They say that diplomacy is the only true art form. Perhaps something worth remembering next time you're in a similar situation in any country.

Were you there? Have you taken into thought, not that you have enough experience to know this from what you have posted but the way the Chinese will speak to others whom they feel as being predictable or below them will ruffle the feathers of just about anyone no matter where they may be from. "Diplomacy" only works with like minded individuals who actually will see you as a fellow human being. You sound naive.

My definition of an English corner is that it is a student organized and student lead event that is open to anyone to attend and talk freely about any subject they wish.

Your definition is pretty off base from what me and other teachers have been through with regards to English corners. English corners are NEVER run by students, not any that I have ever seen and I have seen plenty in several parts of China. At any privately run training center or International High School these things are never on the agendas of the expat teachers, but are rather the ideas of the Managers and Director who want to attract more potential customers. Teachers cannot do any real teaching at these events and they are subjected to tolerating the outrageous behaviors of spoiled children who may or may not have parents watching. Whether the parents are watching or not they usually do nothing about the discipline problem. As a teacher you cannot punish the students properly if they misbehave unless you want to incur the wrath of your boss. This is a useless event designed to waste the good time of teachers.

The ideal place for it to happen is outside on a busy corner of the campus where passers by may drop in and out as they wish. If your school is telling you (the teacher) to prepare for and organize English corners then you are probably being stitched up into teaching what is more like an extra oral english class. My advice would be to take a pro-active approach to the situation and offer to help the students get the ball rolling on setting up an English corner that takes place at a specific location at a specific time every week.

The "pro-active approach" that you talk about should be completely voluntary on the part of the teacher. If the teacher does not see english corners as a good way for students to learn English then they shouldn't not have to be burdened with organizing something such as this. Any management who thinks English Corners are a good idea should also pay the teachers extra for doing it if it is not stated in the contract specifically that teachers must do this, unfortunately I have never seen any place do this private or public.

This is certainly how English corners operate at my uni. I attend about 50% of them for anywhere between 10mins and 2hours. This was at the request of students and I was happy to oblige them on the understanding that this was still 'their thing' and that I'm going along to support their efforts.

You can talk about this as if it was the student's idea all you like, but in the end they came to see you and you are the main reason why they would come. If you are happy to have them use you to further their english then that is your choice, but not all teachers want to do something like this. Students should always respect the teacher's opinions and how they want to allocate their own times first and foremost, it's not the other way around.

The events themselves are well attended and sometimes there are some heated debates on genuinely interesting topics. They are very useful for the students oral English.

Sure, there is the chance that if the English level is good enough you might get interesting things that are stated, sometimes. Interesting though is up to one's own opinions as what is interesting to you may not be to me. From my own experiences even at the university level there is usually only 1 or 2 students in every class of 40 - 50 students who's English levels are good enough to carry any sort of basic debate. There cannot be full use of English if there is an actual debate going on. The fact that so few students would participate while many looked on and listened means most students are still not actually speaking English. In other words these events only benefit a few, not most.

It's interesting how rarely the interests of students get mentioned on this 'teachers' board.

We could debate this all week and all month, but I will bring out my bottom line point which is that if the needs of the teacher aren't met first, how can the teacher care enough to worry about the interests of the students? Our jobs first and foremost are to insure that the lessons we prepared and the textbooks given to us are used and instructed first and foremost in the classroom. It is not our job to cater to the student's needs outside of the classroom. There are enough posts on this board as well as others for you to read and if you really did read them you should know by now that in a foreign country where English isn't the primary language that is used most people will not care enough about actually knowing you as a person. As a foreign teacher I find myself sharing company with expats whom I wouldn't hang out with back home due to differing values and opinions, but you don't have much of a choice when you are overseas. This ESL Teacher's Board has been a great place for me as well as for others to come and share our opinions and help each other through difficult times, and if you cannot find the appreciation on this site you are best served going elsewhere.