Ask Headmaster Ken

I am employed to teach English at a public university. My salary has been delivered to me in cash these past three months by an International Foreign Affairs Office member. I have written to the head of the Finance Office to request my salary be paid directly into my Chinese bank account. It seems the International Foreign Affairs Office staff may object to this change, and insist they still be involved in the delivery of my salary. Can you think why they should insist on this?

I cannot think of a sound reason your employer prefers to pay you in cash beyond the fact that most transactions in China are conducted in cash.

There are a myriad of possibilities, although less than fully plausible explanations: they feel they need the granularity of control, setting up accounts for (often too transient) foreign teachers is simply too much bother, etc. The list could go on.

If you didn't specify an alternate method of payment in your contract, then the default method of payment would be the preference of your employer. If this is important to you, then you will want to ensure it is in your contract.

At this point, you have little practical recourse other than repeated polite requests.

I wish you the best.

I think Greg will want to weigh in on this given his insight into how Chinese university staff operate.

Without knowing your employment details, I can tell you that university salaries in China are actually paid from several sources and accounts.

Full time Chinese faculty receive a base salary from the university and then an additional salary from their specific departments contingent on rank as well as any administrative assignments or positions they may hold. Extra pay for overtime comes from the department but is paid from a different account and is almost always issued in cash in one lump sum at the end of the semester. Related, foreign teachers who receive deferred income as a travel allowance usually receive that in cash at the end of the contract period because those funds come from yet an entirely different account altogether.

If you are a Chinese faculty member at a public university, you need a degree in accounting in order to calculate exactly how much your salary should come to from month to month. Aside from various deductions for pensions and opted-in medical and prescription plans, overtime is calculated at a varying rate contingent on the total number of students on a scale that changes according to total enrollment: Thus, if you are teaching an overload of two periods, you will make x yuan per student times two periods if the total enrollment is 29 students or less, y yuan per student if the class comprises 30 to 34 students, and z yuan per student if 35 or more students are enrolled. It is very confusing to say the least and most Chinese faculty can only give you a general idea about what their month-to-month salaries should be.

In regard to foreign teachers in China, salary calculations on the surface are simplified in that the total amount due is determined as base monthly salary plus a flat rate for overtime (regardless of class size) plus any travel allowance: However, the funding sources are no less dispersed and complicated for foreign teachers than they are for Chinese faculty.

In your case, what I am guessing is that your salary is actually coming from several sources and it is simply much easier for the foreign affairs office to pay you in cash and then “collect” the contributing sums from each funding source at a later time than it is to have the accountant responsible for each source directly deposit their designated share into your savings account. If you were successful in forcing the issue of removing the middle man, what you will probably find is that your salary would be paid in two to three installments over a three- to five-day period.

If you are working with a Z-visa, have an official SAFEA contract, and are being paid each month in a timely manner, then you have nothing to worry about. The fact that you are being paid in cash should not be construed to mean that you are somehow “less than” or being treated in an inferior manner. I’m sure the reason for these cash payments is entirely a matter of logistics. Although my base salary has always been paid by direct deposit, monies for overtime, reimbursement for approved repairs, extra work (such as participating in English contests), and travel allowances have always been issued in cash. Initially, I too found this to be strange but, in China, this is par for the course. Usually weeks after completing an extra time-limited assignment, I would receive a phone call from an undergraduate student asking me to come to the office to receive my overtime pay. I would be issued the pay in cash and then asked to sign a receipt for it. From a Western perspective, involving students in the process of paying faculty is just plain crazy but, in China, this is how they do things.

If you insist on direct deposit, what will happen is that your FAO will simply have to go the bank to make a deposit instead of handing you the salary in cash. Of course, the office is going to resist this because it means more work for them. Nevertheless, insisting on direct deposit will not remove the middle man from the payment process.

Thanks very much for your considered response to my enquiry. Today is payday and I am pleased to report that this morning a Foreign Affairs Office staff member arrived at my door with a bank card, and the news that as of today my salary is to be paid directly into a bank account, albeit not the account I already have but a new one that has been opened for me by person or persons unknown.