Job Discussion Forums

[ZhonguoTong]

If you are considering teaching in China I would recommend staying for no more than one year.

I taught English in China for several years but decided to leave due to the serious health risks posed by the poisoned environment, which I was only able to read about during my infrequent visits to Hong Kong. (this kind of negative publicity is mostly blocked on the mainland)

According to a recent BBC release, China is now experiencing an explosive epidemic of cancer, and along with birth defects they constitute the highest rates in the world, and are increasing rapidly. In China the air, water, soil--and therefore food, are literally carcinogenic.

I once almost accepted a teaching position in a third tier city in Hunan, but it was the home town of one of my students, who informed me that cancer was affecting huge numbers of people there.

If you want to teach in the Far East, I might consider Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Thailand or Indonesia....

[Bud Powell]

Is that why Chinese are coming to the U.S. in record numbers?

[likwid_777]

Yes, the environment if farked. This is the cost for the highly rapid economic growth, not to mention the slavery (ok, paid) which created it. The borderline slavery of China is similar to that which enabled the US economy to become so powerful in the beginning.

On top of this, add a massive surplus of males, and we have the perfect storm of needs and means for Chinese territorial gains in the 21st Century. Oh hang on, everyone has nuclear weapons and whatever else now, if that happens, everyone is dead.

[nomad soul]

This article...

Can China tackle soaring cancer rates?
By Celia Hatton, BBC News, Beijing | 16 November 2014
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29610059

It's ten o'clock in the morning at the largest cancer hospital in Asia, a sprawling complex of buildings in Tianjin, a polluted city on China's eastern coast. Dr Zhang Jing is already scrubbing up for her fourth operation of the day. She has the tired resignation of someone who knows she's in for a long shift at work. Ten years ago, surgeons here removed tumours once or twice daily. Now they perform at least seven operations every shift. The cancer hospital recently doubled in size but is still struggling to cope with demand. "Even if we diagnose 50 patients every day, we cannot keep up," Dr Zhang says. "No matter where you go in this hospital, you will never find an empty bed."

Cancer rates may be falling in many Western countries but they are steadily rising in China. Blame the effects of pollution and unhealthy habits on the country's aging citizens.

In the lobby of the Tianjin Cancer Hospital, the tension is palpable. Patients and their families jostle with one another in line as they push to make appointments. It is a situation that is echoed in busy cancer hospitals across the country. China has approximately 20% of the world's population, but it has 22% of new cancer cases and 27% of the world's cancer deaths. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China but the health ministry seems ill-equipped to deal with the problem.

There are no obvious national campaigns to educate citizens on the avoidable causes of cancer, like smoking. The country's National Cancer Centre, which was supposed to open in 2012, doesn't even have a website.

In 2008, the Chinese Academy of Medical Science launched the China Cancer Registration Project, with 219 registration spots across China documenting cancer data. However, it has yielded little new information. The project's last report was released in 2013, using data from 2010. To date, China lacks a single database tracking national cancer rates.

Cancer screening programs are virtually non-existent. The country's fragile healthcare system also means that many aren't diagnosed until it is too late.

Liver cancer is a particular problem among Chinese men, many of whom carry the hepatitis B virus. Around 130 million people in China are believed to be carrying the hepatitis B virus and 30 million have developed a chronic hepatitis B virus. This is a serious problem because, without regular health checks, the virus can easily morph into liver cancer. China now accounts for half of the world's cases of the disease.

In a single morning, one of the hospital's most respected doctors, Song Jing, meets 10 new patients. All of them are found to have late stage liver cancer. When asked if it is stressful telling so many people a day that they have less than a year to live, Dr Song nodded. "Yes, it is. For terminal patients, there's little we can do," he said.

But even patients with a good chance of recovering are afraid to mention the illness by name. In a hospital tower devoted to breast cancer treatment, one patient - Wang Hui - admits that even there, the word "cancer" is rarely spoken out loud. "Chinese people think that cancer is a terrible thing. Once you have it, you won't last long," she says. Ms Wang normally commands attention in her job as a Chinese opera singer. But her cancer diagnosis has forced her into hiding. Very few know that she is sick.

Breast cancer has become increasingly common in China and is now the number one killer of Chinese women. But like many other women, Ms Wang suffers in near-silence. Only her daughter and older sister stand next to her hospital bed, working as her faithful attendants. "I didn't tell my colleagues or relatives because I didn't want them to worry," she says. "But when I came to the hospital, I saw so many people here with the same illness and I felt better."

Wang Hui and millions of others in China affected by cancer are beginning to accept a hard truth. This country is facing an epidemic, one that increasingly can't be hidden or ignored.

(End of article)

[jm21]

I suspect the crazy high percentage of older Chinese guys who smoke regularly has more to do with it than the environment. And things like the liver cancer mentioned. Plus a huge lack of knowledge about cancer by the general populous that leads to late or no screening.

And there is no huge surplus of men. The one child policy allows one son. If the first child is a daughter they can try one more time for a son. So even though there is a strong preference for a son there are lots of older sisters who are basically extras.

[ZhonguoTong]

There indeed is a serious shortage of marriageable fems in China. I know because in addition to reading about it, many of my students, male and female, have described it to me. In Henan Province there are 143 boys born for every 100 girls, and it's even worse in Jiangxi. The high numbers of smokers is certainly one factor contributing to the extremely high cancer rate, but breast cancer, traditionally rare in Chinese women, is now their biggest killer, and liver cancer is the largest killer of males--something more closely related to other factors than smoking. Google China's 'cancer villages', which are usually situated along water ways. Recommended also is Elizabeth Economy's best selling "The River Runs Black", available on Amazon.

[ZhonguoTong]

A word about China's 'left over women'. Most of these women had put off marriage and family to pursue advanced degrees and a successful career. It's not that they can't find a husband, in fact they easily could, but women in China shy away from marrying down, and Chinese men generally are adverse to marrying up. It's really a simple matter that by the time a woman has achieved her career or business ambitions, all the 'good ones' are gone.

[creeper1]

[ZhonguoTong]

I liked China a lot when I was there, but it can't be denied that the environment has been very severely degraded. In most Chinese cities the air pollution levels are many times what is considered deadly hazardous in the West, and the same can be said for water and soil pollution levels. By the way, it won't help to boil tap water in China as this has no effect on the presence of chemical toxins, heavy metals and other carcinogens. Also, if you eat at restaurants you should know they are using tap water for cooking, and maybe gutter oil too....

Talk about smoking--The Japanese are the heaviest smokers in the developed world, but have the longest average life expectancy of any country and one of the lowest rates of lung cancer. The Greeks ARE the heaviest smokers in the world, but have the longest life expectancy of any country in Europe (before the financial crisis) and the lowest rate of lung cancer.

I can't cite any studies right now, but I think if one were to do even a perfunctory search it would be revealed that the horrendous pollution in China is overwhelmingly to blame for the cancer epidemic there. In response to a previous post, yes, many wealthy Chinese are choosing to immigrate due to the poisoned environment at home. Where I live now in north San Diego County, the Chinese are literally taking over, and they account for over half the real estate transactions by dollar volume in California.

Not directly related but: when in China don't order the beef! There is no African or Amazonian tribe possessing a stronger legacy of cannibalism than China. Can you imagine how many people die there every day? And do you think that some poorly regulated meat processing facility with avaricious and unscrupulous management would pass up the opportunity to generate huge profits by throwing a night shipment of cadavers into the mix? In fact, it happens all time. If you don't believe-- enjoy.

[Bud Powell]

[ZhonguoTong]

I did my homework, now it's your turn, you never heard of what went on during the Great Leap and Cultural Revolution...or even melamine in the baby formula? (apparently not) I'm definitely not trying to dissuade you from going to China. Breath the air, drink the water, eat the food. Go, go, go, you'll have fun (if being irradiated by gamma rays under a cobalt generator is your idea of fun). As for the beef, what you don't know can't hurt you...right? Yumy...

[direshark]

[asiannationmc]

[likwid_777]

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger... Or closer to death.

[Bud Powell]