Hi to all... I stand here niether to praise nor to condemn... the evil that men do lives after them... Some people might as well try to do some decent research before posting outright racist remarks on this forum. Remember africans in China are foreigners and human like you too. Being african is not a crime. or is it, meipang? South Africa(an AFRICAN nation), features among the top 5 in china ESL. My point is this... generalization is somewhat used by people who don't bother, or are too lazy, to carry out even basic research, before drawing conclusions, and opt for the easy way out with silly excuses such as "most schools at which I've worked in China employ foreign teachers to teach "Oral English." Again, if this makes me racist I guess I am, but a very high percentage of Africans I've met speak English with such a heavy African accent that I, a native speaker of English, sometimes have trouble understanding them". What about those you have not met? or the other part of the high percentage you met who don't have that heavy accent? or the other"native speakers" who understand them with little trouble?
I admire this poster for his frankness in openly exposing his racist tendencies.(moderators, you best know what to do).

Actually, every bit of the meipang poster's post makes my bowels churn, but the paragraph that really pisses me off is this: "What i suppose I'd recommend to Africans seeking teaching positions here is to be creative. Make lemonade if you're handed lemons. China is doing a lot of business in Africa these days. Play up your African accent instead of pretending you don't have one. "If you're doing business in Africa you'll hear lots of people like me." Know what I mean? And, yes, it's a drag but stop bothering to apply for "Oral English" positions and play up your writing skills, especially at universities. Lots of white folk, myself included, despise teaching writing". This guy is implying that blacks in general, and africans in particular are sub humans, inferior to the white race, hence should be eligble only for those jobs or positions despised or rejected by whites.

By the way, what do you think the africans in china are doing? exactly what you mentioned... making lemonade with the lemons handed to them by the corrupt and inefficient esl industry in china, and there is nothing you can do about that.

I REST MY CASE

Meipang's points are bolded

Let me interject a few small and inconvenient truths.
1)There are simply too many African teachers here lying about where they are really from. On a few occasions I have (stupidly) volunteered to help my school find foreign teachers. I'm not going to be one of these people who says EVERY TIME but rather frequently I got resumes and phone calls from Africans claiming to be either British or Canadian when 2 minutes into a conversation it was obvious to me they were not. As a result, yes, I stopped bothering with African applicants. If that makes me "racist" well, OK, then. I plead guilty. I just don't think it does.

2) Most schools at which I've worked in China employ foreign teachers to teach "Oral English." Again, if this makes me racist I guess I am, but a very high percentage of Africans I've met speak English with such a heavy African accent that I, a native speaker of English, sometimes have trouble understanding them. Most jobs teaching English writing here are taken by Chinese teachers and, in my opinion at least, rightfully so.

Make up your mind. First you say, the reason you discriminate against Africans is because they lie on their resumes about being American and the such. Then you mention the problem is heavy accent. What about white Eastern Europeans? Would you consider them if they have heavy accents? If I was an African in China and realized that being a black American increased my slim chances of employment here, I would be tempted to say I'm American. This is a country where skin colour and country of origin is often more important than qualifications and experience. Is it any wonder that many of the biggest victims of this prejudice do not respect EFL enough to be honest in their applications?

When it's obvious to you that some white applicants have cheated in their applications with fake degrees etc. do you then decide to employ no more whites because many have lied about their qualifications?

3) The large amount of truly sleazy Africans in big cities like Beijing and Guangzhou are certainly not helping to improve the image Chinese have of Africans. During the Olympic crackdown quite a few were politely asked to leave and with good cause. The millions of spam emails coming from Africans promising money for "helping" them doesn't do any honest African much good either.

Foriegners from all over the world were asked to leave, including many white EFL teachers from English speaking countries like America, who had false degrees or incorrect visas. Be consistent, here. Africans are by no means the only foriegners who are engaging in dishonest behaviour in China. What do spam emaillers have to do with whether African teaching applicants should be considered as teachers of EFL in China, anyway?

4) This will cause some protests but so be it. Very few Africans are truly "native speakers" of English. This will cause some here to howl that such things don't matter but in fact they do, sorry.

Wow! well done for working that one out! I bet hardly anybody realized that. The debate is about black teachers in China, though, not non-native speakers. Do you consider non-native speaking white teachers in your school? If you do then your point is definitely invalid.

5) With the current economic downturn there are fewer jobs here in China and more of us white devils fleeing joblessness at home coming here to take them. (Whether they are qualified or not is another issue. Certainly many are not.) A few years back hiring Africans (and to an extent, Filipinos) was deemed essential. That is not the case so much anymore.

Why should a person be considered even if they're unqualified, but at the same time automatically not considered because they're not a native speaker?

6) An earlier poster said this and I'll concur. Chinese are equal opportunity racists and xenophobes. Perhaps many think Africans are somehow "inferior" but they also believe white people are as well. One encounters this in subtle and not so subtle ways. Chinese are often shocked to hear me speak Chinese because they assume a white person has to be too stupid to do such a thing. I'm somewhat, um, big and I can't walk anywhere without hearing comments about fat white people. (Every once in a while, against my better judgement, I've yelled at some guy that I'm fat because my country is rich and his has been poor for a few thousand years. I immediately chastise myself afterward for stooping to their level.) Yes, the racism is more vehement toward blacks and I won't deny that. But the blue-eyed among us aren't immune from it. Most Chinese regard us as a necessary evil because they feel they need our language though they secretly, and not so secretly, speak of a day when they will kick our butts and force the whole world to speak and write their obviously superior language.

I agree with most of this.

What i suppose I'd recommend to Africans seeking teaching positions here is to be creative. Make lemonade if you're handed lemons. China is doing a lot of business in Africa these days. Play up your African accent instead of pretending you don't have one. "If you're doing business in Africa you'll hear lots of people like me." Know what I mean? And, yes, it's a drag but stop bothering to apply for "Oral English" positions and play up your writing skills, especially at universities. Lots of white folk, myself included, despise teaching writing.

Hold on a minute, though. You said being a native speaker mattered in China. Now you're suddenly saying that being a non native speaker will help Africans in their applications! You sound confused!

I've been here 6 years and this place can be very frustrating if you try to "fight it." The best you can do is "go with it." I don't think "China is a racist country" is even debatable, really. It definitely is. You can give yourself even higher blood pressure fighting it or accept it and do what you can. Someday you'll read an account of a white guy assaulting a Chinese guy after one too many "fat" comments. That'll be me.

Of course it's racist. Every country is. The question is, how racist is it, and against whom is it racist? How can you complain about discrimination, though, when you admit to practicing it yourself in your employment practices? Also, why complain about Africans fighting against racism when you admit a struggle with yourself, regarding this issue?

P.S. I like your handle; "Not Fat".