It just behooves me when I read crap like this. I myself have lived in dangerous neighborhoods in my life in the west and I have been harassed and threatened. I was bullied like hell in the USA when I was younger due to low self esteem and constantly being the "new" kid on the block since my family was moving around a lot. I also used to buy into the notion that china is "greener" and that this country was going to be more civilized and richer and have more opportunities and yada yada yada. That is until I actually worked, lived, and experienced the quality of people who live there and was able to make a fair comparison.

Here's the bottom line: In the free market world that we live in, the west still has the best overall education, the best job opportunities, the best systems of law, and the best business opportunities, and any of the safest western neighborhoods trumps the safest chinese neighborhoods hands down. Any investment with international credibility that goes into a 3rd world country starts in the west. I read in an Midwest American newspaper recently about the chinese bringing in an extra dozen or so jobs to the states due to some rich chinese businessmen investing. Well American jobs (millions of them) going to china was yesterday's news. What took you guys so freaking long, man? I thought we lived in a world of altruism and reciprocity...hahahaha. I guess it depends on competence too, doesn't it?

I don't know about you, but I would NOT be proud about telling my kid that his/her country is the "cheap labor" factory of the world. Sure the lack of freedom in china can mean that everything is controlled as much as possible which makes some folks feel more secure. I say it sucks to be most of you. I also will finish by adding that most of the expats who I have met overseas that talk like this either: 1. Cannot understand chinese very well so they live in a blissfully ignorant state of mind. 2. Benefited directly from the chinese system from some backhanded, corrupt way of doing business in each of their own respective lives. The former don't know what they're talking about even if they have lived in china for a long time (I have spoken with folks who lived on Canal Street which is Chinatown in New York City all their lives and still can't speak passable English). The latter obviously have no trouble lying and beating the same drum over and over and over again.

Of course, the 3rd option in this case would be that we have been arguing with people who hate the West immensely and want nothing more than to see its demise, and they will do anything possible to make that happen. Even if it's pretending to be an "expat" who has "lived" or "worked" in china for a long time.

I try to ignore posts like these but knowing how I was mislead and had my logic scrambled by statements such as these in the past I just feel like the person who makes these types of comments operates more on emotional whims rather than empirical logic.

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Hello, Happy forthcoming New Year to you Dragonized.

You seem to be well-versed on all the ills of China and its people, those both living in China, and elsewhere. I am sure that you are right about many of those ills; maybe, I have never felt the need to build up the type of knowledge in detail that you have appeared to have acquired; you must have worked very hard at it.

However, I don't really think I have made myself clear, so, I'll now try. When I am in China, I can't cloud my thoughts with anything much beyond, how is China for me and for other Western people? (I will confirm that I believe life is not too good for many of it's own people and also many other non-native English speaker FT's(All of whom should not be teaching English but that's down to the Chinese, so it is not a concern for me) I am bound to say that for the average Westerner working in China, life is very good, and also considerably safer than back home(on the dole). You were here for a long while yourself, yes? Why did you endure it?

There are quite a few FT's whose experience in China, hasn't been a happy one. One of their reactions seems to be the reverse of trying to make things happier and to actively donate all their waking hours into finding any possible wrong in the Chinese as they can collate. It might be more sensible if we stick to, how is China for the FT, instead of concerning oneself in a spectrum of politics and everything else which is not for the FT oral English teacher to sort out; ask Mr Obama to do that?

Most FT's I have met have been very happy working in China, and many many of those many, have expressed a dread of the day when they would have to return to the West.