An English Teacher in China

Last Friday, I tried moving my website to another host.  One minute later, I broke my site.  I spent the rest of the weekend scrambling online trying to figure out how to fix the mess.  In the process, I learned a few things, such as,

Plan BEFORE you act

This was one time that I definitely leaped before I looked.  This caused some stress and my site was down for a few days (sorry for the inconvenience), but through the excitement I learned a few things and found a few great posts.  This is a great post I found,

how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-server-or-host

Also,

Most of the LEARNING comes when you DO IT

Even though I broke my site for 3 days, I think it was good to jump in.  When I first thought about making the change, I glanced at a few sites that showed how (SQL, FTP, PHP, backing up database, uploading files to new server, changing the domain name) and I felt overwhelmed.  I thought (incorrectly) that I would only have to transfer my domain and everything else would magically move itself (again wrong).

When I broke the site, I felt the need to fix the problem quickly.  I reread those initially daunting emails and this time I slowly understood parts of them.  I tried following them step by step.  But unfortunately the site was still down.  I probably spent too long trying to fix the problem myself.  This leads to my most important learning….

If you don’t know what to do next ASK someone

I tried everything I could and I didn’t know where to turn next.  It was 72 hours later and my site was still broken.  I finally decided to pick up the phone and call for help.  I called Bluehost’s helpline and within 20 minutes Matt had checked everything out, fixed my issue and got my site back up and running (thanks again!).  If you follow the Pareto’s 20/80 principle, where 20% of things impact 80% of the stuff, my brief call was the 1% that impacted 99% of getting my site back up and working.  I never would have discovered my problem without help.

I guess that is one key part in learning.  Ask someone who knows more that you for help and they can show you the way; they can help show you something new that you never knew before and would never have known without their help.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Confucius

Often at key times in my life I have been offered advice from people who meant well, who tried to help, but gave bad advice.

When people give advice, listen and thank them for caring enough to give you advice, but make sure that you decide for yourself if it is useful.  I believe most people who give advice should not.  Most of the advice they give is not only not helpful, but actually harmful. Many times it is our loved ones, family members or close friends, who give us advice on topics they have no idea about, yet that does not stop them from spouting their thoughts.

For example, before my wife and I started our Permanent Residency process, we felt lost and confused. While gathering information about the process we told our loved ones what was happening.  And they gave us their advice.  Although, they had never gone through this process, they still confidently threw out their words of wisdom, “pay for a lawyer and they’ll do it for you.”  My colleagues at work, who also had no experience in the process, gave the same advice in the same confident tone.  Then, I actually spoke to someone who had gone through the PR process, who was a lawyer, and he said, “do it yourself. You’ll save money and do a better job of it.”

Another time I got advice about helping me decide where to teach English.  Before I went to China, but after I had already signed a contract, another friend offered help.  ”Why China? Why not Japan or Korea?”  Although he had never been to China and had never lived abroad, he gave this advice.  ”Why don’t you walk around China Town in Toronto for a while before you decide if you want to live there for a year?”  I thought to myself that this was probably good advice, although I had already committed to my contract, so I walked around China Town.  It terrified me.  The smells and the sights during that hot summer were overwhelming.  The rotten vegetables outside the grocery store were overpowering.  The smell of garbage was too much.  Had I made a horrible decision?  Could I go through with it?  Then I went.  I got on the plane and landed in Beijing, China.  I travelled around China.  I learned that it is much different from the Toronto China Town.  Fortunately for me.  While my friend’s advice was in a good place, trying to protect me, it wasn’t sound because he had never been to where I wanted to go.

The best advice I can give is to go ask someone who has done what you want to do.  There is (almost) always someone who has done what you want to do and they are most likely willing to talk about how they did it.  Ask them for advice.  Listen.  Take notes.

For all others who give advice, but have not done what you want to do, keep in mind that they likely do not know what they are talking about. But remember that their intentions are in the right place. Listen.  Thank them.  But think and decide for yourself.

Best of luck.

Continuing on with questions about moving to China, here are a few more of them you might want to ask or answer before you come.

9. What are the facts about censorship? Facebook? YouTube? Blogger?  I am a blogger myself and I need to blog.

As a writer and user of information in China, the “Great Firewall of China”, can be frustrating and uncomfortable. This discomfort stayed with me during my time in China and it was one of the things that reminded me of where I was living.

Starting with blogging, as this seems close to your heart (and mine), this should be fine. The only trouble I found was that you cannot seem to use the free blog sites such as Blogspot or Wordpress to host your site. I discovered this when I first started. The blogs hosted on free sites, such as Blogspot, are unable to open while you are in China. I think this goes for Blogger as well. In order for you to blog in China, you need to pay for hosting, such as DreamHost, and get your own domain name. After that, blogging should not be an issue for you.

There are lots of blogs in and around China that are thriving. In my links section there are some great sites I like to read and they discuss some important issues. Interestingly, the site Peking Duck recently spoke of an example of the censorship and of rewriting history. I thought it was an impressive and timely article for this question.

As for YouTube and Facebook, as far as I know these are blocked. This is quite frustrating. Another site that is blocked in China is Wikipedia. This was a little annoying, but when I came back to Canada the first thing I would do was jump back into these sites. For the most part I wasn’t a big user of these sites, so these limitations did not bother me. The issue of blocking sites gets more intense and personal when my methods of communicating get severed. Reading about sites such as Skype getting blocked would concern me heavily as that is how I call between Canada and China.

Overall, the level of control over information was a little discomforting for me, but one is definitely able to blog in China. Living in a controlled environment was a little awkward at first.  Although in moving and living in a new culture experiencing differences is to be expected and is part of the journey.

A reader recently asked a few questions about being gay in China.

I’m interested in teaching English in China. But I have a very important question. I’m hoping you can give me some insight, and I think your readers may also be interested in the topic.

I am a gay male from the US. What is China like in terms of gay rights and tolerance? How are gay males viewed? Is it considered inappropriate for a gay male to teach children, as is the case in conservative areas of the US? Do cities like Beijing and Shanghai have an active gay scene? Should I avoid teaching in smaller towns and aim for a bigger, more modern city?

I know that since 2001 it is no longer considered a “mental illness”, but I was wondering if you could shed some light on this.

I think the Chinese culture is conservative in a lot of ways and unfortunately, concerning gay rights I think it is extremely conservative. In this regard, I feel it is similar to how North America likely was back in the ‘50s: things happened, but they were not discussed openly. China is changing rapidly, but sexual tolerance seems to be changing at a slower pace. A positive sign of change is that if you look at any guide book, such as Lonely Planet, you will likely find a “Gay/Lesbian Bars” section in some of the larger cities, such as Beijing or Shanghai.

To answer your specific questions, here is what I know and I hope it is of some help. As for gay rights, I don’t know if there are any in China, I would guess not.  There doesn’t seem to be much mentioned on the news on in the papers concerning this topic.  As for how people are viewed, gay males seem to be viewed negatively at least by the general public. It is not uncommon to hear people pointing out an effeminately-dressed man on the subway and saying, “He’s a gay.” Although, there do appear to be more openly gay young people and this I take as a positive sign.

Interestingly, I find Chinese men are more effeminate than Canadian men and are more comfortable with physical touch, so it is extremely difficult for me to notice if such men are showing signs of intimacy or if they are simply close friends.  For example, when my family came over for my wedding last summer my wife’s cousin “Kobe” held my brother’s hand as a sign of close friendship.  Fortunately, I had mentioned this to my brother beforehand and he was okay with the situation.  Shortly after, my wife mentioned to her cousin that this behaviour, male adults holding hands, was not common for Canadians and he stopped.

Concerning an active gay scene, again, I think the guide books or local expat magazines, such as The Beijinger, would provide more current information. I would think that the larger cities like Beijing or Shanghai would have a more active scene, would have more foreigners and would have a more comfortable environment than other cities. For these reasons, I think teaching and living in a larger city may be a better place to start.

Concerning teaching in China and being openly gay or lesbian, this is difficult. From my perspective as a straight male teacher, I think the attitude and culture in China would make it very challenging for someone to teach or work there and be openly gay. Sadly, I think most Chinese parents would be uncomfortable with this situation and would not send their children to that school. Because of this I would recommend keeping your sexual interests private if you want to teach in China.

How are income taxes handled in China?

Full-Time Employees

Tax Bracket     Monthly Income     Tax %     Tax Rebates

1                         Up to 400 RMB             5%              0

2                         500-2,000                   10%            25

3                         2,000-5,000                15%            125

4                         5,000-20,000              20%            375

5                         20,000-40,000            25%            1375

6                         40,000-60,000            30%            3375

7                         60,000-80,000            35%            6375

8                         80,000-100,000          40%            10375

9                         100,000+                    45%            15375

• Foreigners first 4,800 RMB is tax free.

While working as a PT trainer one month I earned the following

10,782 RMB gross salary

-4,800

5,982 RMB taxable income

x 20% (this is the only bracket I was in while in China!)

1196.4 taxable income before rebate

-375 tax rebate in this tax bracket

821.4 tax actually deducted from my salary

7.6% (821.4/10,782) actually tax rate for the month

9960.6 RMB amount deposited in my bank.

Would you explain further any online banking and money transfers steps to the USA?