Confessions of a Foreign Teacher In China – A Timely Warning For All…

So you want to teach in China? Don’t! That’s the advice of 79% of American, Canadian, British, and Aussie teachers according to a recent survey taken by the China Foreign Teachers Union of 500 foreign teachers in Beijing and Shanghai. Here are the top 10 reasons cited:

1) You will be the lowest paid foreigner in China struggling to stay afloat as inflation eats away your paltry paycheck. ($20 an hour is average)

2) You will be targeted by a dozen fraudsters and fake agents every year and believing just one of them can make your life a living hell.

3) Most of your own Chinese employers will milk you for every free overtime hour and lesson plan possible as they scheme devious and creative ways to delay or avoid paying you in full.

4) You will have zero privacy in a world where everything is monitored and where due to low wages you will be forced to live with one or two roommates in an apartment that averages 120 square meters and where rent must be paid 3 months in advance.

5) Learning Chinese is extremely difficult which makes daily life awkward and way too “challenging” with too many “misunderstandings” that always cost YOU money.

6) The air quality just sucks, especially in the winter months when coal plants make you gag and cough without respite.

7) Noise 24/7 – from continuous horn-honking to loud-speaking Chinese who think restaurants were all made just for them as they fill the entire building with clouds of cigarette smoke (most are chain smokers) and lots of decibels.

8) As a foreigner you will charged much more for everything than locals except water and electricity.

9) If you are anything but white in China, you will learn about racism first hand as you walk down the street and realize crosswalks are only decorations that have zero to do with pedestrian safety. BTW… You can walk faster than most traffic here or squeeze into a subway designed for 50 people along with 120 others who get up close and face to face with you. Need more space. Don’t brush your teeth for a week.

10) Unless you like drinking, cheap hookers, and singing in Karoake bars, you will not make enough money to enjoy any other nightly entertainment so you can watch five stations in English that are regularly censored.

Interesting the other 21% who claim they admit the above is all true, still say they have found a way to adapt, and 95% of this 21% get by with the help of a partner they met here. So if you have a low tolerance for frustration, and a need for discretionary income, you might be better off looking at Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, and Japan all of which pay wages that are three to five times more than China without all the scamming and employer abuse. For those that think I am exaggerating, visit the link below and think twice before wasting your money on an airplane ticket unless you’re coming to see the Great Wall and some other fantastic historical sites. Indeed, China is a great place…to visit.

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/articles/blogs-beijing/expat-life/scam-alert-foreign-teacher-fraud/