The basic message of my post is that if you want to earn money- and if that is the only thing that counts - then don't go to China to teach. You could make much more money somewhere else in another job.

I got what you're sayin, man! You could also make much less money,being a New York dishwasher, for example.
I guess you're one of those academics that feels aloof from those of us who are too dumb or not ambitious enough to hold a PHD. I see you have stated the obvious, see your final sentence of the quote above. Unnecessary and rather insulting to an educated readership, I'd have thought!
My present salary here in China for doing what would basically be classified as a parttime job in the West equates to the purchase price of 1000 big bottles of a cheap brand of beer or 550 packs of quality cigarettes a month.
As a beer drinker and a smoker, I challenge you to provide me with the names of those countries where I can get a better job in terms of the number of bottles of beer or packs of quality cigarettes I con afford to buy by spending my entire salary, given that I only have a first degree and I'm disinterested in working long hours or doing a hard day's work.
In fact, I'll predict now that you cannot name any such countries other than China.
By the way, with many of us, money isn't the only thing that counts, sth you seem to think we worship. Though we aren't doctors of philosophy, we do have some savvy! We aren't totally clueless or easily duped, generally speaking. That's why many of us are 'working' in China...LOL!