Hi,

I am an Australian. I lived and worked in Shenzhen for 3 1/2 years. It was difficult to say the least. I am not a feminist but in the past have been accused of being a misogynist. So in response I coined the word "misandronist" - a woman who fervently dislikes males, hates them, to be more precise. But what has feminism got to do with KIS school and the way it is managed?

As far as Australians and/or Canadians being bad to deal with I can agree, as I have been done in by them too. But I've been done in by many people in China. My theory is that China being a nonreligious culture then it attracts immoral, or amoral people. Chinese "authorities" actively suppress religions as they see them as a threat to their own religion; Marxism. Yet in actual activity they are no different to any "fundamentalist" religion, or even Catholicism. They do not demand loyalty, they just illegalise any other religion or organised political group, or grassroots movement with those similar goals or aspirations.

China is now, and always has been, a collective of warring factions. It is operating as yet another dynasty, the CPPC dynasty. But I suggest to say that conditions under the present dynasty have been almost the best in the past 1500 years if not the best in Chinese history for the majority of people. China has always been ruled by central governments, and they have come and gone, and been located n various places, just as they have throughout the world, throughout history.

I must say also that I have been ripped off and discriminated against in my home country also. That's life.

KIS never wanted me as a teacher; lucky me!!! But I did have a look at it one time and warning bells went off as soon as I entered the school grounds. KIS is not actually in Shenzhen, though it is located in a county of Shenzhen. It is in Bo'an, the former capital which was down graded and replaced with Shenzhen. Bo'an is an ancient city in Chinese history where as Shenzhen was merely a village and is insignificant in Chinese history until very recently. It gained notoriety during "the Cultural Revolution" where millions went to try to escape to Hong Kong. I recall, vividly, in the 1960s of TV live footage of masses of people along the fences bordering Hong Kong at Shenzhen begging to be let out.
Then the Cultural Revolution is alive and well in China today more than ever before, they just made it socially acceptable, less in your face. Yet, many provinces are reviving their past by reimplementing common use of their local languages by media broadcast. You may not have noticed that. Further evidence of the continuing Cultural Revolution was the eradication of almost all of "the hutongs" in Beijing that displaced the long time residents, scattering them far and wide. The hutongs were a hotbed of radicals. Such was the same in Bo'an. Do you ever wonder why Chinese allow such draconian enterprises such as KIS or Foxconn operate in China? Why do the people of the USA allow the US Federal Reserve operate, or the Council on Foreign Relations? Why do all "former" British Commonwealth countries have "a Governor General"?

Did you ever wonder why foreign teacher salaries have remained static since before SARS? Yet, schools have made more money than ever before and the cost of living has gone through the roof! KIS's recent advertised salaries were the same as they were when they first started???!!!

I know why. We teachers are not organised. We are desperate, rugged individuals, escapists, tourists, whorists, anthropologists, lost, etc. Chinese salaries are on the rise. Chinese have houses and cars and holiday in the Maldives. Factory workers in Guangdong now have salaries higher than the average foreign teacher salary throughout China, plus they have sick pay and portable retirement funding and portable Social Security, likewise in many other locations. EF and Wall Street, and the like, have not increased teacher pay since 2003!!! They are franchises and pay their fees to foreign Joint Venture corporations based in Tax Free Offshore havens.

Get with it teachers, English is one of the biggest Nett Profit Industries in China, we get about 5% of the Gross Turnover!!! In 2003 it was estimated to be USD$32Billion!!!
It is all designed that we fight amongst ourselves.

If the weather doesn't change it will stay the same.