sadly enough, many chinese that have learnt or are studying english do not seem to be interested in their pronunciation improvements anymore. from my experience, they do not study pronunciation in their primary or secondary schools, and, in fact, the chinese english teachers lead all their students on to believing the pronunciation or intonation aren't as important. to my knowledge, in nanning (guanxi) the public school teachers of english were not even allowed to teach intonation. so, most if not all of my elementary and intermediate students from local high schools that were planning to join the western unis had great pronunciation issues. their word stress and pitches when saying the whole sentences was just so much like their native language...no wonder why.

trying to do your job may ironically cost you the job. one of my former coworkers has tried to improve the students' pronunciation and also has done the intonation exercises, although he was not as appreciated. he stayed on the job for just about a year and a half there. students out of these public schools often feel uncomfortable when a foreign teacher directs them into some standard ways of pronunciation and when the intonation is pointed out many local students just do not see the importance of it. they may even confront you on the issue of the necessary pitches when they're messing up their whole sentences and that no matter how much descretion you may use with them.

the foundation of education on mainland is well known for cutting corners and leading students to exams ONLY. there aren't any english language speaking exams in chinese public sector as far as i know..well, unless you are majoring in english. and i've done some of these so called speaking exams at a teachers' college, and never been asked to pay attention to the issues pointed out in this thread.

cheers and beers to the chinese english speakers "singing" english to us :)