware that they do not count for squat here. Credentials will help you land a job easier, but rarely will affect your salary by more than about 50 US$ a month and that is only in the public school system. In the private sector forget about it.

Another thing to keep in mind, China really doesn't have a place for western educated professional teachers. You would really be better off with a degree in acting or theatre arts. "Teaching" here is much more related to performance art than education. Not all the jobs are that bad, but I would say at least 90% especially the ones you see posted on the net and it can take 1-3 years to find a place you are comfortable with.

Please remember that well paid teachers are not always the happiest teachers. Chengdu is a bit of the crossroads for people traveling in western China and I have met a number of FT from various places in China. Some of the happiest were working for NGO's or non-profits in poor areas with very modest salaries. Also the FTs that worked in universities were more or less content, but unless they do private work to supplement their income they are always on a tight budget. Middle school and high school teaching jobs are total monkey work, but they have generous amounts of vacation time.

I would say that the minimum amount of money you need to exist on is 2,000 a month for bare basics. That would be 1,000 for a shared apartment with utilities and another 1,000 for food if you cook at home with an occasional meal outside. This does not apply to Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, or Shanghai. For those cities I would probably double it and add another 500 to 1000 for trasportation. If you drink things will quickly get more expensive!

I know people that can save a decent amount of money here, BUT they have to hussle! That means getting your own visa sorted out (either "studying" full time on a student visa, doing visa runs to HK every so often, or finding someone who will sell you a visa), sorting out your own accomodation, and also dealing with your own health insurance. All in all I wouldn't recomend this to someone new to the country. It can be a real headache to manage all this without langauage skills or resources to get this sorted out. From there you need contacts so you can start free lancing for small schools and lining up privates. Privates are where the real cash is. Like I said you have to hustle if you want to make money.

I have some friends that have been able to pull in close to 20,000 a month this way, but it is not regular and they also have months where they only pull in 8,000. I would guess that they realistically make about 12,000 to 15,000 a month.

I have a rather unusual arrangement with a base salary, plus money for every class I teach.
November 10th 8,000 estimated
October 10th 10,000 pretty relaxed schedule
September 10th 22,000 busy and no life
August 10th 19,500 busy and no life
July 10th 13,500 moderately busy
Before and average of about 9,000 pretty relaxed schedule

So yeah you can save some decent money here, but it won't be a salary job with decent benefits and you will have to sacrifice.

If you want a "great" salary you can go with a private training center and have a real "Chinese experience"!

Hope that helps.