You could say desperados or deadbeats or you could in sme instances say the unappreciated and undervalued. As I know someone who is know in his early to mid forties who moved to China two to three years ago and has since married and is now earning 6,000 RMB a month along with a 1,000 RMB accomodation allowance. He by his own admission suffers from an anxiety disorder which caused him to leave university when he first enrolled in his late teens leading to a period doing a variety of low paid jobs and drifting in and out of the mental health system. He returned to university in his late thirties and did an hounours degree in political science followed by his masters in political science with his thesis on possible insidious motivations for the numerous Confucious Institutes that the Chinese government is promoting in numerous universities around the world. Unfortunately completing his masters degree didn't improve his career and financial situation as upon graduation he was resorting to taking on casual labouring jobs which didn't suit his lanky build or his nervous disposition. So he went to China to take up an English teaching position and although his initial employers wouldn't renew his contract due to his stutter he was able to find other employment even though he did get fired from at least one position. I know of other examples of individuals who are similiar in terms of having masters degrees but haven't made it in their own countries yet have managed to drag themselves up the income scale.

I admit there is a cliche that a lot of westerners are in China because they couldn't make it in their own countries and aren't in good enough shape for an English teaching job in Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. To be honest I am most probably one of them. But then again better being an English "teacher" in China than a bitter old crone in your own country earning the minimum wage in an unskilled dead end job whereby one is essentially earning enough money for basic survival. At least in China you can afford to get drunk and you can at least have a conversation with a moderately attractive woman. The way I look at it is just be honest with yourself and others and just say you are in China because you can have a higher standard of living in your own country or that things didn't work out there.

Anyway you are an inspiring novelist a stint in Yuncheng should provided plenty of inspiration for offbeat characters.