Re: Owen College, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, Mainland China.

Not entirely correct Peter...I taught off and on at Owen College since I started with Buckland Group in 2005 (I worked at another Buckland school during the semester and worked here during every semester break). I was working here in October 2005, February 2006, June/July/August 2006 and January/February 2007. I was here when C left and V took over. Shortly after I went to another Buckland school for a few months and came back (permanently) at the beginning of May 2007, at which point B&B (bed & breakfast LOL) had been officially managing the college for 3 months. So in effect, I HAVE been working for Owen College for 3 and half years albeit only in short stints during the first 18 months.
As I mentioned before, I was working here full-time at the time of the "incident" referred to by the previous poster and I did witness it so my prior college employment dates are a non-issue. I didn't see any need to go into full detail in my previous post. Anyway, if you are the Peter I think you are, where are you now? If you still have my email address we should catch up - so much has happened since you left...

Re: Owen College, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, Mainland China.

Hi Jim,

Just to clarify, we are most certainly talking about the same incident as it is the only one of its kind that has occurred at the College during my time there. It was in the summer of 2007 and yes the managers at the time have a total of 4 B's in their collective names. They had only been managing the College for 4-5 months at that point.
I never said that the foreigner was a drunk - only that he had a drinking problem which DID affect his ability to control his temper. He was from Australia (while we are not naming names I'll say that his contains 2 E's) and I knew him very well as we were actually friends for a long time both before and after the incident. I bear no animosity towards him whatsoever. In fact, there were many times when I came rather close to clocking that particular manager myself - he was too young and inexperienced. A very little man trying (and failing) to fill very big shoes. He's now making the same mistakes at another Yangshuo school.
Owen has always owned the College ever since it opened 6 years ago but he has always hired others to manage it. He also owns and manages the Buckland Group along with several other more recent endeavours.

Re: Owen College, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, Mainland China.

"From my personal experience, this man once assaulted a foreign teacher with an empty beer bottle"

This is completely false. First of all, this is not from YOUR "personal experience" as you were most certainly not present at the time of this incident. Only 6 people were present at the time, myself included.
I have been working at Owen College for Owen Buckland (the ONLY owner - past and present - of Owen College) for 3 and half years. Owen owns the college but does not manage it. Management has changed hands 3 times since I began at the college in 2005 and I will concede that previous managers have been seriously lacking in both skills and experience. However, our most recent manager (who took over the role in March of this year) is absolutely fantastic and we are all looking forward to a long and happy future together. He brought with him a team of staff who have been working together for several years and our current team of teachers has been in place for more than a year and will remain so for quite some time to come.
The previous manager (the one involved in the "incident" I referred to earlier) DID NOT assault a foreign teacher with anything. The foreign teacher in question had previously been employed at the school but was asked to leave because of a drinking problem and he was unable control his temper in the classroom, upsetting many students.
At the time of the incident, the "teacher" was unemployed as other schools had also hired and subsequently fired him for the same reason. He had been asked repeatedly to stay away from the college as he had been harassing several of our female students. He had also taken to carrying a large stick around with him and threatening people with it. He had followed one of the girls to the school, shouting and threatening (the girl was in tears), and our previous manager stepped in to diffuse the situation. The FOREIGNER assaulted our manager by shoving him against the school bus. Our manager was simply preparing to defend himself when he picked up the empty bottle but he NEVER touched the foreigner. Thankfully, the problem was resolved without any further incident.
As mentioned before, I have been working with Owen for three and half years and have no intention of severing that association in the foreseeable future. I have no hesitation in recommending him as an employer and will happily provide a reference or further information to anyone interested in working for the Buckland Group. Owen will provide my email address (upon request) to any new applicants. Anyone doubting my foreign ethnicity is welcome to check both the Owen College and Buckland websites for current teacher photos and profiles.

Owen College, Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, Mainland China.

I advise anyone who is thinking of working at Owen College in Yangshuo to stay well clear. One of the owners has been described as a psycopath by many Yangshuo Ex-pats. From my personal experience, this man once assaulted a foreign teacher with an empty beer bottle and refused to pay a Chinese teacher's salary for two months. She later walked away. Again, you will be working illegaly on an F visa. Typical China.............