. Described as if some dirty nefarious thing has infiltrated and is poisoning young minds? Not only is Christianity one of China's original religions but even still the principles you describe being taught are quite standard for most all Chinese culture. Yet you try to get some hatred against this with the evil characterizations. Nah.. you know what who I think is the real 'nefarious counselor'? I think it might be you! ..........

I can't say that I honestly agree with all the beliefs of the party due to cultural differences and what not, but the idea that religious preaching does not belong in state education... That I totally agree with.

Also, missionaries don't have such a great reputation in China, some of their tactics were just vile. Denying food rations to those in need during a famine unless they converted to Christianity for example. Turnoi posted some good information about this kind of thing in the past.

Peace corps people often go abroad for the same reasons we do, to travel and meet new people as well as gaining new experiences. They do it on the government's dime though, not their own. That is often the only difference I see.

I have yet to find a Peace Corps member who proudly talked about going to some village with a mere 30,000 residents or so. Many of them often do without running water. There is no internet of course. Sometimes, you might find locals living in caves even. Going to the toilet means pulling down your pants next to a large pit. Teaching students who uses bricks as school desks along with a tent for a ceiling. These makeshift "schools" do exist in the poorer parts of China. Many places in the Northwest and along the Sichuan/Tibet border have these communities as well. I could not bring myself to teach in that type of environment for a mere 2,000rmb per month paid to me by the peace corps. I am sure that most expats would not do such a thing either.

The problem is, that is not the reality for most of them here... A good proportion of them are actually sent to fairly nice urban areas!

In the end, they don't actually perform the role that they are supposed to, it is rumoured that they just unintentionally line the pockets of corrupt university officials!

It has become very prevalent, I hear, even at my university it is a problem I think. It is not just the missionaries of a radical religious nature, but also any other do-gooder volunteers such as the UN Peace Corps people. They all tend to have different motives whether it be spreading radical religious shit, or jumped up young Americans that are told by their organisation that they are future leaders or something.

In the case of Peace Corps it is usually the case that they really they aren't of benefit to anybody. They are merely on a two year dicking around abroad program, pampering their resume in order to get preferential treatment for state jobs and scholarships. One Peace Corps guy of a more rebellious nature (hates it and wants to get out) has even told my friend as such. He says that Peace Corps are sending numerous guys to places where they simply are not needed, to areas that aren't the slightest bit impoverished, essentially wasting U.S taxpayers money at the end of the day.

In the case of religious radical types, their infiltration into the system is incredible in the most awful of ways. This article (http://shanghaiist.com/2010/09/02/yunnan_education_bureau_set_to_coop.php) talks about the fact that the Educational Bureau of Yunnan province has recently instructed schools and universities to:

"teach students to abstain from premarital sex and to ‘cherish their chastity’. The program; ‘No Apologies’ ( 悔今生) is the ‘love child’ of an American conservative Christian organization - Focus on the Family (FOTF), whose main goal is "nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide”.

There have also been reports of mormon missionaries effectively knocking down average salaries for foreign teachers at universities in certain cities, as these missionaries will aggressively undercut anybody to solidify their position at an university, in order to allow them to carry out their dirty work.

Either way regardless of whatever crap they are teaching, what it boils down to as Turnoi just said, is cheap or even free labour for Chinese universities.

Free labour that allows the administration to sign them off as full-time teachers and allow some corrupt arsehole to pocket their pay-cheque through a nice bit of fiddling in the office.

I do not mean to slate all volunteer teachers, but if you are going to volunteer to teach in China, go somewhere that probably needs it, like Qinghai, Ningxia etc... Try to really help people in genuine need, don't just contribute to a corrupt official's Audi/real estate fund or something.

In fact, there are several other countries in far greater need, what about considering those instead?