The Best Cities for ESL Teachers in China (2025)
China is vast. Teaching in Shanghai and teaching in a small city in Sichuan province are such different experiences that they almost constitute different jobs. The salary varies by a factor of three. The cost of living varies by a similar factor. The cultural experience, the social life, the teaching environment — all completely different.
I spent nine years across China: three in Shenzhen, two in Beijing, and four in Chengdu. Here is what I can tell you about each major market.
Shanghai — premium everything
Shanghai has the highest salaries in China. A position at one of the city's international bilingual schools can pay ¥22,000–¥30,000 per month. The city is cosmopolitan, internationally connected, and has infrastructure that rivals any European capital.
It also has Shanghai prices. Rent for a good apartment in a central neighbourhood starts at ¥8,000 per month and rises quickly. Food, transport, and entertainment cost significantly more than the rest of China.
Who Shanghai is for: experienced teachers with internationally recognised qualifications — CELTA, QTS, a teaching degree — who want to maximise salary and work in a world-class urban environment. Not ideal for first-time teachers who will find the competition fierce and the cost of living eye-watering.
Beijing — prestige and politics
Beijing is the capital, and teaching there carries a certain status. The international school sector is strong. Salaries are comparable to Shanghai at the top end, though slightly lower on average.
Beijing has particular advantages: the history and culture of the city are extraordinary, and the access to northern China's landscapes — the Great Wall, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan — makes weekends genuinely spectacular.
The air quality is a real consideration. Beijing's pollution levels, while improved significantly in recent years, can still be challenging for people with respiratory sensitivities.
Chengdu — my personal recommendation
I spent four years in Chengdu and it is the city I recommend most consistently to teachers who ask where they should go in China.
Salaries are lower than Beijing or Shanghai — typically ¥12,000–¥18,000 at language centres, ¥18,000–¥24,000 at international schools. But living costs are dramatically lower. A very good apartment costs ¥3,000–¥5,000 per month. A full meal costs ¥30–¥60. A teacher on ¥15,000 in Chengdu lives better, in my experience, than a teacher on ¥20,000 in Shanghai.
The food is extraordinary. Sichuan cuisine is my personal favourite food on earth. The people are known throughout China for their relaxed, welcoming character. The city has a thriving expat community and excellent transport connections across southwestern China.
And the giant pandas are forty minutes away.
Shenzhen — tech city, high energy
Shenzhen is immediately adjacent to Hong Kong and has an energy that is different from any other Chinese city. It is young — the city barely existed forty years ago — and has the feel of a place that is still being invented.
Salaries are strong, particularly for corporate English training. The tech companies based there — Huawei, Tencent, DJI — are significant clients for business English programmes. Living costs sit between Chengdu and Shanghai.
The proximity to Hong Kong means easy weekend escapes to one of Asia's great cities — a significant lifestyle advantage.
The tier-2 and tier-3 option
Chongqing, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Kunming, Guilin — cities with populations of three to ten million that most Europeans have never heard of. These cities have growing demand for English teachers, dramatically low living costs, and genuine cultural richness that you will not find in the internationalized bubble of Shanghai.
For the adventurous teacher who wants an authentically Chinese experience rather than an expat-bubble experience, a tier-2 or tier-3 city is often the best choice.