Because of various reasons (pending legal issues, for one), I have to remain anonymous for this post, and I know that takes away from the credibility of my post, however I feel it is very important to make note that this company is definitely a bad situation for teachers.

The absolute biggest reason to not work with this company is very simple... They will hold onto your passport for MONTHS as they are "working" on getting your visa. In reality, they should need it for a maximum of 1-2 weeks. They will have you get a tourist visa, then have you give them your passport upon arrival so they can get your Z visa. Do NOT give them your passport and instead demand to be present at ALL TIMES with it instead. You are completely within your legal rights to do so! Don't let them take it!

I originally found this company from Oxford Seminars' teacher placement service, and I have since been notified that Oxford Seminars does NOT place teachers at this school due to the high number of complaints received.

This company is essentially a job placement service for foreign teachers in China. They do not have their own school. They will place you at several public schools. The salary will look reasonable, and the contract won't seem bad at first glance, but I implore you to talk with a CHINESE LAWYER before signing this contract. The contract is written in English and Chinese, and it claims to be the same in both languages, but this is NOT the case unless it has been revised since my time there.

To summarize my experience... I eventually went to talk to a Chinese lawyer to find out what options I had to get out of the contract, and in doing so, I found that not only had the company already broke their own contract, they had been breaking Chinese law in at least 20+ places for the new Chinese contract law and education laws. Because of this, I tried to settle the situation with the company outside of the legal system, but since they absolutely refused to even talk to me after this point, I had no choice but to bring the matter to court. I wish I had proof for all of things they had done to not only me, but all of the other teachers I was working with, but so far in all of the legal proceedings the courts ruled in my favor based on what I was able to factually provide anyway.

Since this they had filed several more lawsuits against me, each with the exact same charges (I honestly don't know how the courts allowed something like this to happen), and these lawsuits are still pending, but it is very likely the outcome will still be the same.

If nothing else, I would strongly recommend finding another employment option. Guangzhou is a great city with some great people, and I have plans to go back there...the only thing that would have made my experience even better would have been never running into this company to begin with.

Please, please avoid this company if at all possible. It isn't the absolute worst situation you could end up in, but it definitely isn't a good one. I hope this helps someone avoid this pitfall. There's plenty of good opportunities out there...please explore them. :)