English teaching isn't as profitable as it once was in China, since everyone and their mother has opened up a school. There is a lot of competition, hence buying into an already established chain might be the way to go. Only problem is, yeah, Linguaphone is gone.

I always thought Linguaphone was a snobbish, superior place with far to high an opinion of itself and it's way of teaching. The school itself charges a ton of money, which is likely part of why it went out of business. The way people taught there was also a joke, and their so called "system" with which they used to teach was stagnant, and didn't teach much of anything. If you're paying 10 or 15 thousand a year Chinese yuan to learn English, it had better be damn good teaching. Sadly the teaching quality did not measure up to the money they charged students. They also had inept management, which certainly did not help.

You might want to think about launching your own school. There are a number of foreigners who have done so with great success. The ones I know who have done this sadly are bigger cheats and con men than the majority of school owners, go figure. Seems to me that the foreigners who come here and have real success in this area almost always end up being woefully dishonest.

Anyhow, good luck in your endeavor. There is a lot of competition out there, your best bet, if you do it, is to hire foreigners who can actually teach, and pay them very good money. The worst schools tend to pay the worst, and work their teachers the most. Linguaphone was well known for this, having teachers work 40 hours a week, and not paying nearly what they should have been. All they ended up getting for the most part were recent college grads who had no teaching experience, but they were native speakers ;)

I'd avoid even thinking about buying into EF, you'll never get the staff you need, as few quality teachers would ever work for that outfit. They literally have the worst rep in Wuhan. Even if you open a branch and run it different, that place has such a bad rep, you won't be able to convince too many people that you're different.

Whatever you do, be original, offer simple teaching methods, not special systems, and hire good people and pay them well. Knowing how to run a business might also be a good idea.

Too many foreigners want to open English schools in China, thin king that, because of all the so called demand and talk about how much money there is in it that they'll make a fortune. Doesn't work that way, believe me. You have to know what you are doing, you have to be a good business man, and you can not be corrupt or corruptable. Also helps to know something about education. Those of you who think you can just come here, pitch a tent that says "English lessons" and think the money will come rolling in, think again.

The recent demise of certain schools like Kaien and Linguaphone should tel people something about just how hard it is here. Schools too often incur overhead they can not afford in their attempts to grow and be flashy, and in the end it bites them in the ass. Know how to run a business.

There are a lot of boobs in China who have started schools and made tons of money, and in the past, even boobs could do this. Not anymore, the market has become far too competitive to allow that. You have to know what you are doing, have a solid plan, and even than, there are no guarantees, like there might have been say, 20 years ago.

Hope this has been of help, good bye.