Great post.

To be honest, I CAN make do on about 1500 to 2000 for food and do try out a lot of different places. But that's just the food, not my whole life and doesn't account for times where I have to splurge for business purposes, treating friends, colleagues etc. I rarely ever keep costs that low for a whole month though.

Getting to know the waimai apps can save you a lot of money, but I must point out that the local market conditions are quite competitive where I live or usually travel, there's plenty of reputable chains etc. Travel to a not so great city and you'll find that a lot of the smaller restaurants are just total crap. To do what I do, you do need to be able to read a bit of Chinese (and most importantly read customer reviews well), take risks, and have a few local friends/acquaintances. Most foreign teachers won't be able to do that.

Tip 2 is a very important one; you'll also need it for when you want to book that table for 8 or 9. Not that you can do that with just foreign teacher friends as they're usually unreliable, flaky bastards that are stoned half of the time and will also be reluctant to chip in their fair share because they're cheapskates as well.

Take note of that when you buy a bottle of whisky/vodka in a club; there's always some foreign cheapskate guy that wants to drink with you, yet will always disappear before paying anything, or not be around when people are chucking in their 100 rmb or whatever. Not that I mind buying the odd drink for the younger, less well paid lads if I end up dragging them from one place to somewhere a bit more pricey, but I do expect people to try to pay their way and some of them just take the piss at times.

As for the straight laced ones... Don't always judge a book by its cover. Some guys are just always in work mode or even have to be representative of a company's image. Get to know them and you may find that they aren't so bad. Some are just married and have their wives over here (poor bastards...).

Mind you, if you are just an English teacher and are constantly posting pictures on WeChat telling the world how you love your job, that the kids are so adorable etc... Chances are that you're just a loser. Loosen up and enjoy your beers and women, rather than always pretending to enjoy your job, lol. Or at least change your privacy settings, post your work pics to the bosses to keep them sweet, but block them from seeing you getting hammered and singing football songs in the street at 5 am when you're supposed to be in for work at 9 am.

Socialising... When it involves baijiu or singing at KTVs I wouldn't consider it healthy, but it is good to get out and about. I'm a bit more indulgent when it comes to beer and will only drink the imported good stuff when that's available; I do have a weakness for those Belgian 10% bad boys. Mind you, my Chinese colleagues normally get absolutely smashed after just two or three of those, so it's a good way to send the boring buggers to bed early.

As for Asian people in education... It can be good to know a uni professor or two, but they will be involved in corruption at some point or another. Not that I'm really close friends with any, mind. They're good for intelligent conversation (and often in English), can be politically rebellious when out of sight, can also help you find good employees etc. Although 'good employee' can often mean 'my cousin' or 'good at sucking dick' etc. They also usually know a high ranking party member or two, but yeah... Corrupt c**ts. Ideally you won't ever need introducing to those people.

Those Asian women that teach English? (actually same with French and other languages). Unless they're Filipino, they've most likely entered that profession solely because they crave foreign dick ('Foreign language' unis are a constant fuckfest for the teachers). They're the Asian equivalent of a mudshark, the most trashy, no-loyal women that one could possibly imagine. I'd rather just shag the fat American birds, at least they're more appreciative.

If you use mobile payments, get a separate bank card and only stick about 1k rmb pocket money on it at a time. If you get hacked or get your phone stolen, it will minimise your losses; bank staff can be useless with that kind of thing at times, even if you've got the gold/VIP cards etc.