I'm sure that from the perspective of those who feel that china has virtually nothing to offer then my views do come across as being romanticized. I'm quite happy to be called a romantic, wolly liberal or any of the more sinister names that float around this board, safe in the knowledge that my own, open minded view of Chinese culture, history and language has allowed me a positive experience of china. I can't recall where I heard the analogy but I once saw a foreigners view of a different culture compared to that of an onion. Just like an onion a culture is complex and multi layered, everytime you think you've figured it out you peel back another layer to uncover a whole load of new features bizarre and scary, interesting and fascinating, good and bad. My advice to anyone who thinks they have china 'sussed' for either good or bad would be to keep on peeling.

That could have been written by a gw who worked for a training centre. Just goes to confirm what myself and drags and turnoi suspected about you all along.