Why "has to be american" ???
Why "has to be female"???
Why "has to be white"???
Why "has to be under 30"???
Why "has to be ..."???
Because that is what 'they' feel fits what they want for whatever reason they have. Don't feel bad because you were rejected. It happens to all of us. That's the way the world works.

Chinese people, in general, have the view that American English is "real English." Although this is completely ridiculous linguistically, it is, nevertheless, the general view here.

@Natsymir

It's true that more Chinese study in the US than any other country, but it's not true that the "vast majority" do. In fact, the US is only the destination for 27% of Chinese studying abroad. That means a full 73% study in countries other than the US!

Here's the rankings
US 27%
UK 22%
Canada 15%
Australia 7%
Singapore 5%
Hong Kong 4%
New Zealand 4%
Switzerland 5%
Germany 3%
France 3%
Japan 2%
Others 3%

Sources: Chinese Consumer Luxury White Paper 2012, Institute of International Education, hdrstates.undr.org, businessinsider.com, New York Times

Don't worry, the UK probably paid to be bumped up the list.

Most western culture (films, pop music, fast food, NBA) that Chinese people are exposed to is from the US, so that might have something to do with it.

But actually, I think most good employers will not restrict applicants to being American, but rather look for native english speakers with proper qualifications. If they have that condition, it's probably not a well-managed school.

I've been to Hennan and Anyang, what a dump city..
Read between the lines, they dont want to pay top wages.......

Their requirements for a teacher should also include...
"Acceptance of bribery and corruption in our Hennan society:..

Quote..
We're a kindergarten in Anyang city,Henan province, there're 4 classes in our kindergarten, we're looking for a English teacher now, it's a full time job.

Requirements:
1/ the white race, female or male both ok
2/ come from developed countries, not from US or UK
3/ have 1-3 years' English teaching experience
4/ can live and work in Anyang for a long time
5/ like Children very much, patient with love

If you're qualified and interested in this job, please send me your cv with picture (it's a must), and tell me your salary requirement

davidsui1@163.com

Best regards

HR

I took my TEFL in Ho Chi Minh city. The owner of the Guest House I stayed at in Dist. 7 within the city said I had the most understandable conversational English he had ever heard. I live in Thailand now and alot of my friends own and operated guest houses. They all tell me the same thing. I speak the most understandable converstaional English that they hear. They speak to English speaking people from all over the World on a daily basis, and they tell me they can hardly understand most of their guests spoken English. Whether it is Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand.... their spoken English is not understandable! Where am I from? Where else? The United States of America. I agree with some of you. People from my countries "deep" south should NOT be teaching conversational English because even I can not understand their English most of the time! Ya'all unda stan?

Regional accents all cause problems.

Also, if I am somewhere with expat friends, and I think sum 'un is tacking too much inerst in what we be tackin aboot, I tack on a stung rejnul acsunt.

or one could just revert to rap...or tack on "-ski" to pretend you're speaking russian/polish/czech, etc etc ad infinitum. Chinese are utterly confounded by the Indian versions of English - so just mimic the melodic staccato Indian version of English (and confound and amaze your native speaking friends also).

"A little over half of our teachers are Americans (...) and a few Chinese-Americans"

What's the difference between an American and a Chinese-American? I thought China didn't allow dual nationality.