"3. One of my major problems with the school: They did not seem to make any effort in hiring a competent foreign liaison. In fact, my dealings with one FL, "Catherine" (to avoid giving away her real Chinese name,) was the worst Chinese person I had the mis-pleasure of meeting in my two years in China. She failed in being professorial, responsible, kind, patient, amongst many other things. For example, one day, when I was about to sign the contract in front of her, I had a few questions for her. They were legitimate, sincere and honest questions. I wanted to ask for more details on "breach of contract" (this comes into play later), force majeure and what was meant by "acceptable living standards." I asked the third question first and was met with extreme rudeness. She scoffed and gave me an awful look as she said "You ask too many questions, just sign the contract!" I was unable to ask the first two questions. Maybe that is for the better, as judging from her overall performance throughout her one year tenure, she probably did not know. But she could have at least directed me to someone who did know (again, judging from her overall performance, this was not likely either). She warned me another time about asking questions too. Well excuse me for growing up in a culture that values questions."

A very interesting post. Thanks for having the guts to share this all with us.

NEVER expect sympathy or compassion from Chinese FAO's/FL's. I was fired twice while in China, once because they simply failed to get my visa in a proper manner (thus forcing me to return home), and once because I found it impossible to get along with the FAO, and all the time I got the feeling they actually enjoyed it.

Your point about all the chinese teachers having nice cars is so true. Likewise the FL not respecting your culture. I find it quite astonishing that a developing country like China has so many arrogant people. It is nothing more than India with high speed trains IMHO, bar a couple of the more modern financial centre cities. Once you see the real China, it is nothing like Chinadaily or CCTV9 likes to bleat about.

People have been warned now. If you work for these scumbags you are a mug.