Was it the extra cash, or was it your options having been greatly reduced on account of your age?

At what age would that be then, when you are over 60 but can still be employed illegally, or over say 30 when the students find you too old to relate to? When can you expect to earn less on account of your age? It wouldn't surprise me if schools want to hire 21 year old teachers as opposed to 31 year old/or old enough to be their dads for the the juniors. I suppose a professor like Turnoi is exempt from this age consideration and can get a uni job in Beijing aged 92 and in a wheelchair like Hawkins.

I was mainly talking about FTs aged between 55 and 59. They are eligible to be employed legally, but many Chinese employers don't want to employ them because of health concerns. That said, pupils, their parents and students have great influence on an FT's continuing employment. I'm sure that there have been many FTs who taught reasonably well who have been sacked unfairly over the years because of this.

Job security is more likely to be in place in the public education sector than in the private education sector. Not much point spending a lot of money to get to China to teach, and subsequently be sacked within a couple of months of taking up a teaching post.