The best research won't cover the numerous lies that plenty of sellout expats such as the one you're responding to will tell you. The first job I had in China my soon to be manager who was a middle aged american told me all sorts of things about how my life would be when I went to China. This was Aston, and back in 2007 you would not have found too much bad news about this company on the internet without a considerable amount of liars telling you how good it really is. Of course, going there I found out the hard way how I was duped. They still owe me money.

What I have found working in China is that the older expat teachers are mostly not too caring nor do they know anything about the inner workings of how the Chinese do business and how they plan as well as execute their methods of exercising control over you. However when the shit hits the fan and a few expat teachers speak out they get irritated at the others for disturbing the nest so to speak. What they want is to be taken care of, and they don't really see themselves as having any control over their own lives. You really want to ask yourself, is this who I want to become when I get older? I can certainly draw some useful life lessons from them, and it motivates me all the more to take the stand that I am taking. One most notably is to always stand up for yourself.