Teacher in china

With the economic crisis still ravaging through the US and other rich countries, some prefer to work for less money than join the unemployment line. In this article I will relate
some of my experiences.

A friend, who speaks Chinese, reminisced about the good times he had had 15 years ago when trying to master the language and convinced me to go. Also he took my fear of calling to China and not having to speak Chinese but English.

I decided not to go for the big cities like Shanghai, Beijing or Hongkong since they are flooded with foreigners. I hoped for a medium sized city where one would clearly notice
whether one shopped in China or in Paris, New York, Tokyo.
Also, I dreaded paperwork and did not want to go to a place where all the foreigners want to go.

I finally found Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi province which has a university of  about 80,000 students. 
The person in charge of hiring foreigners (Gao Ying) spoke excellent  English and could answer all my questions over our Skype calls.

In February I applied by emailing my resume, copy of my  passport, 2 letters of recommendation, and a physical exam form which I had asked my family physician to sign. 

The  administration officially approved my  application2 months later and sentme a  letter of invitation which I needed to get a work visa from the Chinese consulate.

Again, at the  consulate, I had to  present the physical exam form.

The details of the contract had been agreed upon over the phone, however, I only signed
a written document once I was in China (the university will pay for your air fare).

The university of Nanchang offers various programs including an MBA program for foreigners. Depending on what you teach to whom, your classes might start anywhere from the beginning of September to mid October.

The pay is not high, on the other hand it is not easy to spend money, since food, clothing etc is cheap, housing electricity is being provided for and you can reach everything by foot. To go to Nanchang the taxi fare is about 30 Rmb (4 dollars and a bit).

Nanchang turned out to be even better than I had expected. The new campus is a little removed from the downtown area.

Modern architecture and infrastructure, eager students, friendly and helpful officials:

I am planning on going back. 

If you want to see some pictures of my experience teaching in China and read more click here.