For Phds, it really depends on what kind of paper you publish and how many papers etc.
So what you get after PhD is really upto you. You can have a 6 hrs working day surf net and watch movie or you can have 15 hours per day in Labs...it's ur choice.
With good research result and publication, you can go oversea do postdoc then become assit prof.
Or just went back China to be a asst prof.
There are plenty of examples from seniors. I know quite a few went to US/europe do post docs.
And one went back to China get offer 300K RMB per yr plus an apartment.
It is because he publish 4 papers on ieee transactions.
Honestly, you can get a oxbridge PhD with lousy publication. And you will still end up no job offer.. Chinese Universities is nolonger that naive.
If you just believe a PhD degree can get you good salary and comfortable life, then I would suggest you just go back to China to take the civil servant exam.
－