Everyone needs to chill...

I just got off the phone with a reputable recruitement agency (will not mention firm as I believe it will be fuel for critics - regardless). Anyhow...A DEGREE IS NOT REQUIRED!

It is however, beneficial if you want to teach in the bigger cities like Beijing or Shanghai. They WILL NOT put you in jail unless you break the law in some other fasion, then if someone else hears about it & that the person is there teaching without all the credentials...well then there opens a can of worms...

You CAN teach in these big cities as well, without a degree, but it can take longer & the best positions will of course, go first to those more qualified.

As for saturation - probably never. Even in bigger cities. The demand for learning english & keeping up with the western world is overwhelming and would probably take China at least another 50 years to even come close.

I also called the Chinese Embassy & when I told them what was posted here, about credentials; going to jail for the wrong visa; etc., they laughed! They also advised that these (lack of) credentials would only come up if these person(s) broke the law or cause trouble in some other fashion that was truly offensive to the PRC, and they were trying to dig up as much dirt as possible. Also, I was told that because of the demand for English Teachers, it is not difficult to obtain a valid (legal) visa as long as you have an offer from a legal institution as they pay alot of money to get one of us over there...

I also have friends working overseas in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico and Russia who all confirm this.

So to the negative ones...you are either mis-informed or actually lying. I continue to research...