Yu Ming education center

Whilst the reputation of education agencies in China are generally very poor, YuMing Education simply has to be one of the worst in Tianjin, they are an unscrupulous greedy and selfish company whose only interest is their own profit, and do not care who they hurt in the process, misinformation and lack of information is the key foundation that this company seems to be built upon.

If you look at their website, and many trillions of advertisements that are plastered all over the internet, you will see various statements, outlining the conditions they offer teachers, most of which are a pack of lies, there is very little continuity between one advert and another, whilst one promises one thing, another doesn’t.

For example, they stipulate that the holidays during the summer and winter will be approximately six weeks during the summer and four weeks during the winter. Whilst the do use the word “approximately” the truth is that the holidays are actually three months in the summer and two in the winter, that along with the Chinese national holidays throughout the year, cancelled classes due to school trips and such, means that all in all, you are looking at about six months of the year not teaching. This would be fine if they actually stuck to the other statement they make, of teachers being able to continue at their normal rate of pay during said holidays, working in one of their many teaching camps, unfortunately they don’t have teaching camps, or at least no teachers who have worked there that I’m aware of have ever had the opportunity to work in one. They did offer me some work however during this period, a couple of forty minute classes a week in a school miles away out of the city which quite frankly was just not worth the effort, and considering there is a clause in your contract which says you cannot take on any teaching work other than what YuMing give you, expect to spend a lot of time out of pocket and sat twiddling your thumbs. Some of the adverts around also state that you will be paid holiday pay during these periods too, and actually go on to state the percentage of pay that you will receive in each holiday, whilst your contract and their website do not.

They do their very best to ensure that teachers do not meet each other, I guess this is because if your alone then you are isolated, unable to discuss your problems with others in a similar situation, and therefore unlikely to do a great deal when they mess you around.

They like to hold onto important documents, like your foreign experts certificate, even your passport if they can get it from you, there have been many teachers who have ended up in trouble with the PSB, due to not having certain documents in their possession when being interviewed, or being fined and deported after YuMing have cancelled a Visa without informing the teacher, or allowed a Visa to expire that they were supposed to be renewing. An interesting point about this is that when YuMings name was mentioned at the PSB when I was there, the policeman and interviewer both looked at each other and said “YuMing Education....... AGAIN!!!” This indicates to me that they are getting a bad reputation with the authorities in Tianjin for this kind of business practice and that it must happen often.

Their communication abilities also leave a lot to be desired, in both their level of spoken and understood English and general professionalism, never have I encountered such disorganisation before. Turning up for classes at a school that have actually been cancelled without any communication from them is common, and when confronted about this they like to blame the school, stating that they were not informed themselves. Whilst I can accept that this may be the case on occasion, the amount of times this actually happens, and involving different schools, I find it difficult to believe that it was the schools who were at fault every single time.

Other things offered and stated in contracts that never occur include...

Health insurance, Chinese and/or Kung Fu lessons , Air tickets home and stated working hours not being adhered to.

If you work here and leave, and manage to actually leave without encountering serious issues with your Visa then you are probably the first. Most people end up having to travel back to their home country to start the Visa process from the very beginning again as they will not complete the release form required to change employers on most occasions, I don’t quite know the exact reason for this but no doubt it is also as twisted as everything else they practice here.

Bottom line – RUN AWAY SCREAMING – DONT WORK HERE – UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR EXPERIENCE IN CHINA TO BE A BAD ONE.