I don't know why all you don't just concentrate on the job you were paid to do, teaching. Unless you'd had your head totally buried in the sand you would have known what China is and stands before before you agreed to take on your position...

I do understand where she is coming from even if she attacked me unintentionally. We live in a global world where everyone is connected economically. Folks who hold the closed door mentality like you only make things worse, not better. If you work in a place, it will affect you personally. Now if you wanted to provide an example for everyone to follow, you wouldn't be saying what you just said.

I mean to say you could have switched to Saudi Arabia or some other god awful place where they really know how to treat a woman. If you had done just an iota of research before deciding to come it would have been of absolutely no surprise to you at all that you would have been required to sign such a document as obviously upset your sensibilities so much- and i think you refer to the relevant part in the bog-standard contract that we all sign- did you not ask to see a contract before you made your commitment? Why on earth did you come to China?

Using Saudi Arabia to slide attention away from China's problems is pretty close minded and shows a lack of knowledge about both places. Saudi women are not treated well, but they still have a lower female suicide rate than China (not saying that makes the lives of Saudi's women any better). The lady was merely stating her Western values and emphasizing her individual opinion. You do seem to believe though that ANY foreign teacher who chooses to work in China loses their right to state anything bad about the place, so your words should be taken with just maybe a tiny pinch of salt. Also, the Chinese may very well be the most deceptive group of people when it comes to doing business in the world. It doesn't help that Western Corporations and Non-Profit entities will spend money promoting China now as the new Land of Opportunity to Westerners. Every year the Barnes and Nobles Bookstores get filled with more and more books lauding China or taking an apologetic stance on the "harmlessness" of the Communist run state. There will be only more people getting duped, and the ways of conning will get more sophisticated as more Chinese come to understand how to market themselves towards westerners. Considering she is a new poster, you should be giving her the benefit of the doubt instead of judging and judging like you have been doing since you first came on this board 6 months ago as Mancunian/Beelzebub.

As for Tibet- well, when we stop and think what lies beyond Tibet, a certain amount of sympathy should go out to the Chinese should they feel a need for a buffer-zone.

This is a pretty dangerous thing to say, as we are talking about a place that is having her culture slowly eradicated for the whims and wishes of a group (the chinese) who are not too keen on being Compassionate, Spiritual, and Cultured. You yourself were all up in arms about what I wrote as sounding too political, so you should abide by your own standards a bit and not make such an antagonistic comment.

Anyway, the previous Tibetan regime used to treat the people like shit. One thing i learned from Chinese students who would like to get shot of the communists is that most of them still see Tibet as an integral part of China- so, the government may change but their claims on Tibet and Taiwan will not change.

I think your comment would still not justify Colonialism, there is a difference between helping and taking over. Yes the lower class of Tibet were treated poorly, but Tibetans still cannot find a good standard of living these days unless they convert themselves to being Han. Yes, most Chinese view Tibet as being a part of their country due to a flawed concept of teaching history in their education system. A Chinese emperor married one of his daughters to the Tibetan King as a peace tactic for fear of having his capital overrun, so by Chinese Logic that makes Tibet a part of China. Communism didn't magically parachute into China and take over, it was supported nationally, just like every other dictatorship that has come and gone in that place due to some of the inherently corrupt, nihilistic, and close minded "values" held by the Chinese. These all start there in the Family, which is the basic group unit of any society.

Of course Taiwan is different- that's a bit like Britain demanding back America.

Not quite an accurate comparison. American did not take over the British Empire and end up losing all the land to the point where they only have the island state of Hawaii left. But at least we can agree that Taiwan is better off independent. I certainly appreciate the culture there.