"I don't think the girls are so gorgeous or more beautiful than say latin or russian girls, but each to their own, my main problem with Chinese girls is they lack curves, but horses for courses."

Well, it could be horses for courses, if maybe like Silverboy you are looking for one to adorn hearth and home, in which case it might be prudent to go for "nearer the bone the sweeter the meat, since the problem with curvy ones is curves often become big fat and ugly; however, a summer romance may allow one to chose curvy with impunity-either way i like to see a good set of teeth-watch wot they eat with them teeth mind, because the trouble with Chinese food is it'll give her a breath that'll make a hyena retch. In conclusion I suppose, like anyfink else we acquire we have to make a careful choice and ask ourselves {wot do I need it for? how long has it got to last? will it be a millstone around my neck? cost effective?} there's a lot to take into consideration.

Always best to avoid working for a school like YORK if you want to build up a good relationship with a young lady, they will soon start interfering and queer your pitch if they see you getting overfriendly.

Yep, you are right, they'll even side with one of their own even if you've treated them well and the other person's treated them like rubbish-although, I suppose we have to try and understand that we can escape which isn't the option for many Chinese on 1000 RMB or less. We can easily get another job and get through a bad York School type experience.

On the bright side the Chinese girls are gorgeous, don't you think? The food?.....you can survive on it as long as you don't mind monosodium glutamate(MSG) which they ladle out with gay abandon. The students always ask you if you like Chinese food- my answer is always "it tastes really bad!" I like to see their little faces. I always cook my own grub in China-also bake my own bread, so I have to make sure an oven (little one) is included, from Tesco or Carrefour in my contract. Even if you can get bread it's always too dry.

Baijiu, I can't get enough of it, which is just as well because I'm always being invited out by leaders- I generally stick to prawns and peanuts on these occasions since the round glass table looks like it's laden with the sort of stuff the Klingons eat in Star Trek.

No, never get involved in politics- i personally think they have a pretty fair government-no mean fete handling two billion people.

Lots of good things in China as long as you leave the classroom in the classroom and desist from working for crappy outfits like YORK SCHOOL.

Just saying that one thing you may think trivial, will never be forgotten. I recall a place I was teaching where I somehow slighted the girl responsible for the admin of the students, or the counsellor, memory a bit hazy...end of the college year came along, no send off dinner, no goodbye, thank you very much, just left to go on my merry way, which wasn't a problem, I'm independent and don't care for their validation...but it did set me thinking as to the group culture, and how if you offend one chinese person no matter how indirectly or even over a trivial thing, it blows up into you VS them...one reason I can never feel at home in such a place, and I hear South Korea and Japan are worse, unless anyone can comment otherwise?!

Bear in mind this can cause the loss of face so valuable in Confucian cultures

I think we should bear in mind that it wasn't so long ago that Confucius and his cronies from Qufu were given the Big E and eradicated from Chinese culture at the stroke of a hat; so, I pay scant regard to Confucian sensitivities. We all get all unnecessary and sensitive when giving advice and subsequently/consequently being told to sod off, I see no reason why Chinese teachers should be any different, or that I should make any special allowances, bearing in mind a dubiously engrained Confucian element in the culture, now all of twenty years old.

If you haven't you should do the Confucian Pilgrimage up Tai shan, or as we say Mount Taishan (note the redundant word mount) You'll come down muttering all sorts of wise fings like "Confucius he say, man with big belly should not put too many noodles in Wok" or in Chinese "Kongzi shuo da duzi de ren bu yinggai yici zuo taiduo fan."

If I get (as I will) any attempts to lecture me from little Chinese teachers, I cut them short and tell them to mind their own businesses-I even ban them from the classroom sometimes.

Bear in mind this can cause the loss of face so valuable in Confucian cultures, and non renewal of contract, perhaps, even loss of employment. Different ball game in China, tread carefully, but lots of jobs to choose from so I never really gave a flying monkey...although I'll admit it did suck being lectured, would they like us to do the same to them....hmmmm?

"Certainly not me. Entertain them, and be happy while making them happy, get your priorities right."

I know where you're coming from; however, I try to do some good teaching, otherwise I feel I'm pandering to, money-grabbing FT agencies (mainly your employer if you work in state schools) evil education centres, bloodsucking leaders in many universities etceteras- all of which want you to entertain rather than teach. There seems to be lots of brownie points for teaching bad and amusing English like "kick ass/arse" brown nose, when we should be teaching standard English-try ingratiate. I have no intentions of ingratiating myself by giving over completely to leaders and bosses where the emphasis is on making money.

When i arrive in my next university the first classes will all be laying down my rules-no mobiles or electronic dictionaries-no talking(I throw students out if they persist) no swanning in and out of the classroom-my name is MR-(you don't call your Chinese teacher by her first name) I will get some grief but they won't sack me. I don't care, I only teach 14-16 classes a week, well, I wouldn't expect any longer hours for 5000 RMB.

If I get (as I will) any attempts to lecture me from little Chinese teachers, I cut them short and tell them to mind their own businesses-I even ban them from the classroom sometimes.

"Most Chinese students do not have the maturity or intellect to guage whether or not an FT's teaching style and methodology is effective or not."

I'm supposed to be enjoying my holiday in Thailand, which I am; however, the wailing and gnashing of teeth on these sites can be a bit addictive ,I find.

I think I would agree with Kevin's sentiment-in China I have often found that the best way of being popular and getting good feedback from the students is actually by not being a very good teacher at all, but rather by being a good white monkey entertainer.

Mostly us FT's are not employed in China for our teaching skills (most of us wouldn't get jobs cleaning out the toilets in our own countries), we are largely employed for promotional reasons. This can make life very uncomfortable, especially in crap training centres where if you try and teach well you run the risk of upsetting your students and consequently taken to task by your employers, fined and even sacked and labelled as a bad teacher to boot. This can even happen in universities where bums on seats are cash for leaders, just the same. (good universities are better-many crap ones however)

At the end of the day you can't actually blame students for a bad attitude to good FT's, it's not their fault if their leaders have little interest in their learning good English, and more interested in keeping them happy and entertained by white monkey FT's. Chinese students do not dare to treat their own Chinese teachers with the same contempt they often show towards FT's.

I do not know how to be a good teacher and a popular one in China-I just settle for being a bit unpopular and completely disregarding any criticism. Not that I'm a top teacher but I try my best.

I would love to see the testemonials of those students, as if they would have anything substantial or productive to contribute. Most Chinese students do not have the maturity or intellect to guage whether or not an FT's teaching style and methodology is effective or not. Out of all the Chinese students I have taught, I would only consider only 15 to 20 per cent to be extremely bright, about five per cent could be considered outstanding. The fact that you would ask students about the effectiveness of FT's shows you have no credibility. Most Chinese students are not that intelligent. The Chinese may have a beautiful language, and some aspects of this culture are interesting, but all this talk about China becoming a great world power is nonsense, the current rate of economic growth is just a flash in the pan, it will not last. The current crop of dummies studying at Chinese schools and universities certainly does not bode well for China's future. The Chinese Government should focus on cleaning up the environment, and providing better infrastructure for its towns and cities. This is what will really provide Chinese with a better standard of living