What is it like teaching English in China？Here I highly recommend you watch this YouTube video from an American teacher named Ryan Freeman.
In this video, he compared the difference of teaching English in China between the university and training school based on his personal experience. Being a Chinese in Mainland China, I find his narrative rather objective, authentic and accurate, neither demonizing China nor beautifying China.
Wherein he also mentioned a unique phenomenon that the students of Chinese university are rather innocent and pure. Here please allow me to try to answer the deep reason behind it. For my part, it is just because of Confucianism as well as the strict Chinese tradition of 'virgin bride', which means that Chinese girls are educated to remain pure, i.e. keep being a virgin until marriage since childhood. According to Chinese marriage tradition, if girls didn't preserve their integrity, i.e., lost their virginity before marriage, the consequence would be serious. I know it sounds a little weird for most of Western people. Of course, in western society, there is also the virgin, such as the famous Virgin Queen-Elizabeth I of England. However, they are 2 different ideas about virgin between China and the West. Virgin in Western world is more a kind of religionism than the secularity. As usual, western women would prefer to keep being virgin/nun in order to devote themselves to God. Whereas, in China, girls being a virgin means they can have a better offer in the marriage market since China is a patriarchal and male-dominated Confucianism society. Or you just say according to Confucianism--"三纲五常/three principles and five virtues", they should regard their husband as God/Master/Boss!
I guess the Chinese girls from the wealthy family- the upper class may be a little different/in another situation since they have enough money and privileges to choose their husbands freely. They can be open enough and westernized, no need to remain the so-called "innocent/pure". I don't know... Please notice he pointed out the fact that most of his Chinese university students are from the countryside--low and wide grass-root class. Those wealthy Chinese students have other option--going to university abroad by passing English exams such as TOEFL and GRE, etc. So the English training school in China becomes a very lucrative business. Foreigner/white teachers from the developed countries can earn fat salary in training school easily accordingly.
In short, virgin in Chinese marriage market is as important as your college diploma in the job market. Just try to imagine looking for a decent job without holding the good diploma, you know the result, ok？I hope my explanation can help you better understand how virgin works in China.
All in all, just as Teacher Ryan said in the video, it is rather a comfortable decent job for foreigners to teach English in China, especially in Chinese university. Believe it or not!
Last but not least, Teacher Ryan failed to refer to "the Great Firewall' of China--the bloody Chinese Internet blockade policy. I once wrote "Just as a classical saying goes:
on the political level, China belongs to socialism since its only governing party is the Communist Party; in the economical system, it is a kind of capitalism in nature." in one of comments to @raj808. Yeah,
China is a wierd country and China is very closed compared to other Third World Countries. But blocking doesn't only mean the strangeness and horror/fear, but also opportunities and unexpected benefits. So especially for the western people who live an uncomfortable life but full of passion/ambition in their own countries, teaching English in China is absolutely worth a shot: such as being treated like a star walking on the red carpet; being invited like an honorable guest in the party, no need to go Dutch,etc. You just learn its culture and social customs(very difficult to change a nation's culture and religion, ok？), relax and enjoy in China! I strongly believe the videos on China from Teacher Ryan will benefit you a lot... Please watch them carefully...
The below video teaches how to apply for Chinese tourist Visa and how to look for a teaching job in China online...
If you are really interested in teaching English in China, please feel free to contact me! I wish I could be of little use to you!
Frankly speaking, I hope @raj808 will read this blog. God knows I miss your great writing and your kind comments on Hive so much, but I understand you completely no matter what decision he made. In fact, after reading the reason why you decided to give up writing on Hive, I couldn't help shedding tears in the bottom of my heart. I sincerely pray for your success on writing in the mainstream market! However, my dear Hive poet and friend, please don't put too much pressure on yourself. After all, health is the priority. Please take good care of yourself first. Life is just a journey full of unknown. Let's cherish the beautiful scenery along the journey as possible as we can! We expect your return to Hive with flying colors in the near future!