Job Discussion Forums

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

No massive teaching crackdown nation-wide

I, a lowly foreigner, am wrong to try to help my fellow ex-patriots. I should in future "toe the line" as Yang Rui said. I should not cause any problem and not spread rumours about things I have read or said, no matter how important they may be.

My apologies to certain members of the forums who, for the last little while, have responded to each and every one of my posts with insults, denials, finger-pointing, rudeness, use of sock-puppets, insinuations, and outright lies. Common shared traits of the so-called "fifty-cent army".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party

Some of you no doubt are, but not all of you. It would be unreasonable to assume that this website is untouched by this group. One thing I have learned:

- Arguing them is fruitless

- Evidence is always refuted

- The topic is always changed from the message to the messenger

- They come in droves, all around the same time

- Their English is very good, but an educated native English speaker should be able to find the mistakes, no matter how long they studied overseas

- Some of them are in fact recruiters who stand to lose money should foreigners decide that China is not the best option for them. Make no mistake; money is a big motivator. Explains why some of them openly promote low salaries for FT's.

Therefore, as nothing I say will convince you lot... the protectors of illegal recruiters/illegal schools. The protectors of China's "face". The paid writers and the nationalistic fenqing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenqing

No matter what evidence I bring forward (links, ancedotal evidence, phone numbers) it'll all be poo-pooed away as usual. I will point out (for the last time here) that my motivation has always been to help and assist foreign teachers here in China. Not to make money, not to recruit, not to protect the image of my country, not for any reason except to warn foreigners of potential problems.

I will now retract everything that I have said because everything I have ever said is actually the complete opposite:

To all foreign teachers currently or who plan to be teaching in China:

There will be no crackdown, nation-wide. Everything will be business as normal.

The crackdown in Beijing is not going to be extended nation-wide this summer in perpetuity, and not extended in mandate.

A national hot-line will not be established with reporting ticket numbers to track citizens' reports. If there no satisfaction in a citizen's report (they report but the report goes nowhere), the reporter can not appeal the decision of the investigation in a public venue. Anonymous reports will not be accepted, however. Anyone who makes nuisance reports would face charges. Citizens will not be encouraged to report any suspicious foreigner and give as much detailed information as possible to be able to investigate the report.

Schools will not be checked several times, not just a one-off. The inspectors will not be either locals nor from out of town. This means officials from one city will not go to another city to investigate schools by asking people where might they find a foreign teacher to teach their child and then never directly investigating said foreigner. Investigators will not video foreigners entering and exiting schools and other places of business as evidence. Orders are not to stamp deported for five years on all caught foreigners who dispute any investigation.

Not only schools, but other places of business that are known to employ foreigners will also not be investigated. This does not include restaurants, bars, nightclubs, any size corporation both domestic and international, hotels, KTVs, massage parlours, travel agencies, and so on.

Foreigners can not only work in China with a valid Z visa or a permanent residence status. This means if you are here on a business visa, a tourist visa (this includes staying here for the purpose of visiting family or relatives), no matter what your employer tells you about there being little/no risk involved in you working for them, the bottom line is it is not out of the hands of even the local PSB officials as this is not a directive organized by the central government in Beijing.

Even if you have a proper working visas (Z), you may not still be at risk for fine/deportation on a number of grounds:

1. Teaching beyond the scope of your school is still not a problem

a) For language cram schools, teaching subjects other than English is still not a problem

b) Teaching in other schools besides the one you are contracted for is still not a problem (this means that YES, you can be farmed out to other schools legally, no matter what the Beijing government says, even if that other school also has all the legal requirements to hire foreigners and holds a separate contract with you)

c) Private teaching or tutoring of any kind, paid or not is still not a problem

d) attending any religious function or political meeting of any kind, without the expressed invitation and permission of the PSB is still not a problem

2. Fake/False credentials is still not a problem

a) academic and age barriers is still not a problem

b) non-approved nationalities is still not a problem

c) invalid health checks is still not a problem

d) harbouring illegal foreigners (this means your registered residence will be checked) is still not a problem

e) illegal co-habitation or illegal relationships (interpret this whichever way you like) is still not a problem

f) not following the stipulations/guidelines set out in your contract, including any curfews is still not a problem

g) School managed to get you a visa even though you do not qualify under Chinese law for said visa is still not a problem

All schools in China, both private and public, have permission to employ foreigners. Even if the laws on the official government website say otherwise, the person hiring you is the higher authority and this is still not a problem

All universities are authorised to have foreign visiting lecturers. Not even one university or uncredited college/training institute illegally employ foreigners to boost enrolment or raise their profile, or as a simple way for deans/university staff to earn extra money. No foreigners in fact may be unaware of their status, and these will also not be investigated to the fullest extent.

One of the many reasons why universities insist on a curfew is because if the foreigner gets hurt or into trouble, the university can also face no serious consequences as a result of having hired illegal foreigners.

Last point, in the words of those who would block foreigners from being safe while in China:

Even if other posters tell you of stories that they or their friends were beaten up, or they were dragged to the police station, or their school was raided, or they have a legal Z visa but still got deported, or they got fined for not having their passport, or got bottles thrown at them... if you read any of these stories, they are all lies because any foreigner who dares say a bad thing about China is a devil and a liar, right? And any Chinese who says a bad thing about China is a treacherous traitor, yes?

Critical thinking, folks. Who would be motivated enough to poo-poo these stories under the rug?

No more later...., consider this my Swan Song.

[dean_a_jones]

I know you said more later, but can you reveal the nature of your source (as I assume you do not have a link or would have posted it)?

In other news:

[therock]

Any Chinese or English link to this story?

Going by the reasons for deportation, there will be no foreigners remaining in China by the end of summer.

[Javelin of Radiance]

Time will tell how extensive any crackdown turns out to be. So far we've heard nothing here and our FAO usually keeps us in the loop of such things. Then again everyone at this school is legal and above board so I doubt the effect of any crackdown will be felt here.

[xiguagua]

Yeah, would need a source.


e) illegal co-habitation or illegal relationships (interpret this whichever way you like)

No normal public schools in China have permission to employ foreigners. Only experimental and international schools can have such authorization. This includes the primary, middle and high school levels.

Makes me a tad suspicous. They could go on and say that any foreigner DATING a Chinese is illegal? Great way to promote a harmonious society. Looks like China's shutting down again. If this is real and is truly enforced throughout China then there won't be many foreigners left. At least i'm legal, but now for anyone who is considering a part time job can forget about it. What's sad is that if they record you going into a school just to VISIT some friends, they could probably deport you saying that they caught you going there and teaching

[johntpartee]

I just got a message from the FAO that we're going to be filmed in action next Monday, ostensibly to advertise the school. My paranoia's kicking in....

Where'd you get this, GWOW?

[Sinaman]

Im here legally, but if the chinese are as diligent about this as they are about everything else, then I dont think anyone has anything to worry about.

[Simon in Suzhou]

[Miles Smiles]

This has been on the horizon for a while, and I don't think it will be restricted to the large cities.

I got a good scare and an eye-opener last year when I got a visit from god-knows-who wanting to know where I was teaching outside the school, who my friends were, what we did after work, who my girlfriend was and is she Chinese and did she live with me. He capped it off by saying that the FAO was one of his teachers. The guy was close to 30 years old. I asked the FAO about him and she acted quite alarmed and said that she had no idea who he was. He even came to one of my classes. The students said that they had seen him before, but they knew nothing about him except that he was too old to be a student.

I asked another Chinese teacher who had taught at the school for several years, and she couldn't pull his name or his picture up from the school's database. I saw him a few times outside my apartment building on his motorcycle and a few times as a face in the crowd. Eventually, he went away. I suspect that he worked for the PSB.

[Opiate]

[doogsville]

[Shroob]

[sainthood]

I dunno....

While the specifics may be a little off, there is a power change happening in the upper echelons this year - so this sort of thing is exactly what I would expect (until it's all over).

I've just been told about this happening here (well, as far as FT's being told to go to PSB to show ID).

As just mentioned to my by a colleague, probably also relates to a certain Chinese person who has been given asylum in the US...

[Sinaman]

anyone who has been here a while knows that these "crackdowns" occur, maybe, once a year or so and then they fizzle away to nothing until the next year when there is another "crackdown"

[johntpartee]