The sad reality is there really AREN'T too many good places in China left. I've discovered that everything in China requires "tradeoffs." If you want a high salary you need to do training center stuff but the hours and pressure to "sell" both make training center work a drag.(This means places like EF, Web, etc.) It's usually nights and weekends and one often winds up teaching classes of exhausted primary school students on Sunday. If you want "normal" hours and (relatively) decent, professional working conditions universities and middle schools are the way to go but they usually pay much less. If you want to live in a "forward thinking" larger city there are many other foreigners also trying to find work, especially now that the economy at home is so bad. Many of the new crop of foreigners fleeing to China are looking for places that resemble home as much as possible. Smaller, more backwater cities still seem to always need foreigners but after a while one tires of constantly being gawked at like an alien from outer space and the local "customs" create a minefield of cultural confusion. If you're a young Western woman on your own it might be assumed you're some kind of whore and you'll be hit on constantly. If you're a single guy, negotiating the dating scene requires a level of nuance most of us aren't accustomed to. In the bigger cities this isn't nearly as much of a problem but, again, there are many foreigners also looking for decent work. My experience has been that couples can handle the backwoodsy places much easier than singles. At least you've got another flesh and blood human to lean on.

Agencies by and large are money-grubbing criminal enterprises and generally cannot be trusted even if they are staffed by other foreigners. If a school needs an agent to find bodies there is a reason and most of these reasons are not good. I've used Network ESL myself with mixed results. One placement was merely bad while the other was catastrophic. The first I honestly don't think was completely their fault (note the word "completely"), to be fair, but the second undoubtedly was.

If you are not in the country and have little or no knowledge of China the odds the first place at which you end up will be, um, "not good," are very high. Better than even, I'd say. Try very hard not to commit to a full year and then attempt to learn from the experience. Only the most atrocious situations aren't bearable for even six months. (Sadly, I managed to find a few of these anyway.) My school is going to need at least one, and possibly two, foreign teachers next term (February '10). The pay and conditions at the school itself are perfectly adequate but the city is somewhat, uh, "unsophisticated." My young, single guy colleague is going nuts but a woman, couple or older (read "not on the prowl") guy would probably be just fine here.

In short, you can drive yourself nuts reading all the negative stuff out there and it can be truly terrifying. Even the worst places here have SOME good qualities and the best have some bad qualities. You simply won't find a perfect situation and if that is what you seek you will never find it. Decide what your priorities are and work from there. (For example, I've read postings from and spoken with foreigners who under no circumstances will use a "squat toilet." To me that's pretty far down my list of things that are deal breakers. ) Do you want to do "real teaching?" Or do you want/need as much money as possible? Do you need frequent contact with other foreigners or are you content not to see another face like yours for weeks or months at a time? Do you need the "action" (and Western products) that only a big city can provide? Or are you willing and able to live a much simpler life than at home?

I've been here for more than 6 years altogether and have been through quite a bit both personally and professionally. Anyone here as long as I have will tell you the same. But something keeps us here. I like to think our reason are rational. Maybe I'm thinking too much.