2023 Spring Salary Trends for Chinese Software Engineers Across Roles

Since the pandemic restrictions were lifted, many industries in China have shown signs of recovery, especially tourism, prompting a look at how the internet sector is faring.

There is debate about whether job opportunities have increased or if competition remains intense; this article examines the salary trends for programmers across different roles in early 2023.

1. Backend and Frontend Development

Using Java as an example, the average salary for Java backend engineers in early 2023 is around 26,000 CNY, a 3% year‑over‑year increase, reflecting typical spring hiring spikes.

PHP salaries appear high but may be inflated. Compared to last year’s surge in Python salaries, Java now outperforms Python, whose average salary fell by 5%.

Python’s decline is attributed to the market’s saturation after rapid growth since 2018; its strengths lie more in web crawling, automation testing, data analysis, and AI rather than backend development.

Frontend development salaries have shown little change.

2. Network Security

Network security salaries have risen by about 3%, similar to Java, and saw even larger gains during the early pandemic years as companies increased focus on data protection.

With rising data breach incidents, security expertise is becoming as essential as development skills, and demand is expected to keep growing.

3. Mobile Development

Android developers’ average salary has dropped to around 25,000 CNY, a decline compared to the previous year.

4. Test Engineers

Traditional testing engineer salaries have fallen sharply, while automation testing salaries are rising due to higher skill requirements.

5. Operations Engineers

Operations salaries have increased by about 4%, though the absolute figures remain relatively low.

6. Data Analysts and Algorithm Engineers

Both data analysts and algorithm engineers continue to enjoy stable, high salaries.

7. Architects

Architect salaries remain high and stable, showing little change in the spring period.

Overall, the tech salary landscape in early 2023 shows modest growth in most areas, with notable declines for Python backend and Android development, while security, automation testing, and high‑skill roles remain robust.