I've worked at 7000 rmb a month Chinese universities, and the younger teachers are always short of money, holding out till pay day. What will they do when they return to the UK, USA, or Australia?

Repeating this over and over doesn't make it any truer.

With their rent already paid for, if a teacher can't save any money from a 7,000rmb monthly salary, the problem is with them, not the salary. They wouldn't save money no matter how much they were paid.

Unless you're a spendthrift, you should be able to easily save 30-50 percent of your salary here.