I just wanted to add my review of Sunshine College of Fuzhou University. Website: http://www.fdygxy.cn/en/index.html

I only worked at this school for one semester and left for professional reasons. For my own personal experience the school tried to break the contract multiple times, but I can also share my work experience and what was told to me by foreign and Chinese teachers there. I worked there as an English Teacher for non-English majors and worked about 22 hours a week, not including outside activities that were scheduled by the school (e.g., English Corner, Cafe Talk).

This school is a private university that looks like it is owned by a real estate company (so students are charged exuberant fees and are the ones who scored low on gaokao). For pay they have recently gone up to 6,000 saying after one year completion they will pay 7,000. For months of pay the contract will say 10 but they tried to only pay me 9 months. I brought this up with what my contract said and after some back and forth later they said that someone else made a mistake. Also there was work in months that I wasn't paid for (e.g., January). Also from what I heard the school has gone through four Foreign Affairs Officers (FAOs) in four years. Some of the ones they hired could not speak English or knew the process for hiring foreign employees. Students were great however administration and support were severely lacking. I was told that I would be given a textbook a month before classes started but didn't receive it until a month after classes started. This was something I asked them about continuously and was told they were out of stock and I did not know it was available until my students showed up with it, upon asking about a lack of notification I was told by my assistant that they thought I already had it. This is the same assistant who said they would get me a copy as soon as it was available. Also classes schedule I was given had multiple mistakes and took a few weeks to rectify. It seems if you know Chinese this is something that can be easily received.

Also what passes for living and working conditions would only befit someone who this is there first job at best. The place I was given was spacious by other comparison but lacked in basic amenities. I was provided with a small hot plate, microwave, and a small 20 litre fridge. The bed was wood planks that was about the size of a single bed. The school is situated on a mountain but even with the windows closed a fine gray layer of particulate matter covered all the floors and furniture, and I have reason to believe it was the plaster from the walls. Also my throat would start to itch after being in there for an hour. Though when I brought this up they said that it was dirt in the air. I was fortunate enough to live off campus but would need to sweep the place every other day even though I kept all the windows closed. Work itself is easy, however the school required all my students to be tested with recording equipment which I was not made aware to me even though I asked about testing procedures and what I could do. I was upfront with what I could and couldn't do but later told that things had to be done a certain way as the aforementioned sentence highlights among other things. Also the school required course plan and lectures plans to all be typed up but does not provide any computers and printers to do this.

The only other thing I would say to watch out for is overtime. The contract will stipulate that you get overtime and I asked what constitute overtime (like weekly, monthly, etc.) however the school does not follow this. I found out it is common with the other Chinese teachers to, after talking to a few and overhearing them. I was told weekly that I would work a set amount of hours a week and anything over that would be overtime, however holidays does not apply to this. So if you work Saturday that does not constitute overtime. However after my first pay I was told I would not get overtime unless the total amount of hours on my contract (e.g., 600) was more and then I would be paid overtime at the end of my contract. Even though before signing I was told overtime would be paid the next month. So even if I work 25 or 30 hours a week, it would have to be greater than the total hours that are stipulated on my contract. I was told that the school changed this in the past few years and previously had honoured giving overtime but not anymore. I said that was not what was agreed to before signing the contract. I was paid my overtime monthly but resigned as I was tired of having to fight with what was agreed to before working there. Also most of the staff in the English Department cannot speak English if any and the Chinese English teachers can barely understand English.

Now as such, hopefully things have changed and things are better. I would not discourage anyone from applying but to be clear and to check it out before going. If you like it laid back and don't care what you get paid the place is not that bad but I would strongly discourage anyone who does not know Chinese.