I can certainly relate to any teacher who has had to cope with colour prejudice in China . As I've mentioned before, I've experienced prejudice from Chinese schools in this regard, myself. Yes, the old excuses given to many Africans is, "the students can't understand your accent... you're not a native speaker etc...". Yet as Akem and others have mentioned, many non-native speaking whites, with appalling English are welcomed with open arms, sometimes in preference to black NATIVE-speakers from the states and the U.K etc.

Why?

There's no denying skin colour comes into the equation. Many Chinese associate native speakers with white skin. The more white you are the better you speak English, right? While more and more Chinese every day are learning that this is not the case, it's still often all down to image. Erik from Sweden may have poorer English and teaching skills than Kwame from Africa, but he LOOKS more like a native speaker than Kwame, and we all know that image is a lot more important to many Chinese than content and substance!

Also many Chinese people associate white skin with beauty. The whiter your skin is the more beautiful you are. Yeah right, have you met my ex back in London? (Only kidding!). Akem is also right on the ball with the contempt many Chinese have for Africans because they're from a "poor and undeveloped" continent. So "Africans can't teach us English" they say, because "they're poor and uneducated". In ESL, white sells!

Prejudice in China goes deeper than skin colour though. It's not so much the skin colour, it's more about what it REPRESENTS. I know it sucks compared to NBA, but has anybody ever sat down and watched CBA (Chinese basketball)on TV in China? Have you noticed that virtually every proffesional team has one or two foreign players? Have you also noticed what colour 99% of those foreigners are? I'll give you a clue, They're not yellow and they're not white. Who do many Chinese believe to be generally stronger, more agile and more able to jump higher, (a belief that is still sometimes propagated in the WEST even today)? Who can argue that Chinese basketball teams actually prefer to employ blacks over whites because when it comes to sport, especially THAT sport, BLACKS fit the image and will bring in more money. Yes it's all about money!

I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard about Chinese people not being able to acquire work because they're not tall, slim, or beautiful enough etc., to bring enough money into the company. Image seems to mean EVERYTHING to many Chinese people. It's not about the colour of skin, it's about the colour of MONEY!

Having said all that, I still think that as time goes by everyday, and with the Chinese getting to know more foreigners and acquiring more experience, more opportunities are opening up for blacks. As more and more blacks are given the opportunity to teach and do a good job, then things will snowball. So whatever your colour don't give up. Believe in yourself, your skills and ability, and keep getting up and sending out those resumes!

I realise that although black, I am a native-speaker with a British passport, and so cannot fully relate to the experience of an African or other non-native black teacher. What I can say is that I've met quite a few Africans teaching during my time in China.

Forget the prejudiced people. Who wants to work for those kind of people anyway? There are still plenty of schools willing to give opportunities to blacks. Concentrate on bigger cities where people are more open, educated and aware, for instance places like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.