aviator1962, "
Starting as F/O, but upgrade within six months."
Does that mean that you applied for the job as a captain, and have been told that you have it, but will have to spend (a minimum) 6 months flying as a co-pilot?
Ivan has considerable experience and knowledge of contract flying, and I would strongly
urge 
prospective applicants to read his posts carefully and thoroughly.
He calls a spade a spade, and won't sugar coat it the way some of the agency employees who post here under the guise of pilots do!
The
last thing you need, is to find yourself stuck in a foreign country where EVERYTHING (that means street signs, menus, radio & television, bus signs, application forms, utilities bills, etc) is ALL in Chinese.
After the novelty wears off you'll realise that the crew don't really want you joining them when they stop over, but if you do tag along it will be on their terms (you'll be offered exotic foods - snakes, tortoises, frogs, rats, pig's ear..) and you'll find yourself excluded from 99% of the conversation, because it's too difficult for
them to converse amongst themselves in a foreign language.
And then you find that you're saving what? $300..$500 per month?
The flying might seem appealing at first, but it will be the Dollars that will make or break you after 6-12 months.