Barry – Panda English Education

You Can’t Hide In China

Barry — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 03:18:36 +0000

Foreigner's Who think they Can hide from the Government

China is a great and wonderful place to live and work. However you need to be aware that you must follow the immigration laws and work legally.

No matter what you hear from people in chat groups, online, from schools, education centres, or agents, you can’t work here illegally. You might have heard from people that they have been working in China for years and never got caught, and this might be true, but over the last few years the government has created an extremely good system to track you wherever you go. They have the best system in the world and millions of government officials to track you. If you are one of these people that think you have privacy rights, well you are wrong. The only rights you have are to be a law bidding citizen.

Everything you do in China is linked to your passport, and I mean EVERYTHING. I couldn’t begin to make a list for you because it is far too long. There is no hiding here and everything that you want, including income, a roof over your head, food and the ability to move freely in the city or country is monitored, whether you like it or not.

Nobody living in China, thinks about it as long as they aren’t breaking the law, so they have nothing to worry about. However for people who do break the law, including immigration laws, I tell them the same thing. “It’s not a matter of if you get caught, but when”.

China has the highest technology in the world for facial recognition and can track you in the streets, through the purchases you make, and your mobile phones (whether or not you have your GPS turned on). You can’t use any form of payment to buy anything that the government doesn’t know about. In fact, the government even has a rating system for people who make the right purchases, and it’s like a citizen credit score.

This system is how the government has been able to control corruption, control the spread of the covid-19 virus, have an extremely low crime rate throughout the country and have the ability to act and solve crimes quickly (day or night). China is one of the safest countries in the world because of this system, and because of this, we don’t worry about being watched or monitored.

For an idea of how everything is linked together, you can refer to the picture below.

Why Should You Never Accept Free Accommodations !

Barry — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 03:33:16 +0000

Why You Should Never Accept School Accommodations

When a foreigner decides to come to China, or might already be living in China, or wants to relocate, they sometimes look for a job that provides accommodations in their employment package. This is a foolish idea in most cases. Sure, if you are working for a company in your own country and they transfer you to China, accommodation might be a really good thing because everything is being arranged for you. The employment package can be extremely generous with free flights, health and accidental insurance at a western standard. Sometimes a car is included to drive you around, and other benefits including a high-end apartment in an expensive neighborhood, paid vacations, free education for your children, extremely high salary equal to or higher than your regular salary in your own country. In addition to all that, your visa is arranged and sponsored by the company in your home country.

This isn’t the case with any job that is found online, either through an employment agency or even directly through the school. The salaries are generally lower and there aren’t the extra benefit packages. Insurance benefits (if any) are of the lowest coverage, and Chinese employers might get you accommodation that is far from suitable for western living and will be as cheap as they can possibly make it; more suitable for their own pockets, and not your comfort. Keep in mind, the employer is trying to make as much money as they can with the least amount of expense. This may include giving you accommodations inside the school or in a school dormitory, where you have very little privacy, share washrooms with your students (including showers), no cooking facilities in your room, where the school’s cafeteria is only open Monday to Friday and closed on weekends because the students and staff have gone home. Living at the school can feel like you are being held against your will. The school gates lock at night to keep students in and strangers out (for the protection of the students). Many schools don’t even have internet or if they do, the internet only operates during business hours. Have you ever seen a Chinese style toilet? It looks like a hole in the floor and you squat over it as you try balancing on your feet or a trough in the floor. (for more details, visit http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Squat-Toilet)

Things to keep in mind when looking for a job and schools offering accommodations:

The school is sponsoring your visa and if they are legally allowed to employ a foreign teacher, they sponsor your work permit (Category B) as well. Because of this, they have a lot of control over you while you are in China and can cancel your visa and category B whenever they want. Without your visa, you can no longer stay in China and they can actually stop you from obtaining employment somewhere else. When leaving a legal employer, you require your documents and you must change your visa out of the schools name within 10 days, or face fines and/or deportation.
They know where you are, where you live and in some cases, they know everything about what you do in your spare time because someone in the area is watching you. If you are sick, they know where to find you and can make you go to work anyway. Because they own the place, they have the right to come into your place to snoop, especially if you are living on school property, and they know who comes and goes out of your living space. There have been some stories about hidden video equipment and spyware software on your computer or internet.
If the accommodations are provided with the job, whether it is in the school or off school property, what do you think the chances are that they will allow you to continue living in the accommodation if you quit or worse, get fired? You could be put in a position where you are unemployed and homeless in a matter of hours. Being that the accommodations are provided by and paid for by the school, they can even get the police involved with removing you immediately and you have no say about it. I hope your employment with the school is totally legal because it is a possibility that the police will want to see your visa, temporary residence permit (TRP) and Category B.
If fired or if you quit your job, there is an extremely good chance that the school will not pay you immediately and make you wait until the scheduled pay period, or they may not pay you at all. If they don’t pay you, what can you do about it? You’re homeless, unemployed and broke, and there is a good chance they are going to cancel your visa and Category B. You can make a complaint to the government (if you are legally employed) but you will be lucky if the government will process everything within a timely manner and you could be waiting for months before the matter makes it to court. If you aren’t legally employed, you can do nothing and the government won’t lift a finger to help you, neither will the courts.
If your accommodations are on school property, you will find out the school will not allow you to have guests, especially overnight guests. If your family comes to visit, you have no place to let them stay while they are in China. The school will have strict rules regarding students visiting their teacher during the evening, especially the opposite sex, and if you are placed in with the same gender, the school will encourage you and the students to spend a lot of time together, for basically free education or to build relationships (friendships) with your students, meaning working but without pay. Think of the different situations you could get yourself into without even trying.
If the school is paying for the accommodations, they are generally paying the water, electricity and gas. This means they can have reasons to complain about usage. The electric bill is too high because you want warmth in the winter and to be cool in the summer. By the way, most Chinese don’t use their heating and air conditioning because they want to save money on electricity and are willing to sacrifice their own comfort to save money.
The school gets to pick the location of your accommodations. If you were the school, would you choose an apartment (if an apartment is provided) close to the school for the teacher to get to work easier, or a place closer to grocery stores, shopping malls, bars, or in some cases, close to a nearby town or city. Of course they are going to pick a place very close to the school because to them, that is the reason you are there. To work, to make them money and to be there whenever they need you. They don’t want you to go too far away from the school because you might meet people or find a better job, or think the nearby town/city is a better place to live. I have met some schools that don’t like their teachers to venture out from their area and will come up with excuses why it isn’t safe. By the way, China is one of the safest places in the world and serious crime is extremely rare, which is amazing since China has over 1.65 billion people.
Free is generally not free. If the accommodations are at the school, it cost the school nothing. If it is an apartment, the school got the apartment extremely cheap or it’s a friend’s place and they are working on a side deal. Generally, a job that comes with accommodations generally pays less, even if it isn’t costing them anything.

There are many different reasons why you don’t want accommodation provided, even more than we mentioned here. Keep control of your own life. Coming to China wasn’t only about a job or to make money, it was to see and experience a different culture, to see a different part of the world and to meet new people. A good employer will help you find a place to live and might even negotiate with the landlord about the rental price. This allows you to do what you want when school hours are finished.

What are some of the Online Education Issues in China?

Barry — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 05:33:35 +0000

What are some of the Online Education Issues in China?

Due to the Corona Virus in China, the government is now suggesting schools set up online education so that teachers can work from home and students won’t get too far behind in their studies. Unfortunately, most online education is set up for Chinese teachers, not foreigners who also teach in China.

This all said, the idea has become a huge challenge for schools, teachers, owners of the schools and mostly the internet. I have done some research regarding the number of schools in China and for elementary
schools alone, there are more than 100,000 schools. This doesn’t include middle schools, high schools, and universities, private or international schools, which means there are far more than 500,000 schools in China.

Speaking with some schools who have managed to set up online, they are having huge problems because of the amount of users. Let me explain. Teachers are either speaking to their students one-to-one or recording lessons from their homes, or schools are trying to stream the lessons in real-time to the students directly. The government hasn’t instructed kindergartens or nursery schools to participate in this because those students lessons aren’t as important as the upper grade levels. However, for the above mentioned schools who are supposed to participate, there are literally millions of students countrywide, so the internet is having a lot of problems because of the load.

Even though China has one of the largest internet systems in the world, with all the newest technology, they would still require a much larger system than currently set up to teach all the children in China online. With that all said, education centres across China have already started to stream their lessons online because their privately owned centres were closed down completely, and lack the cash to keep their business doors open for the students.

This whole idea was to have the students continue studying and put teachers back to work, even if it meant that the earnings were less than normal. However, without the internet, this idea might come to a sudden stop and not only for the education industry, but for everyone who uses the internet in China.

I think they are going to have to come up with a better idea. At the moment, the school year could be saved, depending on the length of time this virus continues. If we are able to control it within the next month, schools could re-open and the students could return to class. They may have to extend the second semester into the summer vacation period for a short time, but it would most likely solve the internet issues schools are experiencing.

How is COVID-19 Going to Affect the Education Market in China?

Barry — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 04:49:04 +0000

How is COVID-19 Going to Affect the Education Market in China?

Having been here since 2001 and lived through the SARS virus, the education market for foreigners and schools in China will be affected a lot. Many foreigners who had left the country during the Chinese New Year Festival were either stuck in their home countries or stuck in a country where they were vacationing.

We have already spoken to many of these foreigners and many aren’t returning back to China; partly because of financial issues, partly out of fear and partly because there aren’t jobs for them to go back to at this point. The restart dates keep on moving (which is not the fault of the schools or the government). Many of these foreigners have started to look for employment in other places, either in their home countries, or other countries that they can get access to. Many airlines have still either stopped or restricted flights to and from China for the foreable future, but most foreigners can’t wait that long. This is only the beginning of the problems for foreigners.

Foreigners working in China as teachers, who are stuck in China without a monthly income to pay their living expenses and rent, are planning to leave once the airlines take China off the banned list. To an extent, I can see their point, but if the ban is lifted, that will mean foreigners will be able to go back to work and possibly catch up. Most foreign teachers don’t have a social benefit package and don’t pay into unemployment programs; they rely on their savings, and let’s face it, most foreigners aren’t good at saving.

During this time, schools are taking a major hit, especially the private or international schools that rely on paid students to keep their doors open. I have heard of a few schools in the last few days that won’t be re-opening unless the government financially helps them out. However, schools aren’t the only education businesses affected. Education centres rely on paying students, especially during the winter and summer vacation period, but they too are all closed because of COVID-19.

This has hurt the entire education market for foreign and Chinese teachers, as well as the staff, school and education centre owners, along with the students, who need to have enough time to complete their second semester of school. It will affect many other parts of the market, but I am only focusing on the education industry because it directly affects us.

Our predictions for the next year are; there will be a huge shortage of teachers in a market that was already short of qualified people to be educators for English. Many schools that had foreign teachers will now be looking for replacements once the virus is gone. Like the SARS period, it will take a few years of recovery in the education industry before everything comes back to normal.