While China is booming, it seems it would be quite difficult for a random English teacher to really establish a career there.

OP here - one of the things I worry about in living abroad, is my student loan debt from the states. I owe $450/month, and am not sure if that's really gonna cramp my style while living abroad on an English teacher's salary. Any insights on the topic are greatly appreciated. (FWIW, I've pretty much made up my mind on teaching in Taipei or Shanghai.)

I'm in Korea now and to be honest I think $450 a month will definitely cramp your style in either of those places. Not saying it isn't possible but I think you'll have to live fairly cheaply and keep the partying to a minimum.

Yeah that $450 is a pretty big dent. I dont know exactly, but i assume teachers get paid prolly around 10k RMB

thats about 1567 USD, take 450 from that about 1150 USD which is about 7400 including rent. Figure you can get a cheaper place for maybe 2400 a month which give you 5k RMB a month to blow, which isnt a whole lot.

Damn! Maybe I'll have to wait a couple of years until I save up more money...

Which of these countries is online poker legal in: China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan? If I go to one of these places to teach English, I'm hoping to grind a little on the side for some extra money.

all of them.

I live in Kobe and its def one of my favourite cities in the world, pretty chill, decent night life etc prolly the best city in Japan for actually living imo (although I havent stayed in any other city for more than a week)
I lived in China for like a year aswell and Japan is definately waay more expensive but i would assume that English teaching jobs would pay more so it would all balance out. Most English teachers I know make around $4k US a month i guess.
Plus in Japan you can get by no worries without speaking Japanese I've been here for like a year and a half and pretty much dont know any lol
Seoul is also pretty sweet

I posted last year that Tokyo was really expensive, but after having spent some more time there, I've come to re-evaluate my position a bit.

Rent is actually comparable to a lot of other major cities I've been in. You can get a decent two bedroom place in a non-central part of Tokyo for $800. The trains are frequent and very efficient, so you can get to anywhere in the city quickly and don't need a car.

Eating out can get expensive. But if you're not there as a tourist eating out at Kobe steak, fugu sashimi, and ninja restaurants every night, then you can live pretty frugally. The bento boxes at the grocery stores are around 400 yen (about $5) and are amazing. They also have 100 yen shops everywhere, where you can buy food and household supplies for cheap.

As for going out, they have these awesome 270 yen izakayas where everything (beer and a huge bar food menu) is 270 yen (about $3).

Having spent some time in New York and Sydney this past year, I'd say that Tokyo is cheaper and a better value than either of those cities. In Sydney, I was constantly pissed off by how expensive everything was, how much the food sucked, and how ugly the women were. While Tokyo is expensive, I find it a much better overall value.

I've met English teachers making about $4000 a month, that are able to live well and save a decent amount of money.

I was thinking of the ghetto desert shops I used to go to in southern China. You can get a 红豆冰 for 10 kuai, but it'll be served to you by some sweaty chain smoking Chinese guy in a wife beater and they won't turn on the air conditioner because they're trying to save a couple dollars a month on the electric bill.

This isnt unique to southern china. THIS IS CHINA

As far as teaching goes, there is no better gig than Korea right now. It's not even close for you, especially considering you need to send back $450 a month, You could easily send back $900 a month and still eat out and drink everynight in Korea.

Japan, you earn more 'money' but when everything costs so much, it's simply not going to get you as far as it can in Korea and you wont be able to send much home.

Personally, I only send about $600 back home a month and the other $1500 I earn here I just spend on whatever I want, and that money goes faaar here. I eat out every night and drink most days, buy new clothes every weekend and obv shout girls meals and drinks several times a week.

The fact that there are no big expenses here makes Korea an easy choice in comparison to either Japan, China or Taiwan. In all of those places the wages don't cover your rent, which is easily 1/4 of your wage in any of those places, and in Japan, even higher. Factor in you can eat out for 20,000 won a day and drink picthers of beer for 15,000 won, with an average daily pay of 80,000 won... it's really no comparison IF English teaching is the way you want to make your living.

Flights paid round trip up front, plus a month severance bonus at the end of the contract makes Korea>>>> the world for ESL teachers

Great points. However, I've also heard that Korean culture is not as interesting, which is why many people have recommended Japan or China instead. What are your thoughts on Korean culture?

Korean culture?

Do you actually mean their culture, or are you talking about something else? (nightlife etc)

As for their actual culture they have a very old well established culture, their old King Sejong invented the hangul language and koreans have an interesting perspective on family values and such.

Personally I don't care too much for the history of the place, it is interesting to know but I'm not much of a museum kind of guy.

They are a super fun people, they drink ridiculous amounts and eat tons and tons of food. The girls are the hottest in asia (read: the world), you should go to a bigger city like Busan or Seoul for a short holiday, and you'll be surprised.

Infact it would be easy to do all three cities you suggested in a month, spending about 10 days in each. Seoul/Busan would be better all round for fun and living standard combined with well paid work.

If you want to send money home, have a good life with minimal bills, eat awesome food and drink a variety of alcohol to your hearts content then Korea trumps the rest of the world for ESL teaching, and really, it's not close.

I always wonder when reading this forum, what qualifications are required to get a good ESL teaching job in somewhere like Seoul?

I've googled ESL teaching a few times and it's always cluttered with different websites trying to get you to sign up for a course with them.

I'm not planning on doing it any time soon but I am curious.

Thanks.