I recently (July 2006) posted this reply to someone who inquired about this school and thought I should put it in a more visible place. Hopefully it is a helpful anecdote of my true experience. Peace.

re: Xi'an Int'l Univ.

By: Teacher A.

In Response To: Xi'an International University. (Lin)

I'm not sure how long ago this request for info was posted since I don't see any dates on display, but I know sth about this place.

First of all, it isn't a university; it's a college (da xue vs. xue yuan). It is located at least 30 min from downtown by taxi; bus is at least an hour.

I taught there during 2002, so things may have changed a bit. I know that they were constructing some new buildings at that time. At the time it was surrounded by a village. For those of you who don't know what a Chinese village is like, think dirty, smelly, and disgusting. The campus was nice but outside was pathetic.

I had a problem here. It wasn't about salary. I was paid 4,000 RMB per month and although that's not a lot, it was paid on time. That year they had just built a new apartment building for foreign teachers. The building was beautiful, but it was gated and there was a security guard recording the names of those who entered. Worse, the foreign affairs and foreign language offices were on the first floor while the apartments were on the 2nd and 3rd floors so there was little privacy.

There were only 3 foreign teachers at the time - an Australian woman who lived alone, an American woman who lived with a female teacher at the college, and me - an American man who lived with a Chinese guy. Although I was never asked, the foreign affairs officials assumed I was gay and constantly tried to force my companion to leave. For the record, I am gay, but since that isn't illegal in China and we never showed any impropriety, I thought and still think that it is irrelevant.

I offered to live off campus which I was told was impossible. I was also told that if I continued to live with a man I would be taken away by the police. I never believed this, but obviously the leadership and office staff were extremely homophobic. Now I teach in Shanghai and live with a man in an off campus apartment with no problems.

I had signed a contract for a year that stipulated a paid summer holiday from June to September. A few days before I was to start my holiday with a prepaid trip to Hainan, I was told that I would need to stay the summer and work at a children's summer camp. Since that wasn't part of the contract, I declined and went on my trip. When I came back a few weeks later, there was a letter under my door stating that I had been fired for derelection of duty. I was furious and confronted the foreign affairs director who told me that if I disagreed, I could write a letter and they would consider it - if I agreed to live alone.

Instead, I wrote a letter outlining the whole ordeal and submitted it to the Shaanxi Province Education Ministry. They summoned all parties in to be cross examined and I was finally released with my final salary and reimbursement for my original air ticket.

Later I applied for a teaching job in another city and listed this place as my previous employer. The new Uni. called and was told that I was gay, lived with a man in an unnatural relationship, and wouldn't follow directions.

Having taught at 3 true universities in the ensuing years, I have never encountered such inconsiderate treatment.

You can form your own opinion, but this was my experience. Feel free to contact me if you would like more details.

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Addendum:
The main reason the Shaanxi Education Ministry supported me was that nothing in my contract prohibited cohabitation and I was never introduced to any printed rules and regulations. One positive thing I can say about working here was that it was an eye-opening, school of hard knocks, well earned learning experience!