How bad could it be? Yes, I accepted a public school contract with them for 6000 RMB per month, but soon after I arrived at their Beijing location, they put a contract in front of me for 1500 RMB per month, $300 per month. Not a lot, but it was more than the 800 RMB per month they paid their Chinese staff. Thank God they provided a lunch every day, a small bowl of noodles, for I couldn't afford to eat. I didn't want to get and exchange any money at the airport due to the poor rate. When I asked them, begged them for help on where I could use my home country ATM card, they were reluctant to help me. This is how slavery starts.

Lily Yang, the curriculum and instruction head, was the most negative person I had ever met. Since she taught Chinese in L.A. for a year or two, she knew everything about everything and didn't pull any punches when relating about how much she hated foreigners. Before I got into the 70-strong classroom, I watched a video of the ideal teacher: a smug Yank who gave a lesson on how to answer "How are you?" Sounds simple enough, but the textbook Yang had chosen had half a dozen grammatical points per chapter plus obscure trivia (Teddy Boys) in every chapter. She made me re-do my intro lesson plan seven times and was still malcontent even when I included everything that she demanded. Also, Zhongjie requires that you make up statutory holidays, even if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday, like the past Christmas and New Year's Day. As luck would have it, I ran across the Delta Airlines office in a building that also had a bank where my ATM card worked. So, I bought a ticket out. Yes, many Chinese are getting fantastically wealthy, but it is a shame that their moral evolution has not kept pace with their economic growth.