Job Discussion Forums

[Maxine]

Hello there

I'm thinking about going to China, but have a few worries. I've seen on various websites, that SARS is all over China, not just Guanzhou. There have only been a few outbreaks, with one or two deaths, but I feel scared all the same.

Some of you who read this are in China. What is the SARS threat like? The places where I would like to teach are towards the south-west, maybe Guiyang, kunming or Chengdu.

What are human rights like in China?

Are students aware of the wonderful countries outside China, and all of the great things in the world, or can they only see their own country as the best. Do they sometimes say derrogative things about a teacher's country, and the teacher can't say anything back to them.

I know only what I've read on the subject. China fascinates me, but I still want to know if I'm putting myself at risk.

thanks for any info

[NumberOneSon]

[Guest]

Hello

I am 57 year old HAVE ONLY ONE LUNG and I am not leaving here - regardless of SARS or whatever else they throw at me.

You sometimes have to bite the bullet and just DO IT. If you hesitate and do not make decisions in life, you will miss out on a lot. I love it here and have no intention of returning to Australia for at least two years.

[kimo]

I agree with Rhonda that at some point you have to make a decision to just do it or not.

You will find that your students probably know much more about your country than you about theirs. However, their perceptions of your country may not match yours. They are able to watch western movies and TV shows. "Friends" from network America has even made it here. Part of your experience will be filling in those gray and blank areas.

My higher-level students are curious and always asking me questions about my home country and the west. No doubt about it, they love their country, and love of country is drilled into their heads from early on, but so far no one in the classroom has stood up and started singing the national anthem. On the street, sometimes I hear a few comments.

I tend to shy away from controversy. There are other things I can busy myself with.

Some people argue that human rights is a relative thing. What is considered abuse in some countries may be considered a normal social alignment system in others. Sometimes we want to force our beliefs on others. This is a sticky question to which I do not know the answer. If you are bothered by such things and go looking for them, you probably will find trouble. If you come here to teach, know the culture, learn the language, make some friends and see what your mettle is, you can do OK.

As for disease in China, it's all around us. This country is so crowded. Even the countryside is full of people. What you view as hygienic may not be universal here. Cold and flu strains probably number in the bazillions here. I disagree with No. 1 above that just the first six months teachers get sick. One teacher I know who has lived here for years still suffers bi-monthly bouts of diarrhoea. I, myself, have only had the runs once in a few years. However, the longer I stay here, my respiratory system suffers. The air is just not clean. People are always coughing without blocking their mouths or changing their head's direction.

As for SARS, I wouldn't say it was overblown. I know, I know people will tell me about some truck and my chances are greater that I'll die from getting hit by it. At least, I could hear or see a truck coming and try to avoid it. In my neighborhood in Beijing, a couple of thousand people spent several weeks hospitalized with it or quaranteed to guard against it spread. More than a few died who had no chance to see it coming. -- In that regard, it was not overblown.

SARS was scary because people did not have good information in the beginning and treatment protocols were not well defined. Now the medical people and general population know more and I have observed that a few more people consciously do try to avoid coughing on each other. And a lot more wash their hands for a longer period too.

In general, my personal feeling is that SARS will not be a big danger to you. As mentioned by No. 1, it's all the other bugs that nibble at you that could take their toll, so you would need to be vigilant about keeping yourself in the best shape you could.

Part of that shape is the mental factor which we often neglect. People usually come here in euphoria thinking they will stay forever. What they make of the journey after that often decides the state they leave in. The Chinese look at things differently than we do. You must literally be like water as you learn to deal with broken promises, botched plans, outright lies and just different perceptions of events. That takes some inner strength and teeth that don't grind down so easily as you grit them.

I've written a lot and probably said little of value to you. For more on this and the three cities you mentioned, I would suggest you go back to the beginning on this forum and the off-topic forum and peruse old topics. Lots of information is already here. One thing I'll add that I saw about Guiyang on TV the other night is that it has a park dedicated to monkeys. This is the year of the monkey and the monkey is highly respected among the 12 animals on the Chinese calendar.

Good luck!

[Crippler]

Can't speak for the South of China, but in Liaoning Province there was one verified SARs case. Out of 20+ million people that does not represent a plague to me. However, the warning signs are till hung up all over the place in this small town of 550K. But the hygiene remains the same.... Have to agree with Rhonda on this: I love China and the people I have met so far. Plan to stay for many years. (Even if there are no other foreign teachers here.) Or may be because there are not......

[Wolf]

I've lived in Jiangxi province (just north of Guangdong) for about a year. SARS never scared me for a moment. The actual threat was massively overblown by the mainland media. If being killed in a traffic accident doesn't scare you off, then come to China and don't eat the civet cats, or work as a cook in a place that prepares them.

Human rights violations? Everyone's got them. As an expat I've never felt in danger from the government for a moment. Preaching, etc would probably get me kicked out rather than killed/imprisoned. As for the rest, I don't have lots of details, but there are details. This is hardly unique to China.

Aware of wonderful countries around them? The one word answer is no. They love China, to be sure. But my university students would never insult Canada to my face. They won't even insult Japan to my face, because I lived there too! I have a lot of leeway in expressing my opinion, but I never had much of an inclentation of talking about politics or religion in large groups, or to students in the first place. So I didn't have to change much.

They don't learn a lot about other countries. Japanese TV shows (not networks) can be found in the interior, but English speaking TV networks seem to be limited to Beijing, Shanghai, the Special Economic Zones, and similar rich places. I haven't seen an English language TV show (except those made in China) for about a year.

There isn't a lot of open access to information about countries outside of China. At least, this is true of the interior. The internet (which isn't censored as much as I thought it might be) is a new thing. People usually don't think about the outside world until they see an outsider, so you'll be asked a lot of questions about anything that it non-Chinese. Even if you might not know the answer. My favorite was when I was asked to give a detailed comparison of the Chinese and Japanese economy.

[Roger]

At first glance, I assumed the poster was a troll! "Human rights" in China? I suppose your country's papers are full of reports on the situation in China - what did you expect from us on this score???
I could of course tell you eye witness accounts by myself of human rights violations - would you believe me more than your favourite rag?

The SARS epidemic?
We don't know more than you could possibly have learnt from your source of information except that some of us got quarantined. That was pretty restrictive on their urge to move about, but they could do nothing about it!
The problem is likely to become acute again any time what with their congested living conditions that are shared with cattle and chicken.
You may not be in very high danger, but actions initiated by clumsy authorities are likely to interfere with your mental wellbeing.

[Maxine]

Thank you for your comments about the questions I asked.

Thank you for the info Roger. I can assure that I am not a troll, and I would never call anyone else that name.

I'm certainly not naive and don't believe everything I read in my local (as you call it) rag.

It's just that I've never been to China before and some things I've heard about the country do worry me.

Once again, thank you for the info, but less name calling in the future please.

[struelle]

[NumberOneSon]