I am a US citizen working in California. Recently, I have been actively approached by an international recruiting firm for a director position in a Chinese/multinational firm with HQ in Beijing. It’s all good unitl I’m now facing a “expat” compensation dilema.

I’ve had 3 phone interviews with their HR folks and the immediate supervisor (vp), and they’ve expressed great interest in me. However, durign our conversation I learned that although their unofficial offer is attractive, but not quite up to the expat level or standard I’ve heard from others. For instance, the pay is 6–figure and comparable to the US level (not quite the expected 150%). And they don’t have housing allowance benefit. In fact, the HR lady told me that many of ther westerner employee are very willing to live in the local communities. I felt kind of bad to pursue for an expat community (it’s really a matter of a certain lifestyle that one is used to). Ironically, the head-hunter firm for soem reason is not knowledgeable enough to provide me any expat compensation references in Beijing.

Anyway, I would really appreciate if any experienced expat out there in China (Beijing) could help me with any realistic expat compensation package (pay level, housing allowance, .. etc). So, I can negotiate with this “giant” Chinese multinational with enough knowledge.

Thanks! Apprecaite it! All advices welcome!!

On your first point, I think we’re saying the same thing:. Generally speaking, a ‘true’ expat is brought to China at great expense for whatever talent or connection they have. It might be 20 years of experience in the head office (as a recent Asia CFO I met in Shanghai had) or it could be connections (the trust and relationships built up in the company). Either way, halfpats / local-plus candidates just cannot compete with that, and shouldn’t try..

On the second point, I’m not so sure about your use of ‘most westerners.’ I’ve met lots of halfpats in China who adapt to local lifestyles quite well, including marriage with a Chinese spouse. They study Mandarin, live in a (let’s just call it a very ‘local’) community and, to some extents, make China their permanent homes, all without relying on savings. While it’s true that those with overseas Chinese ethnicity seem better able to fit in to the social fabric, as long as they are open-minded, I’m convinced any westerner can adopt a local lifestyle.

Note to expats: Please stop paying 15 – 30 RMB for fake DVDs and WII games, you’re giving halfpats a bad name. (And that goes for Blu-ray movies, too!)

Another factor to consider is that halfpats often rely on savings or trust funds from back home to elevate their lifestyle to an acceptable level and if that funding dries up (or exchange rates have an effect) the halfpat needs to return home or accept a more “local” lifestyle that, let’s be honest, most westerners could not accept, ever.

I think you and I might agree that the size and complexity of expat packages is decreasing, especially when the expat is sent to a first-tier city such as Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. As has been written elsewhere numerous times, hardship pay for these cities is largely gone, and it is not difficult to attract a professional from abroad to relocate as China experience is now seen by many as a critical line-item on the CV.

I can agree that the line between halfpat and expat is blurring but, for the most part, those two groups are still applying for different cetegories of job. The longer halfpats are in China, the better chance they have of being promoted up into a position traditionally held by an expat, but I think company politics often comes into play in this scenario: The China-based halfpat is too distant from the HQ and will not be able to continue up the corporate ladder.

Thanks for the comment.

I don’t think that full package expats will vanish, but that this is a real trend. I would have liked to spend more time talking about Chinese cities that are not Beijing or shanghai. I am in Xiamen right now with my band and going on to Changsha in a few days. These kinds of places are really interesting from an expat perspective.