Silverboy, I just can't let this one go by. You suggest that a university is not a real university if classes begin before nine in the morning and if they don't have half hour breaks between classes. Surely you jest? No?

Okay, that must mean the university where I work, a public university of long standing and quite well respected around China, is a pretend university. I guess we'd better make past and future graduates aware of that. Yes, indeed, those ten minute breaks and classes that begin well before nine definitely expose this place as a pretend school. Time for a reality check, SB; I think you've got pretend schools mixed up with pretend teachers. Moreover, I can't imagine a scenario like the one you long for. For example, I teach three sessions in the morning and three in the afternoon two days a week and three sessions in the morning on two other days. I have a ten minute break between the first two sessions. If I had to work additional classes in the morning I'd have 20 minutes after the third session. Fortunately, I don't, but if I had a half hour break between those first two sessions, I'd be hanging out in the office for a total of sixty minutes every morning. No thanks. As it is, I leave work at 10:10AM and have until 2:40PM before classes begin again. Yes, my classes begin at 7:50 in the morning. I like it. I'm an early bird. I get up at 6:25 every morning. I arrive at school 20 minutes before classes begin after a refreshing 10 min. ride on my bicycle. I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed by the time classes begin. Other teachers tend to drag themselves in a few minutes before classes begin. Generally, they're disheveled and sleepy eyed. I imagine it takes them at least one class session to get going. I pity their students. Nevertheless, to each his own.

On another note, however, I think those long breaks during the day are a big mistake. I'd prefer about an hour. You've mentioned a preference for at least 1 1/2 hr. breaks at midday. All well and good, I suppose. Actually, at this university it's 2 1/2 hrs. In fact, all over town it's at least that - sometimes three hours. Pretty common in China. So, what do we get? Four rush hours a day. That's a lot of extra pollution. Hope they figure that one out. Latest statistic? Forty-five percent of Chinese drivers now on the road have been there for only three years. We're looking at a serious environmental impact if that kind of increase stays constant.

Alright, maybe this is not the place to voice such concerns, but, hey, maybe it is; teachers, considering coming to China should take this and some other very alarming facts into consideration before making a decision to come here. Respiratory ailments are killing masses of people daily- not much publicized. Tuberculosis: 1.75 million deaths in 2007. Nearly 100,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands injured in auto accidents every year. (They don't obey the rules - 70% of all accidents are attributed to driving rules violations. Pedestrians are targets. The rule of law means nothing here, especially on the roads.) Oh well, sorry, don't mean to alarm any of you newbies. Just a word of warning. As for me, I'll be out of here in a matter of weeks. Six years is enough. I see very little in the way of positive change. Yeah, yeah, Beijing, Shanghai and all the pretty cities can dazzle you; however, don't be fooled. Danger Will Robinson!