Hey, if you have any genuine questions about working in China, ask me.

I've been working in China since 2013, at 3 different universities in 3 different cities (all different tiers too).

I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have about working or living in China. (Comparisons to Korea will be very difficult because I left in 2013)

Cheers and have a good Sunday!

What would you say are the pros and cons of working and living in China?

What would you say are the pros and cons of working and living in Korea?

China Pros:
I save a lot of money. (even on "lower" wages)
Students are, generally speaking, very nice.
Basically, I have autonomy to teach what I want and how I want (specific to university jobs)
Very long, paid holidays (I teach 34 weeks a year, get paid in full for 52)

China Cons:
Internet issues.
Need to be careful where you eat/buy food.
Awkwardness to travel out of your city (mostly a COVID-specific con)
The constant need to input an ID number to do something, but your passport number nearly never is an option and 99.9% foreigners don't have a local ID.

As for Korea, I left 9 years ago. It wouldn't be fair to compare, but back then I always tried to send 800k won home on a 2.2m salary, and by end of the month, i was broke. I was also fresh out of uni and drinking and eating out most nights... I suspect my lifestyle then was a big factor on how broke I was in Korea...but I had fun!

What kind of movies do your students like?

I guess Marvel movies like all teenagers around the world?

Ok, cool. Who would you say their favorite actors are?

Yeah...it's very easy to be on the wind up online and if that's how you want to spend your time, that's up to you. I'm not here to judge. I'd prefer to just respond to anybody with legit questions. Cheers! 

Alright. I'll try again.

Do you find Chinese students to be internationally minded or more inward looking?

How do you compare waaay hawt and skinny c-girls to waaay hawt and skinny k-girls?

K-girls definitely have better teeth, but C-girls don't go for the more ridiculous plastic surgeries that tend to fail at least some of the time.

Alright. I'll try again.

Do you find Chinese students to be internationally minded or more inward looking?

Over the years, it has become significantly more inward looking. Some people blame COVID for that, but it was happening just as fast before then too. Of course, there will always be some students passionate about going abroad/studying abroad but that number appears to be dwindling fast.

It says you're in China, too. So what's your experience with that?

How do you compare waaay hawt and skinny c-girls to waaay hawt and skinny k-girls?

Couldn't care less, I'm married to a waaay hawt ph-girl.

Over the years, it has become significantly more inward looking. Some people blame COVID for that, but it was happening just as fast before then too. Of course, there will always be some students passionate about going abroad/studying abroad but that number appears to be dwindling fast.

It says you're in China, too. So what's your experience with that?

My experience is that Chinese students' favorite movie is Lords of the Lockerroom and their favorite actors are Billy Herrington and Van Darkholme.

Couldn't care less, I'm married to a waaay hawt ph-girl.

How壇 you meet her? Met in China?

Saw an interesting article:
覧覧覧覧覧覧

Since Xi took power in China in 2013, the number of asylum applications has grown nearly eight times, reaching nearly 120,000 last year, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, with about 75% of asylum-seekers requesting to live in the United States.

The overwhelming number of asylum-seekers last year was just the tip of the iceberg. Those leaving through formal channels are usually middle and upper class. Others, like Wang Qun, who allowed CNN to follow his odyssey from China to the United States, trekked across the globe to reach the US-Mexico border.

Wang was clear about the motivation behind his decision to leave China, telling CNN, "In the years after Xi Jinping came to power, China's policies have become tighter and tighter, the economy is not doing great...and (his) dictatorship is only getting worse."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/20/opinions/china-russia-autocracies-migration-ghitis/index.html

In the mainland, the last straw for many has been Xi's nightmarish zero-Covid policy, a draconian push to stamp out every trace of the coronavirus. China's anti-Covid campaign made just about every other country's seem half-hearted. Entire cities have been slammed, completely shuttered over a handful of cases, leaving people confined to their homes for weeks, sometimes without enough food.

How壇 you meet her? Met in China?

Nah, she is a relative of one of my best friends from the UK (he's half British/half Filipino). He set us up a few years ago.

Saw an interesting article:

okay and why did you feel the need to post that on this guys completely unrelated thread about questions you may have about working in china? not one question mark in this entire comment 

I can't really talk about asylum seekers, because I have never come across any. However, there are always a fair number of students enrolled in the study abroad program for their Master's.

As for COVID lockdowns, I can give my experience. I live in a smaller town near a big Tier 2 city. Most travel outside of the province is at times difficult/impossible. Our campus was locked down in March completely for 2 weeks (students cant leave dorm except for mass testing) only online teaching. For a further 4 weeks teachers living off campus were not permitted to return to campus but those like myself, could return to the classroom. For most of that semester, the students needed special permission to leave campus while I could come and go with my health code.

It looks like a lockdown is coming again as the start of the semester has been postponed "or a week as cases increase in the Tier 2 city. Going into shopping centres, banks, on a bus, usually you need to scan a QR code, or show your health code. It's not a big deal. It's definitely not idea. It is common not to see people wearing masks. I don't know what the rules are for that anymore.

Something to remember, each province is run differently and handles lockdowns differently.

People say that if you want a visa for China you need something called a "PU Letter." What does "PU" stand for?

I'm not sure. But i think it's basically an invitation letter that your school needs to get from the local government to prove they can recruit people from abroad. I might be wrong though.