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exem_one t1_isyri9a wrote

Seems like they pay really well for your amateur roles? I mean a few of those per year and you are good, considering the low living costs in china? And it seems like you already slowly getting better paid roles as well? So maybe a carreer is possible there? :-D

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JayCroghan OP t1_isyrwi6 wrote

Yeah they really do because they need to attract people for even the most basic role, there are a very limited supply of foreigners in China right now. I know people who started their careers with me and are now making a very good living from TV/movies and commercials. I have gone back to my original career in Fintech though. For a start I probably always was, but after a year of playing the gig life, always looking for work, never being certain of it, and the "agents" here stealing most of your money, I was glad for normal work again.

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exem_one t1_isz33ee wrote

Yes the uncertainty of not always having a job and always moving around in the whole country is probably the hardest part of these sort of jobs. Over time it can be though with the social live.

How was it possible that there was so much alcohol and even weed involved in the very strict communist china? Have you felt the surveillance that the government is doing there?

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JayCroghan OP t1_isz4f43 wrote

That was indeed the most difficult parts, moving around was painful too as you could get caught in a COVID outbreak and have to quarantine for weeks at your own expense.

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I'm not sure why you ask about alcohol, alcohol is freely available here and the Chinese people that do drink love to drink very strong rice wine and a lot of it at once. There was only a little bit of weed and the people getting high were getting high on pharmacy drugs and synthetic weed but that has since been made illegal. I think it might have been illegal for the second movie but it was still widely available. Surveillance while endemic isn't instrusive if you're not breaking the law I guess. It's everywhere and if you just understand that you're a guest here and follow the rules you'll be fine.

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CyberneticSaturn t1_it3cxm9 wrote

When I was there you only got in trouble if you were really egregiously breaking the law or if someone had to pump some numbers for whatever reason that month.

Generally the average cop just didn’t want to navigate the political minefield involved in arresting someone from a developed country.

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dcrm t1_it2g0gt wrote

China isn't that cheap and 22k yuan isn't a high salary in China. 150-200k is, especially in the bigger cities. Even as an unqualified teacher you can make 35k yuan after tax quite easily. A lot of people making much, much, much more than this.

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