14:07
@scaaahu Thanks for joining in. On the money issue: yeah, I totally agree in that it will be easier to save up in mainland China than in HK. (Given they pay you correctly, as some Chinese institutions seem to recurrently cheat on agreed contract & salary terms). However, from my experience I wish I'd tried out a contract in HK instead of mainland China, basically because of quality of general work conditions and life, and international reputation.
@CaptainBohemian I see you're still living in Beijing, right ? I find the night life in Beijing actually quite lively, e.g. around San Li Tun and some nice pubs & restaurants spread elsewhere. I wish I'd enjoyed more of it, but I was going through a bad bit. Also, as you say, public transport stops early (like almost everywhere else in the world) and one needs to rely on cabs. Taxi driver are frequently shady in Beijing, so I was wary of staying out until late.
Still, try out visiting and staying for some days in other cities in China, and you'll find out what a rip-off Beijing actually is. Rental was usually above 3,500 RMB for sharing small apartments (and dodgy toilets) with total strangers.
@Michael concerning the postdoc vs. TT status, I'd say you should be very careful about your expectations on this. The details are strongly circumstance-specific, but in general reality is: Academia wants you to stay serving as a postgrad student or postdoc indefinitely, and leave TT and staff positions reserved for protected individuals.
That said, there can be no rule. In my home country, most colleagues I know that made a smooth transition to TT positions did not invest in a posdoc. They had strong connections made as PhD students and had no great issues in finding a position. Many regret not having taken a postdoc, because that's when you get the chance of truly doing full-time research. But I think they'd risk joiining the postdoc jumping game.
My advice is, if you carve for a TT position, focus hard on your political-status connections. It may be easier straight from PhD if you publish in prestigious journals. When you start postdocing you'll tend to digress more from mentors while struggling to become more independent, and you'll have to rely more and more on highly prestigious 1st authorships. This game is hard and rather dirty, and the great majority will never get (actually get given) a fixed contract.
We have an excess of PhDs and paper-producing machines.
