In response to (Message Deleted by Poster) (John Nanchang China)

I was deemed unsuitable for teaching abroad by VSO in the spring of '94.
Dismissing that disappointment and continuing my job search, I applied for a teaching post direct to a couple of colleges in North China, and was accepted by one almost at once.
Since then until the year 2000 I've occasionally bumped into VSO in North-Eastern China, but I felt I'd little in common with them, so it has usually just been a quick hello and goodbye, interspersed with small talk.
After all, I'm very different from them, in the sense that I'm not sponsored by the British taxpayer to fly the flag. And that's what many of them are here to do.
I agree with you that it's better to be unaffiliated to groups like the British council and VSO. I reckon they'd cramp my style!