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12:23 PM

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Subject Would any of you consider working in China (Feedback needed please)

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How do eat, drink water, and breathe air? It sounds great, but I'd worry about being shot for clicking on a glp link or something.
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I eat with chopsticks and drink with a cup or a mug. I breathe through my mouth and nose :P

Fresh food is cheap and there are plenty of imported food supermarkets to buy all of the creature comforts from my home country. street food is about 2 dollars for a main course dish and a bowl of rice.

I have a water cooler in my apartment and drinking water is delivered to my door for 2 dollars for a large container. I have a smoothie maker so I buy fresh fruit in the mornings and make my own smoothies. Alcohol is very cheap (1 dollar for a 40oz of beer so). My water guy delivers beer too so I stock up via him occasionally. Most restaurants and coffee shops have clean drinking water and brita-filters too.

Regarding air quality - some people wear breathing masks but I never have. I haven't had an issue in 3 years. Most of the shocking imagery you see of Chinese pollution is actually quite embellished. Many of the 'smog clouds' are actually dust clouds from the surrounding deserts. The terrain of Beijing is a bowl shape and surrounded by mountains. When the air pressure is at a specific height the dust cannot travel over the mountains so it sits in the city. However, Monday mornings are normally quite smoggy as the factories work double time to make up for the missed days on the weekend.

You will never be in trouble for the types of website you browse. If the website isn't blocked then feel free to go on it. However, you can get in trouble for inciting riots/violence but that's the case in most western countries too.

Thank you for the great questions. They're normally the first ones to come up.
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Where do I sign up?
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Original Message I am a British man and have been in Beijing for 3 years. I started as a teacher for the Beijing Foreign Studies University before being promoted to teacher trainer and then foreign teacher manager. Along the way I had heard many stories about foreign teachers being treated unfairly and dishonestly so I decided to partner up with a recruitment agency to help foreign teachers find the perfect jobs for themselves.

I figured that sharing some of my ideas of GLP would be a good start with my business because not only are you guys some of the most blunt and candid people possible, but you're also the masters of internet rumours, fear mongering and armchair journalism. Your concerns about coming to China would represent the deepest, darkest concerns that the average westerners would have about coming out here.

Teaching English in China is fantastically paid (starting salary is 1,700USD per month but the cost of living is so cheap here that you could easily save 1,100 of it). After my first year I was awarded a raise to 2,700USD per month for a 36 hour work week. If you have a degree and are over 24 then China is your oyster.

However, lots of people have concerns about the western media perpective of China and I would like to help understand what would really stop someone taking an opportunity like this.

As an extra bonus for English teachers that I recruit, i provide the following but I would love to know if there was anything else that you would recommend:

• Prepaid SIM card and Transport Card
• Accident in the workplace insurance.
• Training for your work placement.
• Chinese language crash courses
• Chinese Calligraphy and Artwork Taster Classes
• Visits to iconic destinations in Beijing such as the Great Wall, The Summer Palace and the Forbidden City.
• Taster classes in Chinese Cooking.
• Taster classes in Kung Fu or Wu-Shu.
• Networking parties, dinners and drinks.
• Factory visits to see where your western products come from and to try your hand at haggling for various products with your new Chinese language skills.
• Tours of the inner city such as the Hutongs and 798 Art District.
• Visits to shows such as the Beijing Opera and Shaolin Kung Fu.

Thanks for reading this. I would really appreciate any feedback whatsoever and would be willing to answer any questions that you may have about what life in China is really like.

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