Yes, they are indeed the worst kind sir... I think we all know of a few potential foreign snitches that even post on here. However, the good guys like yourself still exist.

However, I am actually referring more to Chinese staff and 拍马屁. Such foreigners may try, but are ultimately not so skilled as the Chinese when it comes to this. Maybe Dragonized, you could do a far better job of trying to explain this as your Chinese level and understanding of the culture is probably far higher than mine.

I personally think that the concept of 拍马屁 is a far more complicated thing than the traditional Western office snitch, back-stabber or whatever. It can be a form of behaviour that takes place amongst all employees (unfortunately, I think that everybody has to do it in China to an extent because bills have to be paid), but certain ones do it better than others. I also know of some more modern Chinese managers that can see through this and therefore appreciate a bit more honesty as opposed to the usual false praise from you during a private conversation.

By observing the local employees from a safe distance, one can quickly learn who is really sucking up to their boss for the sake of job security and potential promotions. You can also find out who didn't really get their job based upon any form of merit and is probably the cousin or other relative of somebody who is powerful (and therefore practically untouchable). Sometimes, when you are in management positions, you can even find that you have to be a little creative to get such disruptive and useless people to leave their token jobs.

No matter whether you are on the side of good or evil, I think that all foreigners need to be aware of this concept in China.