I presume that you are new to China, in which case you should be aware that there are risks for the uninitiated or unwary.

I have no knowledge of either of the schools or locations mentioned. I have had long experience, however, of working and travelling in India and can say that the average Indian town or city, is not unlike the average Chinese town or city of similar size. There are good areas and squalid areas in all of them. If you live and work in a nice area it can be very safe and pleasant but if you find yourself in a bad area it can be the opposite.

Few Chinese people speak English outside the large cosmopolitan cities like Beijing or Shanghai etc. Even there English speaking Chinese are in the minority.

Ask each of the schools to send you dated photographs of their campus and buildings and your accommodation both inside and out. Ask for pictures of the immediate vicinity outside the school but taken from within the school.

Go to internet and see what you can find about these places. Ask if the schools have their own websites. Check through the "School and Recruiter Review" section on this website to see if they have been complained about by other teachers.

If you have not received draft employment contracts from these schools, ASK for them now. Ask them to confirm that they are authorised by the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department to directly employ foreign experts. (That latter point is VERY important!!) Ask for their 'SAFEA' registration numbers too.

If they have not already done so, ask for confirmation that they intend to send you formal Letters of Invitation that will get you what is known as a "Z" Visa in your passports BEFORE you travel. No other type of visa will do - it must be "Z". Do NOT leave India with anything else!!

Do not accept assurances that the accommodation is "western" standard, or, "generously furnished": "adequately" equipped etc. Ask for a detailed list of ALL the furnishings and equipment therein. If you're happy with it, insist that it be appended to your contract and treated as part of it.

Coming from India you may not have experienced "winter". Both provinces you mention are likely to be under several inches (or more) of snow from mid November through to mid February, along with temperatures well below 0.deg.C all that time. In the summer, however, temperatures are similar to those in south India. It is VERY important that you make sure your accommodation is both heated and air-conditioned. Here again be careful - many schools will not provide you with either and many others will pay lip service by providing heating and air-conditioning that is under-powered. You need to stipulate that the heating and air-conditioning in your accommodation be sufficent to maintain an even temperature of 20 deg.C in the living room, bedroom(s) and bathroom 24 hours a day - and that the cost of your utilities will be met by the school. The school I work for does this and we foreign teachers only have a problem if something breaks down or blows up.

At the same time ask if the accommodation is on or off campus. If it is ON-campus, then ask if there are any restrictions on your movements (i.e. a curfew) or on your choice of house-guests.

Ask them when they will refund your airfare - and here - you must insist on being given a specific refund date (or dates). Ask them to confirm the date in each month on which they will pay you your previous month's salary. Also, that the salary they have offered you is nett after tax. If not then ask them to absorb the tax themselves. Save all of your e-mail correspondence with the chosen school on a CD. Print hard copy of these too. Take all this with you when you travel. It's always good to be able to quickly produce it if you find yourself in a dispute on arrival.

Check that their draft contracts state what your duties will be. Beware of any requirement for unspecified "other duties" (Yes, you're going there as teachers but I have seen contracts that have required 'teachers' to paint the walls and clean the classrooms if there are not enough students to keep teachers busy teaching.

The foregoing is only a selection of the questions you should ask them. There are many more. None of this is truly foolproof, however, and there will always be an element of risk when travelling here to work. One way that will often winkle out the unscrupulous schools is to ask them lots of questions. Many of these dubious outfits will drop you when you do that. If either of the schools show any reluctance or annoyance at being asked questions, or if you get evasive answers, your alarm bells should begin to ring.

I could go on and if you are interested, I suggest you contact me privately on e-mail and I will be happy to be of what assistance I can.

Finally, don't rely on the advice of just one or two people - get as much as you can so that you will have a view of all sides. For example, I have been working in China for almost three years and have had no trouble at all with the schools I have worked for. However, there is another man who uses this forum who has been in China for many years and will tell you that he has had some kind of trouble with every single school he has worked for. So don't take just my advice nor should you take just his advice - get as much as you can and form your own impression.

John