Silverboy, are you pulling legs or what? Mine are hairy :) Come on! The foreign managers on mainland China are puppets because they've chosen to be. It comes with their employment agreements. Follow the trend as there are fewer foreign faces in management than before. Not only that is related to the strong traditionalism here but also to some local regulations that call for locals to manage the foreign or local workers in education. We are not to tell the local teachers what or how to teach regardless if a highschool dropout or Phd foreigner that is. So, what are we sweating here? Just do as you are told and if you don't like it pack your belongings to teach and travel. Too bad they've got their SAFEA things here which may even prevent you from traveling so much.
Cheers and beers to western vs eastern management techniques :LOL