Thanks for all the advice. I am very quickly coming to realize that I might just have to take a leap of faith here and just pick a school. I have been offered a position at Jiangnan University, it meets all of my qualifications (bigger city, decent pay and accomodations) and even has some benifits (roundtrip ticket and food allowance). I have read a decent amount of bad reviews which concerns me but then again I haven't read anything good about anyone. I still want to look around a bit more but I am having difficulty finding positions for around six months. I am going to law school next fall so I cannot stay a full year. Thanks again for helping me put things in perspective better, if you have any suggestions about where to go or what to expect I would love to hear them. Thanks again!

Ashley S.

What Turino said is totally correct, seems to me that you don't like to hear the truth. I do not think that Turino hates all Chinese women, he married one of them after all. I am also looking for a Chinese wife right now and I am confident I will succeed.

Your suggestion that the Turino poster was rejected by a female FAO is ridiculous, for one thing, he is married, secondly, an FT would have to be pretty desperate to make advances toward a Chinese female FAO, TA, or any woman in a position of "power" at any Chinese educational establishment.

Chinese woman can be very cute, stylish, and very pretty/attractive. However I feel an FT should NEVER get involved with the Chinese women who work at school sand uni's.

In my experience they are lazy, lack intelligence, have no domestic skills ( eg; can't cook ) are sexually naive and conservative, and have an entitlement attitude.

In other words, especially if they are divorced and have a kid, if you marry one of THEM they will expect the Western man to wholly support them, and send THEIR kids to a crap "international school", then to a Western university when they get older.

And guess who will pay for all that? THE WESTERNER OF COURSE! Of course YOU will also be paying for all bills and expenses that are incurred during the relationship.

Wake up man! What planet have you been living on. You are a prime candidate to be exploited by a Chinese dragon! Many Chinese woman are not as wholesome and pure as you would like to beleive!

for one reason alone - because said institute's Foreign Affairs Officer is a woman.I just couldn't bear to be bossed around by a Chinese woman who has been placed in a position of authority over me as a louwai FT.

A misogynistic attitude and approach to teaching in China by male foreign teachers certainly could give birth to a misandrist. Indeed, if the lady does hate men. Perhaps, you are merely a rejected wannabe lover that has been disdainfully and contemptuously dismissed and berating this woman (all Chinese women) on a public forum fulfills your need to restore your pride. Face?

We foreign males need dominating by Chinese women,like we need a hangover after a night on the town!

You ought to speak for yourself only, including all foreign males in your scathing denouncement of Chinese women is presumptuous, and in fact, a clumsy and juvenile attempt to attribute to others your tasteless philosophy.

I expect no less from you.

I agree about the pay at universities: It can be quite low. I have never worked at a decent training centre, we will have to agree to disagree on that one.

I think that FT's should not rely on the pay they recieve from teaching to live here in China. If I have any problems here I use a debit card that is linked to an Australian bank account that I always keep 4000 dollars in.

It is my opinion that the pay for FT's in China is crap, university or training centre. It may be OK if you are married to a Chinese woman and you plan to remain in China for a long time, then 5000RMB a month is quite easy to live on, especially in third tier cities.

As for training school students, I have always found them to be repulsive and obnoxious spoilt brats. I have hardly met any freshman or sophomore students at a public university that I did not like. I really like teaching freshman classes, especially my all girl classes.

These young women are just awesome, they impress me very much, many of them display more maturity then a lot of the thirty-something Chinese women I have met!

MetalStorm,I wouldn't entertain any thoughts of taking a teaching position at your former institute in Hunan for one reason alone - because said institute's Foreign Affairs Officer is a woman.I just couldn't bear to be bossed around by a Chinese woman who has been placed in a position of authority over me as a louwai FT.
Whenever her husband treats her badly, she'll probably let out her frustation on me,irrespective of whether or not she is the dominant partner in her quarrels with him, which, ,in any case I would expect her to be.
Rule number one for male louwai teaching in China:avoid educational establishments that have appointed women as deans or FAO's if at all possible.We foreign males need dominating by Chinese women,like we need a hangover after a night on the town!

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.

Hi,

I have been searching for a couple months to try to find somewhere to teach in China but it seems like everytime I come accross a school or program that I think is great it ends up being a scam or a terrible school. Can anyone tell me what school/companies are safe, reliable, and good to teach at? I would prefer being in a big city like Wuhan or Shenyang. I have looked at: Web International, Wuhan Bioengineering Institute, Ynagtze University (which only offered 3500 rmb which I was told was too little and not worth accepting)China ESL,Eagle Language Center,Kelly Consutancy, Network ESL and International Advantage. Network ESL seems to be the most promising but there is not much out there about it. Can anyone help me and point me toward some good schools or reputable recruiters (that dont charge fees of course)?

Thanks a lot guys!