Jobs in China. - Page 5

Yeh, the school is always immaculate. Students are cleaning the windows and everything. Although sometimes I do think the students are doing too much, school day starts at 6.30, lessons start at 7.30, day finishes 21.30 after evening self study, 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday, 3 hour lunch break though. I'm sure the whole curriculum aimed at getting good results in exams.

Bad eyesight can real problem for many students in China though. I've just completed a 4 week English summer camp at another middle school in a neighbouring town. A couple of the students just couldn't see and read my Powerpoints and blackboard, even though they sat near the front.

The school has just completed a massive redecoration and refurbishment this summer, inside and out, ready for their diamond anniversary (60 years) next year. It's actually a Mongolian school, with mainly Mongolian rather than Han students. So I'm sure that means special status and real money is spent on the school, same seems to go for other state schools in Xilinhot and Inner Mongolia. I've visited other state schools in Hebei, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, and some of them are just horrible, nothing works, student punctually is very poor, etc. I had a couple of American friends come to visit last year, who'd been teaching at a Hebei middle school, They were actually shocked when they saw my school, "This school is beautiful!"...one of them said.

I'm sure been able to speak Mandarin is probably the single most useful thing you can have for life in China. Good luck with your move, please keep us posted how you get on. If you do intend to look at Facebook, Youtube, etc. you will need a VPN. BTW are you teaching or doing something else?

I have been there for the past 2 summers and I got myself a realize VPN, but thanks for the headsup.

I am going to start my job at a law firm in Beijing.

What happens if you get caught with a VPN?

Probably all depends on what you're doing. If you're an expat or tourist accessing Facebook or posting something on StyleForvm, nothing. On the other hand if you're a Chinese national trying to find or post something deemed illegal or undersirable by the CPC. Well you'd brobably find yourself been beaten with the butt of a QBZ and dragged off to a laogai for 20 years.

Thing is I'm sure the Great FireWall is meant more of a deterrent rather than a complete block. The authorities know many companies might need access to western websites in order to conduct their international business. Tencent in Shenzhen have a large presence on Facebook.

I have to be careful what I teach about in class. I know one foreign teacher who got into trouble, because he done a lesson based around the one-child policy. Not a good idea...
From his PPT "Hello and welcome to our debate 辩论 . This one is called the ONE CHILD POLICY. 一个孩子的限制 Policy of birth planning计划生育政策"
Edited by MikeDT - 8/17/12 at 7:51pm

Most of you are right on the money when it comes to your assessments of the Chinese people. You are however wrong in assuming that this is the only side. Yes, money is paramount. Yes, they can be incredibly rude, and yes, the pollution and traffic suck immeasurably much. 

 

On the other hand, if you can work the system(at least to some extent) you can do incredibly well. While teaching English might be a black hole on a resume, I have found that you can make very good money off it. I know that very many of my foreign friends make a lot less money than I do here. I've also had more opportunities here than anywhere else in the world. I guess being in a developing nation does have it's perks, mostly from not being such a structured society. I do however agree on the fact that one necessity is that you leave your moral and ethical compass at the door. Morals and ethics(and compassion to some extent) are VERY useless. 

 

A lot of people come to China expecting it to work like any other place in the world, which is why so many have such a miserable time. If you learn how to play the game, you'll do VERY well. 

 

- Maximator

Being King of a junkyard still means you live in a junkyard.

edit: I'm being unfairly dismissive here- if making money is your goal, then if you earn enough that you can save a significant amount of money then it could be worth it. If you can make 30,000 RMB a month, then you can live comfortably (in a big city, assuming) by saving 20k RMB a month. You can save about 37k USD a year by doing that, which is not bad. If simply making money and getting out is what you want though, the UAE will let you save twice as much.

Also, while my statements about China at large are extremely negative, I do appreciate the lifestyle and the work people like MikeDT do in the places far from the emperor. I promised myself I'd never go back to China, but I have a hankering to visit some far-off, clean, friendly places like just for the experience.
Edited by Eason - 9/4/12 at 9:04pm

that's very true. However, it will be MY junkyard. I will have built it(talking about my business), not someone else. 

 

Also, being king is AWESOME!!! 

the apostrophe in the title of this thread annoyed me so deeply that I used my mod powers for the first time in like 18 months

Cheers to Matt, SF mod and possessive apostrophe killer. It was annoying me as well.

Another China article, this one very interesting from an insider's standpoint.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/mark-kitto-youll-never-be-chinese-leaving-china/

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you're a non-white collar expat (i.e. you don't live abroad working as a legitimate business person) you either:

A) Are a loser

B) Will become a loser

C) Will forever be surrounded by losers.

As someone who has spent a plenty of time in Asia, believe me, this is true. Say whatever you want, it's still true.

What do you qualify as? A, B or C?

I'm not an expat, so none of the above. I go to Asia for travel or business, but never stay.

Not at all true. Quite a few of the dads at the local international school are working class Britons and Australians who've made a go of it in Hong Kong. Make a good living, own nice houses, have nice families.
Edited by AldenPyle - 9/13/12 at 4:33am