Many a shitty club manager will throw free drinks in the direction of anybody who looks foreign; especially if white or better yet female.

If the manager won't give you booze, there's always some Chinese guy that wants that token laowai friend drinking at their table.

That's why these clubs often attract lower class foreigners who are usually either international students or English teachers. Usually the latter, the students still have some self respect.

A lot of supposed Aussie/imported steak in China has never even seen an Aussie/foreigner. It's very rare that I'll risk splashing on steak unless it's at a very trustworthy place. Next time I'm flying out of Shanghai, I may pay a visit to Morton's but otherwise, I avoid most steaks in China unless I'm the one cooking it.

I don't really like going to Chinese clubs, but there's a lot of tight-arse teachers that go to those clubs for the sole purpose of scoring free drinks; which are usually fake if provided by the management. I'm sure that's not your style at all though.

Back in the 80's in HK, as an expat he probably was fairly wealthy. But I'd still argue that Shanghai is THE place for bullshitting architects that are ten a penny; many lower ranked ones are apparently paid less than English teachers, but they're probably interns or fresh grads.

As for the Chinese, at least they can usually admit that they do a lot to show face.

A lot of people get really drunk in major cities on NYE. Sydney, London, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Bangkok.

I for one can put up with it as long as people don't become violent and start assaulting each other. It's only one night a year after all.
If Chinese in Shanghai harass and annoy foreigners on New Year's Eve I understand your concern. I know the "Songkran" featival in Thailand ( early April ) pisses off a lot of foreigners living in Bangkok and Pattaya as they get buckets of water violently thrown in their face when going along on their motorcycles and bicycles. People have crashed and been seriously injured because of this. It's not just Thai's, drunk farangs also do stupid things at Songkran time.

As for me I don't go out on NYE anymore. If I was in Pattaya on NYE for example I'd probably stay home. It's gets fucking crazy there!

I respect the fact you are pretty clued up and post a lot of stuff, including the article im quoting you from which is good but i will quote this for a valid reason

They need to live their lives the way THEY want, not how the bullshit general Chinese society
wants them to live.

New Year's Eve in downtown Shanghai is hijacked by unruly young-ish Chinese idiots who think that getting drunk, acting like selfish pigs and being obnoxious (if you dont like it leave, etc.) is how to do it, when it is not.

From what I have seen in China the LGBT society are far too immature when socialising - acting like posers or cretins most of the time - but I agree with you that it is good that for them that they can and LGBT discrimination does not 'seem' to be a major issue in China, but why can't they be cool because of that and stop acting like immature little bastards.

Reason for posting and quoting: If they (Chinese) really wanna live the lives THEY want - ok, cool but do not kick the arse out of it and act like it should be tolerated by other non-Chinese people - especially on New Year's Eve.

What subjects shall we anguish over for Christmas.

Taffy, there was a time when the frequent contributors to this site shared a common experience of living and teaching in China. It appears now that most have abandoned the Middle Kingdom.

I have retired from teaching but chose to continue to live in China. Relieved from negotiating the annual work permit process, I volunteer at a couple of universities where I taught in the past, do much reading and too little writing. I have a 10 year tourist visa that requires me to travel every 60 days to nearby countries, a task I am happy to perform.

China's current army of Foreign Teachers seem to be split between young college grads from NES countries that are escaping the damaged economies at home and Asian/African teachers working illegally who are escaping politically volatile homelands. I wish both groups well, but they do not seem to post on this forum. The ragtag platoon of NES FT misfits that landed on these shores with me a decade ago are mostly gone and are not lamented by our employers.

I continue to enjoy my time in China, communicating often with some of the 6000 college students that I have taught, observing their challenging lives in a country that is evolving at a historic pace.

Happy/Merry Christmas to you and yours.

That's because they've already chopped their own balls off before they landed in that country

I've actually heard foreigners in China say "it's good to be married here because you can get some sex". Seriously! The only way they can get any sex in China is to marry? WTF!

It's mainly about a man's genes and his testosterone levels! There are men who have never kissed a woman nor dated one. They tremble when they have to dance with a woman during a social gathering as that is expected of them. My first wife thought that my best fishing buddy was gay. No way, I told her - he was not interested in any kind of intimate contact with men nor women. And he wasn't a pedo nor a ladyboy. I doubt he's ever chugged himself off! However, he did come across as somewhat effeminate, though. There must be similar traits to be observed re women and hormone levels. So many posters on this board come across as very naive re a lot of wot I have said above. Or else they are trying to deceive us by feigning their ignorance. Probably the latter. Pathetic, really!

PS, I thought that guy's bro was effeminate too, but he had a wife and kids. He happened to work in HK. I met him in Scotland once during one festive season in the mid 80s. His wife was Chinese, I saw her photo, she was average-looking, as was he. He was an architect in HK. He drove a Jaguar at the time. He was VERY RICH compared to the braggarts and pretenders on this forum.

Ha, whatever money you may have now you inherited.

Admit it.

You yourself claim you couldn't have got it from teaching in China.

Carpentry is not a big money-maker, nor is male-modelling.

So admit it. You inherited whatever money you may have.

Carpenters can earn a lot of loot in the UK I know that. I rather think that SB earned his money by the sweat of his brow- he measures up to the self made man, Van Hoogstraten type of arrogance sometimes- I mean that in a nice way. He's not old money like me- but old money often don't have much like me.

Anyone with a trade qualification can make big money in Australia if they are good at their job and work hard. I 've never inherited any money. My parents are both still alive. If they die I will get about 700, 000 dollars, my sister will get the other 700,000. I 've always had to work but I just invest in silver bullion, Sterling Silver, and Tanzanite now. Male models can also make good money, but women make more.

You are just pissed off because you are stuck in China teaching English. I bet it's cold there now. I heard it was only 6 c degrees maximum in Nanning last Monday. What a shit hole!

Ha, whatever money you may have now you inherited.

Admit it.

You yourself claim you couldn't have got it from teaching in China.

Carpentry is not a big money-maker, nor is male-modelling.

So admit it. You inherited whatever money you may have.

I don't need sluts, never have!

Going to Western bars and restaurants is OK if you can afford it. Trying to do it just on a teaching salary is a bit stupid though.

Even I'll admit that spending 190-270 rmb on a steak in China ( some places they are 350-400 rmb ) is a waste of money. It would be ok sometimes if it was real sirloin from Australia or NZ but that's hard to get at a sensible price in China. I ain't gonna pay Western prices for buffalo meat. Buying drinks at nightclubs in China is also a waste of money. Better to get Chinese to buy alcohol for you for free in Chinese nightclubs if possible.

Reading this thread is beginning to feel like a career.

We're looking to you to get us off these treadmills, Trumpsey. We accept you as having, along with foxy of hothot, the best education for English. I am afraid that all comes with responsibility. What subjects shall we anguish over for Christmas. Not geeing you up at all by the way.

Haifen refused to pay Clarks £4 for waterproofer and £4 for cleaner, so I will run with my rucksack as is my wont after she returns from work and see what Poundland can sell me in shoe cleaner and waterproofer. I am a comparative spendthrift so would have given them the extra £8. Easy to spend when you don't bring back the bacon though, isn't it?

Because quite frankly, a lot of teachers really are!

You may be one of the smarter ones who does not waste money trying to live a Western lifestyle at triple the price and is also willing to take the risk of doing part-time side jobs or better yet, has a second income from rental property etc back home.

However, many foreigners insist upon going to bars and restaurants with in some cases, higher than Western prices whilst earning less than they would back home.

Life in tier 88 isn't so bad most of the time if you aren't a pussy and can at least keep your own living quarters in shape. I'd also advise that you find some money making opportunities in your 'semi-retirement' phase of life, which Silverboy appears to do in some way or another.

Ha ha ha

He can return but he will be living on the ( very cold ) streets of London or Manchester.

I will not "mind my own business" as your kind give people a false impression of what China, it's women, and culture are really like. People need to know the truth.

7000-12000 rmb a month is not good money and that is the range of most FT salaries in China outside of Shanghai or Beijing.

12,000 rmb a month did not even cover my booze, restaurant bill, and taxi bill when I was in China.

I am an "ESL Dream Killer" like Mr John O'Shei.

"I have a dream"........and it ain't teaching ESL in China.

Why is it perceived that everyone who teaches in China is a loser? I'm squirling away 3000 a month Canadian and I'm not even trying. I do not have a teaching diploma from my country of origin. That would be impossible for anyone in Canada unless you were making 100,000 plus a year. Am I a loser? I just go where the best money saving opportunities are and one day not too far from now I will retire someplace nice and warm in Southeast Asia. Of course life in a tier 88 city sucks sometimes but it's a sacrifice that will payoff eventually. Just playing the cards that were dealt to me. Merry Christmas everyone!

He has no property in England and also no savings so he can't return to the UK, probably not ever.

Wrong, he can return if he likes, even as a penniless deportee, as a last resort!

You should mind your own business, and stop talking BS.

Big money is a subjective concept. Someone like Trump would regard you as a pauper!

There is no such thing as a "top school" in China. Never ever heard of any school offering "loyalty" payments. Why the fuck would anyone want to be loyal to a Chinese anyway? As for whoring, yes, I know a lot about that. It is a lifestyle choice that is certainly much better than marriage to a Chinese woman.

Seems you are one of the last on the team to know.

I think if someone has no option in life apart from teaching English in China.....

Wrong!

Foreigners teaching English in China have the option of returning to their homelands. They have CHOSEN to make money by working in China in preference to living in their homelands.

You come across as a bit of a lummox.

The money you make: yeah, right! I had a hearty old chuckle with that one. English teaching in China is nothing but peanut money.

You can get salary increases annually based on improvements in your teaching performance. So, it can be viewed as a career!

Yep, they are scared to insult. There was a former Australian special forces soldier living in Nanning a few years back who could speak fluent Mandarin. He was on the No 6 bus from Chao Yang going to Wan Xian Cheng ( Mix C ) Mall.

Two smart arse young Chinese guys were taking about how foreigners were like "cockroaches" and they thought no foreigner on the bus could understand. To the dismay and shock of the passengers ( lol ) the ex-soldier grabbed one of the young fuckers by the scruff of the neck and said "do you want to go to the hospital" ?

As usual the Chinese kid said "sorry, sorry" ( they are never sorry ) Aussie: "get the fuck off this bus and never come back around here again or it will be the end of you". "If you do come back bring along some of your friends, I'll take care of them also!".

They will stop their ignorant behavior in your presence, but it will continue behind your back. Don't matter much anyway. I can understand Chinese too - but I don't let on!

When in China, and angered by BS talk among Chinese, calm yourself down by considering the good aspects of being in China, such as the job you're doing and the money you make. That's the reason most FTs are in China, to do a satisfying job with little stress for fair recompense.

Totally correct, you're right. Mind you I have seen a situation of an FT cruising in to a new job and doing a sparkling clown teaching job which wasn't called for by the Chinese. All the same, they really enjoyed his teaching and he soon made himself indispensable, what with the students enjoying it also. Fortunately that new teacher was no threat to me as I needed to be serious with the older students I was teaching. It seems to me that this forum attracts FT's that have never bothered to watch how fellow teachers were teaching- and that's a shame.

Exactly!

The younger the students, the greater the need for the FT to act the goat before them. We should encourage all FTs in China to attend their fellow FTs' classes in order to improve everyone's performances as an FT.

The trouble is that some FTs are too distrustful of their colleagues to allow this to happen, especially if they are Africans or Eastern Europeans or Indians or Flipinos. I guess they will refuse because they fear negative feedback.

The FTs who have to return home from China who have been fired won't divulge this. I've seen more than a dozen FTs let go of on account of so-called bad teaching during my teaching career in China.

Yes, there are also those who flee coz they don't want to be part of the education system here. Fair enough.

Can't see much change in the short term regarding higher pay or how the education systm operates.

Anyway, in the meantime China's still the best EFL country to teach in in the eyes of many EFL teachers.

Deechers or teachers, I care not - I am not a Chinese!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dufus

As far as I know a DUFUS is a person who pays inflated prices for houses and apartments. I've never done that. Or someone who spends a lot of money on something of little real value or worth.

" I am not interested in Chinese toddlers nor their stupid shit for brains parents anyway."
Just to remind you that one of our favorite posters has a Chinese wife and toddler. But I am sure you did not mean to insult him.

Teaching in China was a novelty from about 2002 till 2010. A lot of people wanted to try it. Even I will admit that.

China was also seen as a mysterious place then. It certainly is not now and I'd even call it "Asia Lite".
Many laowai can speak fluent putonghua now also, much to the alarm of Chinese people.

China is an incredibly boring place compared to somewhere like Bali, Pattaya, or Cebu.

I've heard Nanning and Pattaya being compared to each other lately. Pattaya is cocaine and crystal meth,
Nanning is like taking valium and mogodon and any assortment of sleeping tablets.

Most of China is like this, even Shanghai is boring compared to Hong Kong or Bangkok.

Why even waste one's time hanging out in China? Guilin and surrounding areas don't count either as these are not real ex-pat destinations.

I'll bet you have no skills when it comes to handling toddlers. Neither have I, incidentally.

We should ADMIRE those talented westerners who do have such skills. We should not attempt to dissuade them from working at Chinese kindergartens.

Do not be a DUFUS!

Only a fool would get a job working at a kindergarten in China. Your point is invalid and most.

Wrong wot u say about anyone being able to make the clown and make money doing that job.

Don't take those kinda jobs unless you have a passion for teaching toddlers and are good at entertaining them. Be aware thst the turnover of FTs is exceptionally high at kindergartens and training centers in China. U will be dismissed summarily if the kiddies don't take to u! They are enerally badly spoiled little emperors who are very picky about their FTs. Not everyone can succeed being one. It's like being a professional kids' party clown in many ways. Not an easy job either.

Totally correct, you're right. Mind you I have seen a situation of an FT cruising in to a new job and doing a sparkling clown teaching job which wasn't called for by the Chinese. All the same, they really enjoyed his teaching and he soon made himself indispensable, what with the students enjoying it also. Fortunately that new teacher was no threat to me as I needed to be serious with the older students I was teaching. It seems to me that this forum attracts FT's that have never bothered to watch how fellow teachers were teaching- and that's a shame.

You don't even have to buy a fake one, just have one of those online universities to give you a real one, they are registered educational companies and their degrees are 100% legit, you can literally buy them.

You don't need any degree at all for low-quality jobs at the bottom of the barrel like making the white dancing monkey in a shitty Chinese kindergarten or in any of the garbage training centers there. Anyone can make the clown and get paid for it.

Wrong wot u say about anyone being able to make the clown and make money doing that job.

Don't take those kinda jobs unless you have a passion for teaching toddlers and are good at entertaining them. Be aware thst the turnover of FTs is exceptionally high at kindergartens and training centers in China. U will be dismissed summarily if the kiddies don't take to u! They are enerally badly spoiled little emperors who are very picky about their FTs. Not everyone can succeed being one. It's like being a professional kids' party clown in many ways. Not an easy job either.

I wouldn't bother and never have. If they think my degree is not authentic or genuine enough, they should look for someone else. I wouldn't allow them to doubt the authenticity of my degrees for no good reason and certainly would not bother to get it notarized just because they ask for it.

You don't need any degree at all for low-quality jobs at the bottom of the barrel like making the white dancing monkey in a shitty Chinese kindergarten or in any of the garbage training centers there. Anyone can make the clown and get paid for it. There are more serious jobs to be had that require skills and knowledge and a degree.

These latter jobs cannot be found in shitty Chinese kindergartens and garbage training centers.

"The thing is, why would anyone even bother going to trouble of getting a degree notorized just to teach English in China?"

I hold several genuine degrees, and they were always (rightly) recognized and respective wherever I went in the world. Because I do hold genuine degrees and because I can afford to be picky with the teaching jobs that I will take, there is no need to subject myself to an employer insisting on the notarization of the same.
I will simply refuse to work for anyone insisting on notarized degrees since I have the freedom of choice regarding a teaching position (if I want one).
I have never used any fake degree, and I am strongly opposed to doing it. On the other hand, I won't allow any second-rate employer in China to cast a shade of doubt on the genuineness of my degrees and go through all the hassle to get it notarized. It is humiliating and would only show that they don't have any respect for a hard and honestly working foreign professor. Thus, they need to look for someone else to play their stupid game, I won't. I don't need them.

The thing is, why would anyone even bother going to trouble of getting a degree notorized just to teach English in China?

If you have to jump through hoops just to get some shit English teaching position why even bother?

Better to stay home and stack shelves at Tesco in the UK or at Coles or Woolworths in Australia.
Or even to work at KFC or Maccas full time.

You will get a much higher hourly rate even when cost of living concerns are taken into account.

In most countries I would be against the use of fake degrees. A lot of Chinese people ( in China ) take advantage of the use of fake documents, and not just in education. If they do it then why shouldn't foreigners there be able to do it? The Chinese can't have the attitude "we can use fake degrees but foreigners can't ". That would be discrimination.

In Australia, the UK, USA, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, it's almost impossible to get away with using a fake degree and the penalties can be harsh in some instances. China is a different kettle of fish.

Fake degree = fake notarisation. The real thing simply won't get through; most degrees also have to be authenticated by the university these days for it to happen. You'd better hope that the Chinese don't work out what has been going on; especially with those from a third world country that can just provide a handwritten note as 'notarisation.'

Well, if there is a shortage of foreign teachers needed in China, you could tell them: "Here is my degree document - take or leave it! Do you really think I will take all the trouble on me that the notarization process entails for me just for the few bucks you pay for my work? There are better places like South Korea where you get paid much more and notarization of degrees is not required".

I also won't accept the authenticity of my degrees to be doubted; if they do, they are free to look for someone else to act as a white monkey in their stupid muppet show.

"If you're actually getting a real job (not teaching English), don't risk it at all. You'll probably get fucked for it a few years down the line."

The perverse thing about this new regulation - if you are getting a fake degree, you'll also get fake notarisation done. That process will be quicker and cheaper than notarising the real thing. If you don't have the real thing and you're only going to teach English anyway, you probably have little to lose.

If you have a real degree, just notarise it properly. You don't want to risk getting in trouble for the above when you've spent 4 years at a real university to get the real thing.

If you're actually getting a real job (not teaching English), don't risk it at all. You'll probably get fucked for it a few years down the line.

Yes, if you want to work legally with a work permit.

Read the multiple postings on this topic which are posted all over the web.