Those Expats who mock other opinion should be careful. If you have never worked at that school how can you confirm or deny his opinion ?

Colin please point out the "hatred" you are referring to, and I will point out to you that I have done nothing but inform potential applicants to the teaching position in luoding just what they are in for upon arrival. Perhaps you would prefer that I describe luoding as some sort of utopia. I understand that dogooders have serious issues with others pointing out the truth. That is too bad as I will not be silenced by the thought police. Perhaps you should take up the offer in luoding and after a couple of weeks you can come back here and apologise for accusing me of being a "bigot". You will not find any intelligent foreigners to "drive away any thoughts of homesickness" as the intelligent ones leave. Maybe in your next conversation with Alison you could ask her how many teachers they have had in the last 12 months and what happened to them. Currently there is only one foreign teacher at the college, he has been there just 4 months and has already been fired. So you can forget about any intelligent conversation in Luoding. Keep in mind that when you arrive you will not have my sympathy as you have been warned. Seeing as you are such an expert on judging people you have never met and applying labels to them just because they point out the truth, maybe you could share you vast wisdom with all of us. Please put me in the direction where I can find any evidence whatsoever that counterclaims my views on luoding. I want to see some factual evidence that proves what I have said about luoding is false. Are you up to the challenge? I doubt it.

"China accepts too many evil-minded foreigners with too much pride and huge entitlement mentalities as foreign teachers. They come here ill-prepared for a longish stay, can't hack the life nor the culture, and end up badmouthing the whole country and all its citizens as an excuse for their rotten racist outlook. That is a telltale sign of their narrowmindedness and selfcenteredness."
Josephine

Well stated, Josephine. I would also add that many "pretend teachers," aware of their own shortcomings - not only as teachers but also as culturally unaware individuals, find fault wherever they can instead of facing the all too obvious truth about themselves. In this way they reveal themselves as not only ill prepared, as you've pointed out, but unworthy of the pay they receive for pretending to teach.

Perhaps, though, the most relevant thing you've written is in regards to their "entitlement mentalities." I've seen it again and again, and I've seen the ignorance that accompanies it. "Teachers" who brag about their sexual conquests are a dime a dozen in China and fit quite well into that category of those who feel entitled. Which is quite odd, actually, considering that a large percentage of them couldn't get laid back home if their life depended on it. Fat, bald and poorly educated seems to be the norm these days for EFs in China. Of course there are those who are not fat and bald but who nevertheless keep a tally of their sexual trysts so that they can brag to their buddies back home.

Where I last taught in China, I often reviewed the writing of one of my students who had to that point spent nearly a year working on his graduate paper that addressed the issue of EFL in China and, more specifically, the issue of unqualified FTs in China - why they came here, what they brought to the table etc. Much of what he wrote concerned some of the issues that are discussed in these forums, but the general tone of the paper was meant to address the very pertinent question of why China did not more carefully screen those who come here to teach and why so often those individuals had agendas that had nothing to do with teaching and how that translated into an often uncomfortable classroom environment with the 'teacher" completely unable to take a professional approach to his/her teaching. I think it's easy to assume that he was not or is not the only student in China that questions this huge mistake of bringing in so many FTs who, at best, simply gum up the works and who, at worst, tarnish the image of their home countries by not having a clue that they represent said country.

Fortunately, as has been stated here before, change is coming. Unfortunately, those "teachers" who are booted out of here will find another country to hate and despise while they continue their deceptive roles as teachers. As long, that is, as there are women around that they can lure into bed simply because they are from the West and can use that as leverage.

Anyway, Josephine, hopefully you are teaching in China. More open minded and culturally sensitive teachers are needed here. Of course you will be labeled as a groveling weasel by the few naysayers here on this board, but I think you can consider the source and, hopefully, will continue to contribute your perceptions which, by my estimation, are spot on.

How could I not have respect for other cultures? I come from a city that is made up of people from 172 nations and I LOVE IT.

So, why did you venture to the PRC in the 1st place, or maybe the 2nd? Didn't you do your homework 1st? Or were you the victim of a temporary blip in your career back home? Lah de dah! Huh, sme o' us come here to work less for MORE! Get wise, mate!

I hate arrogance and stupidity - it's universal, sadly!

I would love to tell you how "elegant" my country is but I do not have time to sit here for days writing and writing and writing about it.

Can't say the same about my c'try of origin. But here in China I'm grossly overpaid for my pretending to be a teacher. So, I've got bags of time go reply to you, as well as being able to afford poor young elegant Chinese women, or those older ones with self-inflicted 'baggage' to satisfy my 'needs'.
'stead of being nothing back home. I pull some strings here, you f'in wally!

Absolutely correct, Wen. There are good and bad people in every land. China accepts too many evil-minded foreigners with too much pride and huge entitlement mentalities as foreign teachers. They come here ill-prepared for a longish stay, can't hack the life nor the culture, and end up badmouthing the whole country and all its citizens as an excuse for their rotten racist outlook. That is a telltale sign of their narrowmindedness and selfcenteredness. I think rotten westerners like that should be blacklisted to prevent them ever re-entering the country. They are a disgrace to their own country, and should be forced to stay there for life. Their passports should be confiscated by their governments. The worst are those who hate Asian women or sleep with Chiense students. The latter violates Chinese culture. They should be deported first.

I thought i should leave you alone,but i was wrong.
Your cursing words show you that you are just ugly as those people who spit on the street.
You do hate China.
Because you could start hating China since you just stayed in one city for few months.
Tell me about how elegant your country is,how high quality the westerners are.
My foreign teacher showed her respect to every culture of every country and also told us her love to her own motherland.
Your pride makes you have the prejudice.
Not because you love your country,but because you hate China,you ccould not get used to the life here.
You talked about value of foreign teacher.
Chinese students do know how to respect teachers,no matter they are foreign or not.You think they didn't finish the assignment you left is irrespet?You think they didn't speak English 24/7 is irrespect?At least they didn't curse you as what you did to them.

Who said anything about hating china? This is a typical response from chinese people who cannot accept that their country and culture is far from perfect. You are absolutely correct in saying that foreigners cannot get used to living in china. There is a very good reason for that. Other cultures do not kill baby girls, other cultures understand the importance of personal hygiene, other cultures treat all with respect and do not put themselves on top of a pedestal. Other cultures understand that people are different and they do not expect them to behave like the locals. Excuse me for not spending my time in china clearing my throat and spitting everywhere like an animal, excuse me for not scrapping up road kill for a free meal. You are also correct in saying that complaining is a waste of time, because in any normal democratic culture, complaining brings about change for the advancement of that society. This of course is forbidden in a totalitarian country where complaining and change is strictly unacceptable. They much prefer to stay in the dark ages whilst the rest of the world moves forward. You are also correct in saying I am proud of my western roots, as you can be sure I would certainly be ashamed and embarrassed if i were chinese.

That is someone of an uncaring, narcissistic, and blatantly ignorant individual with no empathy nor an understanding of people from different countries

I was recently invited to a dinner by my FAO at my current gig, where it is still an uphill struggle with him to make visiting foreign students and sport teachers from another school feel welcome.

Not only did he totally mess up the seating arrangements, so that I was only sat with 1 of the foreigners, therefore, my being there was a waste of time, he proceeded to call a obviously caucasian looking teacher African. At that point, all my worst fears about him were definitely confirmed. He also suggested that dog meat is acceptable to foreigners, even though the other foreign guy and his family refused to eat it...I mean seriously...an FAO with no understanding of foreigners, I just don't get it?!

Wen, your attitude is typical of that of a chinese in a management position at any educational body. That is someone of an uncaring, narcissistic, and blatantly ignorant individual with no empathy nor an understanding of people from different countries.

You have the typical arrogant mindset of a "We're always right and never wrong" person who expects foreigners to cater to your demands. You wouldn't ever change if you had immigrated to a new country, you'd just bring your bubble with you. Please don't come on here if you're going to be an @$$ and speak like your words are an end to all discussions, we don't need the likes of you here!!

Well according to your hippy theory, its going to be a very very cold day in Luoding.

I inteviewed with this "College" several years ago. I actually did the trip from Guangzhou to Luoding. I thought to myself that it perhaps it might be a nice countryside, quaint provincial city.

Well, it ain't. It's everything that the previous poster set forth except for one additional thing -- the city is prone to floods, like major floods, flooding, gullies of water cascading all over, etc., etc.

The school apartments are dank, moldy, not pleasant and straight out of a mortuary. There were only three-or-four foreign teachers on staff when I went to the interview and all declined to be interviewed "officially" by me in the presence of the Head of the English Department, at that time a woman in her 50's. Nonetheless, two of them did come to the hotel where I was staying to warn me off. In fact, this is a "runner" college as they told me. As they told me, the FT's come and go like flies during a sandstorm and don't even last as long.

It is not really a "college" but a technical drop-out school run by the local gov't for local students who can't make it into any form of higher education in the province or out of the province. I hate to say it but the dumbest of the dumbest. That was evident to me in the classes that I visited.

Additionally, the salary offered to the poor FT is quite low by Guangdong standards but it doesn't end there. The FT's will end up paying for his or her own electricity, his or own water, his or her own gas, and this can reduce the already low salary by several hundred RMB per month.

The FAO who recruited for the place was named "Allison" -- not her real name of course and she is pushy, pushy, pushy and inflexible. Nothing can be negotiated with this contract and it's a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

It's just another one of those bottom-feeder places that is continuously on the prowl for new victims.

Head north, where their counterparts' options are severely limited. Too many foreign weasels where u are!

I don't agree. There may be a lot of weasels in say Guangzhou or Zhuhai, but there are also lots in Shanghai, Suzhou and Changsha, and other parts of China.

The grass is greener, or...maybe I'm a glass half empty type of guy:(

I much prefer the warmth of guangdong, and the short (admittedly chilly and damp) winters, to the brutal long winters of the northeast (dongbei) or the horrible weather of Changsha, extreme heat in summer and prolonged damp winter.

Luoding just needs to be avoided!

The contract and advertisement states that you will teach 16 lessons per week. Upon arrival that will change to 24 lessons per week as there are never enough foreign teachers working there. You will be offered 78 rmb for 16 45 minute lessons as per the contract. What is not in the contract is that for the extra 8 to 10 lessons you will be offered just 30 rmb.

So, did you try to negotiate with them about their attempted imposition of sth not as per contract? Did you also point out you didn't go there for overtime, not even at 100 rmb/lesson? I'd have wiped the floor with them, and approached the issue with my cellphone switched on on record mode. Folks, though contracts mention overtime, you're not obliged to work it. I for one turn it down on principle every time.
Bad start by succumbing to their unreasonable offer means they'll take the crap even worse thereafter. But the trouble with Guangdong is they csn replace u too easily there. Head north, where their counterparts' options are severely limited. Too many foreign weasels where u are!

Luoding Polytechnic Guangdong

You should take my advice and avoid this place at all costs. I worked there recently and I am happy to inform you about the college and city. You will see in their advertisements that Luoding is a “famous cultural city” if its famous then why has nobody ever heard of it? The contract and advertisement states that you will teach 16 lessons per week. Upon arrival that will change to 24 lessons per week as there are never enough foreign teachers working there. You will be offered 78 rmb for 16 45 minute lessons as per the contract. What is not in the contract is that for the extra 8 to 10 lessons you will be offered just 30 rmb. Once you walk outside the college there is nobody to speak too. Nobody outside the college speaks English and remove those thoughts from your mind that it is easy to communicate using body language. That would require some sort of thinking or reasoning on their behalf.

The staff are horrible and not friendly in any way, they will never speak to you. The students are the laziest people you will ever meet in your life. You will be told they are at intermediate level. This is not true as many cannot understand you when you say “hello”. They do not want to learn English, they want to play with their mobile phones and sleep. Of course they do understand the word “money” and you will hear that word countless times during the weeks lessons. When they talk about money, 100% of the time it has nothing to do with the discussion that is taking place. Be prepared for students continuously asking you for money. Do not bother complaining to the head of the department as nothing will be done. I had a student threaten me by stating “I am going to kill you” I reported this to the head of the department and she just laughed and said it was lost in translation. And the list goes on and on. You are a foreigner and you are not worthy of anything. You do not have a name, you will always be referred to as “the foreigner”. Do not consider giving them some homework for the following weeks work as they will not do it. Even if its as simple as doing a quick internet search to answer 2 or 3 simple questions. They will not do it!!!!! Work interrupts their sleeping. Yes they pretend to be nice to you, smiling and saying hello fulfills their obligations of being friendly to the foreigner. If they smile and say hello then you are considered “friends” without any consideration to the true meaning of the word. Remember if they are being nice to you then the first thing you should think of is “what do they want from me?”

The city itself is disgusting including the people. If you see anyone smiling then take a photo. What you will see is lots of people spitting everywhere and cooking dogs on the road. They hate foreigners and you will be treated as such. In fact they hate everyone. Many shopkeepers will refuse to serve you just because you are a foreigner. The streets are full of rubbish and human waste. The choice of food is minimal. Pork, duck, dogs, cats, bats and that’s all. If you value personal hygiene then this place is not for you. You will have great difficulties trying to purchase soap at the supermarket because the vast majority do not sell it. I walked 4 km to a supermarket that sells soap, passing 6 other supermarkets along the way that do not sell it. Forget about coffee, deodorant and chocolate!!!!!!!!!!

Winter is cold and your room is very cold. There is no heating. The water and electricity are constantly off and the internet is even worse. You will be supplied with a computer from the 1990’s and if you have problems with the computer, and you will, then the computer technician will come to help you. He will arrive at your room with a very large screwdriver and a cloned copy of windows xp, apparently a large screwdriver and a window xp disc fixes everything. He will then sit in front of your computer not knowing what to do and just hit right click refresh, right click refresh, right click fresh for the next 20 minutes. They are obsessed with right click refresh.