What a riveting debate. That's why I'm leaving Korea because of all the negativity that I hear from Foreign teachers. The fact is people take advantage of people where ever you go. The more desperate their situation is, the more likely it is to happen. I imagine a secondary city in China, with an influx of migrant workers is a place where that can happen.
Having said that I was taken advantage of by Target, who cheated me a paycheck when I worked for them in high school, and I was harassed by a bully of a boss at Home Depo while in college. Still I'm not negative about my country, and I'm not going to let a few nasty or desperate people make me feel negative about any other country either. I've met plenty of mean spirited, xenophobic people in Korea and I've also met many open minded, kind people. In fact, I've even met kind, xenophobic people, and mean, open minded people. I believe part of our role as ESL teachers is to break down cultural stereotypes, not to create our own ones.
Please people stop focusing on the negative, stop harassing people for being positive, and for goodness sake, stop expecting a country that has 5000 years of culture to have more entertainment venues sutiable for bored foreigners. What does that mean anyway? I don't have the same hobbies as my Canadian or British colleagues. I didn't choose to live in a different country so I could eat Burger King, go to the cinema and do tequila slammers while hitting on babes in a nightclub. I came to gather an insight into this part of the world and an insight into myself by not having my culture cocooning me. I'm so happy I ditched my colleagues in Korea that first week. 10 months later I can read and write hangul, speak elementary Korean, cook several delicous Korean dishes. I also have a black belt in tae kwon do, and have hiked all over this beautiful country. I'm not bragging I'm just showing you what positive thinking and accepting a foreign culutre can bring to you.
Best of luck people, best of luck...

It's not necessarily the people themselves that are hostile to foreigners...most are indeed nice enough. Some places in the hinterlands of China, though, are not quite as far removed from the Cultural Revolution bad old days. Here, school administrations, government bureaus, and so on can make life a lot more uncomfortable and be a lot more suspicious in its attitudes toward foreign workers.

People who don't look down on Chinese CAN have problems here. It happens all the time. This is not exactly a nation of saints....

As for boring...it's all in what you make it. For many foreigners who come to China, about the only reliable entertainment they can find are bars, DVDs, and possibly girls. A lot of expats here would KILL for a good conversation in real English. Most TV, movies in theatres, books, newspapers, and other such accustomed diversions will be incomprehensible if you aren't pretty salty in Chinese. Places like Shijiazhuang just don't offer much for foreigners to do.

Some people can keep their spirit of adventure alive and have fun in such environments. Many more just start feeling isolated, lonely, and bored there and can't wait to get out. Which kind you are...you can only judge for yourself.

I started my time in China in more remote, isolated cities before moving to places that had more people to talk to and things to do. In the big picture it was a fascinating experience, but a lot of the actual hours were pretty dull. I'm glad I started out there in "The Real China", because I can't imagine ever going back there now.

I worked in Shijiazhuang for more than 2years and for Shijiazhuang Railway Institute from 2005 to 2006. They were very nice. No problem with salary. We worked as a family at that time with 4 foreign teachers. I am now working in Suzhou - Jiangsu. You can reach me on +86 15895413713 or esl_teacher2008@yahoo.com for more info.

I don't know the school, but know enough about Shijiazhuang to be able to say you might want to consider not going there. Polluted, ugly, dirty, boring, and often rather hostile to foreigners. It's not quite the bottom of the barrel, but it's getting close.