I have taught in China since 2015, starting in Wuhan for 8 years before heading to Hainan and now I am in Nanjing. Something I have personally discovered is how drastically different the job market can be in Hainan vs places on the mainland.
Obviously, a major reason for this is the population in major cities. Sanya is a tourist city so even though you may see many people most are only visiting. Haikou feels like an up-and-coming major city but it lacks the large populations of other cities, for comparison, Haikou has a population of 2.73 million, Sanya only has 1.11 million compared to cities on the mainland such as Wuhan with 13.74 million and Nanjing with 9.58 million.
This means there are far fewer foreign teachers needed in all of Hainan than in just a handful of cities. Since there is so much competition for these positions schools tend to not have as great offers. Bonuses are usually lacking, such as holiday pay or free tuition for children. Another downside is that while Sanya and Haikou have everything a major city would have many foreigners are placed in smaller cities where international and private schools are located. These locations can be very isolating.
There is always a constant flow of foreigners wanting to move to Hainan because of several unique positives about living on the island. Starting with that it is in fact an island. The weather is perfect all year long. Everyday is comfortable and enjoyable. There are some smaller cities that allow surfing and some interesting local history to discover.
Another major reason for many to move to Hainan is the air quality. Hainan has worked hard to combat pollution. Almost every car you see will be electric and buses and trains are very common. This contrasts greatly with some parts of China that has extremely dangerous levels of pollution. This is something that influences Chinese families as well. Many families send their children to the international and private schools in Hainan for the better environment. This means for most foreigners your students won’t actually be locals themselves but from all across China. This can lead to very interesting discussions about different parts of China itself.
Overall, Hainan remains a great option if a beautiful environment and the ocean are important to you but jobs are limited. If you decided to change jobs it could mean changing whole cities. Which means saying goodbye to friends and locations that you have grown to love.
