I was lured to China for a teaching position at this school in Tangshan by a recruiting outfit called GEVU (a LOT more on this outfit in my next post). Their ads read BeiJing normal universty internatioal acdamica exchange center This should have been my first clue.

Dont let the name fool you their stated affiliation with Beijing Normal University is a myth although they do have a little office a few blocks away. I am told that this deception of paying for the right to use a reputable??? schools name is common practice in China. They are not a school but a couple of jerks named Victor and Simon masquerading as one. What they really do is get your name on a contract and then farm you out to different schools

My grief with them started early - they were an hour late picking me up at the airport, and it turned out that the person who was to pick me up didnt even exist. Ditto for the job it didnt exist either but they did have one in their sister school in Handan. They went on to tell me that since they did not think their current teacher in Handan was entertaining enough (their words), I could do some demo lessons and perhaps if I was entertaining enough, replace him. I informed them in my firmest voice that I did not spend $1600cad to fly half way around the world to do demo lessons either I had a job or drop me off at the closest hotel. okayokayokay. I came to realize that this does not mean okay it just means that they will drop the matter for today only.

Things went down hill from there

The contract I negotiated through GEVU before coming was worthless. Their ads state a salary of 6000RMB to 8000RMB when in fact you will be paid perhaps 4500 to 4800

The Z visa facilitation I was promised turned out to be an offer to introduce me to some black market parasites that, at best, could get me an F visa at my expense. When I asked what they would do to help me, should I be rousted out of bed some night and threatened with deportation for teaching illegally, all I got was a silent blank stare. This was their response to most of my questions.

When I packed my bags and left they seemed genuinely surprised and frantically talked about how this was just a misunderstanding and yes okayokayokay

These are people to avoid - contracts are worthless, they are not a school, they are not licensed to hire foreigners and so cannot get you a Z visa although they promise they can.

I can be contacted at englishtutor01@yahoo.ca