Job Discussion Forums

[scottandsheila]

Not sure if anyone knows anything about this, but my wife and I are interested in opening our own English school in China (Beijing or Shanghai). We're both Canadians, my wife being Taiwanese born (therefore with dual-citizenship and fluency in Mandarin). Do you need a Chinese partner? Are foreigners able to open private businesses in China? Any info. would be most appreciated. Thanks.

[Mytime]

Do a search. There are MANY threads on this topic. Weekly almost.

[Roger]

You can't open a "SCHOOLl" but, maybe, a TRAINING CENTRE, and that too should be done with a local partner.

The cities you are interested in won't be very accommodating to you because they are already teeming with training centres and franchises of international language mills!

[2 over lee]

In a place like China where as Jeremy Irons says in the movie 'China Box', "So much goes on under the surface", you will need a few years on the ground before attempting this.

You need to make connections with all the relevant cadres, police, local cronies etc...etc.....

[scottandsheila]

Thanks for the input. Both my wife and I have taught for a number of years in South Korea and in my opinion, could provide a very high quality and competitive English service. What you have said does not surprise me i.e finding a local partner but is far from desirable. Legally though, does anyone know if it is even possible for a foreigner to incorporate in China?

[vikdk]

although I'm not fully familiar with the laws I'm pretty certain Tawainese citizens can open an educational business here - but there might be minimum investment figure required.

To get into the market here you have to do a lot of research - in the major cities the TESOL industry is swamped - but that's not to say the enterprising and industrious can't do it

Another problem is trying to market a concept of quality that is alien to a market that looks for a magic recipe that conjours up the quickest result for minimum effort (invent an english pill and you'll make a fortune). You will find the established language schools paying far more attention to advertising and the "look" of their establishments rather than anything that actualy goes on within them.

School owning foreigners, that I have heard of, have usualy given up a major proportion of the day to day running and management to chinese employees, - acting themselves as foreign figureheads for marketing purposes. again this doesn't have to happen, but if you're goin for a hands on approach make sure you know what you're letting yourselves in for - a lot of headbanging and hard work, but again the industrious and hard working can do it, and make it work.

make sure you figure out attractive loopholes in the law - for example many teaching companies are now registerd as cultural companies(much cheaper but on the borders of legality), if you can rent a teaching licence from another company, buying up an ailing company and licence (by far the most painless way of getting into the market - but involving certain risks), getting those vital local goverment "friendships" going, your own status in China - not much point making investments here only to constantly have an illegal alien status skeleton hanging in the closet - can my new school issue me with a visa.

takes a bit of time to work out all these issues - but that can be fun to - and remember don't listen too much to the have runs or you'll fall at the first hurdle

[erinyes]

Today is the last day of our winter Camp in a VERY small town in China. I say our winter camp because the three FTs who work at the local high school just got together, made the camp ourselves. We asked the local Authorities, and they said it was okay (verbally but off the record)... We didn't get too many students because this is a poor little town, it has no English Schools at all and many people thought that 380RMB per student was expensive for a 10 day winter camp (they don't really know the normal price for FTs)

Anyway - It's been a good experience. I guess my suggestion is go to a place where the local Authorities don't really pay any attention to the law. Build up a network of Chinese-English-Teach-Friends. I wouldn�t try to have one in a big city if I were you. The Local governments will give you about 10 years worth of paperwork.

[NorbertRadd]

Teach kids.
Go there first and scout it out. Any sizable town--is there one any untapped market in 2006?--will already have some schools where the kids receive English instruction in Mandarin from Chinese teachers and can't put 2 sentences together. This was my experience in Henan. You may find that these places in the real China leave a lot to be desired. You can make it in the big cities but you need to think how you can differentiate yourself successfully

[william wallace]

nothing to say

[vikdk]

dont worry the has-beens come up with a lot of good advice-

if you have the nerve and imagination anything is possible - just I wouldn't advise any body to sink their life savings into a project like this - easly lost - but then again I'm gettitting along nicely on a minimum of investment. And by the way there are a few folk you can trust out here - finding them is the prob

[william wallace]

nothing to say

[vikdk]

don't worry we probally have just as must to learn from the "has beens" than the "am doings" - just all this talk about theme restaurants, and seemingly blanket condemnation surrounding the trust and the chinese population kind of smacks of the - it didn't work for me so it won't work for nobody factor! but then again maybe it did work for you - send me the 40 pages I would love to read 'em.

So much of this "it wont work talk" here that I'm starting to understand why so many people resign themselves to terrible pay and bad conditions - just on the pretext of - since your in China and everybody puts up with it - you can't do anything about it! This kinda of talk has probally made me edgy - and shouldn't detract from the main Wallace message - things are difficult here, investments in education are from safe - sorry mate.

[bendan]

[vikdk]

It was only an assumption - but in my defence I'd like to say -

I'm sure that the "client" base - organisations who can afford to employ an FT and private people who can afford the mill fees - would be proportionally (with regard to city population sizes) higher in an average Korean city than a Chinese one (hence the greater concentrations of FT's in the richer cities such as Shanghai/Seoul). But with a rising average wealth throughout china this situation will change and is changing - almost month by month!

The problem here is that the biggies in this game - those I accuse of swamping - are waiting in the sidelines, and can quickly expand their services to meet rising demand. Don't worry if there is potential in the market here those boys will sniff it out!

but then again this only a hunch - but I still believe with a bit of imagination and ingenuity that it is possible to outmanoeuvre the TESOL dinos who are already munching away at this jungle - and grab a piece of the action which can make doing business here an interesting, if not fun, experience - but it's difficult, or is it? How many people who read daves have their own kind of business in China - have a client base rather than an employer - maybe this thread should go in the direction of how hard it actually was to set up here.

[william wallace]

nothing to say