Job Discussion Forums

[Robert0007]

I have been here a year and a half now teaching. China is not a country where you can save a lot of money. You come here for the experience and then move on to a better country.

I have had enough of the cheating that has gone here to us foreigners. With the private schools, we work 30 to 40 hours a week including office hours to make what? 700 to 800 usd a month. The apartments completely suck for 1,000 RMB a month. Most schools are not willing to pay 1,500 to 2,000 RMB a month for your apartment.

In the end a lot of these private schools treat us like the chinese. They do not understand us at all. They just want to try and make huge profit off of us. I would say 85% of the schools are terrible. It takes a lot of contacts and trial and error to find that 15%.

Before i came here i was told by an american teacher with 30 years of teaching experience to never work for a chinese boss. He was right , i had to experience it for myself. I had a 5 year plan here of working and get married here. That has changed rapidly. I am moving on before Christmas because i am fed up with immature monkey games.

Do not work in the city of Wenzhou Zhejiang. It's got to be one of the most corrupted cities in China when it comes to payment of salary. Two faced cheaters and filled with empty promises. There is a huge turn over rate of teachers here too. Do not make the same mistake that i did, that's all i want to say.

[englishgibson]

You sound really frustrated, Robert. I've had my very bad moments in China and I've been here for almost 5 years.

[Shan-Shan]

When schools are able to continuously cheat teachers out of hard earned salary, provide unsatisfactory accomodations, willfully modify terms in contracts, and still have a hefty supply of "soon to be duped/about to be disappointed in their dreams of the "Middle Kingdom" foreign folk, nothing is going to change.

Were I a boss, and had foreign teachers willing to work for months without pay, I just might sit back and count my growing mounds of jiao and kuai without any moral scruples nagging at me. Foreigners come and foreigners go: tempting another desperate cracker from abroad with promises I'll never keep isn't all that difficult. Let them honour the contract I wipe my ass with -- it's their strange cultural ways, not mine!


Free trip to the Great Wall! Free Chinese lessons! A chance to have dinner with real, actual breathing Chinese people! The opportunity to join in the development of a great Socialist Society!.....hundreds are already lined up.

[NathanRahl]

I have to agree with Shan Shan I am afraid. It is very easy to paint a rosy picture when you are one of the few who has found some happiness and a good job here. The reality though is that most who come here do not have that final good outcome. Living in the moment, and when that moment is bad, is just as valid a moment to express as the good ones. I see too many people here beating up on, or contradicting people, who talk about their bad experiences, saying that "There's always a silver lining" or "I've had my bad run in's and my good, stuff happens." This gets on my nerves. I think it is a typical american trait to try and ignore the bad, embrace the good. This just leads to people not facing reality in hard time's though, and not being realisitc period. That's one big reason for why we westerners are such suckers, and why the chinese are dupping us so easily. They know that we tend to ignore the negative, exalt the positive, and they will take advantage of it this whenever they can. The guy who has been here 5 years and is getting married, good for you bucko. I bet your outlook was not so rosy though in those times when you were not doing well, in a crapy place, and not getting paid for going on three months. Let's all stop trying to ignore the negative and just buck up. Having a stiff upper lip and voicing no complaint sounds great, since it is how american males are taught, but it's also a good formula for creating a person who will take a lot of shit, not cry about it, and just keeps getting screwed in the process.

[Steppenwolf]

Such refreshing negativity contrasts with the upbeat "you can make 200'000 yuan a month if you try hard enough".

Goes a long way to show the vast cultural gap between the two shores that want to be bridged!

[NathanRahl]

You call it negativity, another american trait, a need to label things as good or bad. I call it realism, the thing I am being realistic about just happens to be negative in your view. Perhaps if we stopped labeling things negative and positive, and had the real courage to look more at the reality, and not the label, we would not be getting screwed so often

[Calories]

If someone hasn't been paid in 3 months, why the *beep* would they still be working? That's not optimism; that's completely stupid. There's no excuse for that.

As for the OP well, I'm sorry about your luck. I'm enjoying my time here and I'm able to save at least half my pay and I work less and make a less money than you. I do live on campus though and the only thing I ever pay for is travelling, personal items and food.

[sheeba]

Don't get a job in a private school then . I work at a University . 12 hours a week and enough cash to live on . Oh man, life is soooo bad isn't it !

[WordUp]

Stop your crying little boy.... Sounds like you did your homework.. Now eat your medicine and dont complain..

You sound like a whiny little bitch.. Go back home if its more profitable for you..

[KES]

Nothing wrong with someone venting.

China isn't for everybody. If you are here more than a year, you ought to pretty much know the score.

[BlakeS]

I like cookies.

[NathanRahl]

See what I mean.

[cj750]

It is a good thing when most folks find working overseas too hard and disappointing..this make it a specialty market where those without the super degrees can compete with the "Well Educated" ...what I am saying is this..if I can make more than a PHD based on knowing how to deal with Chinese culture and the ins and outs of the overseas teaching gigs..then I am on par with those who have spent a lot of money and time to reach the same level..if an overseas university will hire me on my reputation for getting things done in China ..when many of those with more training..can not..then it levels the playing field..
but there are rules..set a limit on pay..don't let it go to long because the long it goes the deeper your in....it is not up to the Chinese to understand your culture..it is up to you to learn the tricks..and to maximise their cultural for your own purpose..
I too prefer to work for foreign employers as I do find most Chinese crooks..but within a den of thieves..one can exist as a friend..as long as you have your hand on your wallet..

[NathanRahl]

Someone else who looks to glorify themselves. Never said it was too hard, said that people who nwork over hear need to stop ignoring the problem and start doing something about it, that's the simple version for the short yellow bus folks who have yet to get my meaning up to this point. I've heard enough people say "Suck it up" on here that it is obvious they have been screwed, and obviously feel a sort of perverse pleasure in seeing others get screwed. Initation, of a type, but one that I think could be done away with if there was just less apathy. A shame so few actually care *sigh* good night.

[cj750]