Forums > Living in Kunming > Increased anti-foreigner sentiment?
Restrictions that were never there, that is.
Restrictions that were never there, that is.
@Liumingke1234 there brought another perspective or two to my pondering above, and also anectodal evidence on his own part.
Health hazards are bigger for older people, and while that would remain so in almost any country, many older and more experienced teachers will avoid countries like China (distrust on local health care and language barriers for most) where they may face age discrimination to begin with.
Younger teachers will not want to risk getting involuntarily stuck in foreign countries, or quarantined for weeks on roundtrips both ways.
Add political problems with USA.
Shortage of foreign teachers sounds guaranteed in very near term. Only saviour may be that economy globally goes down, and jobs disappear. China may still have jobs for those who can accept all above challenges.
More generically on topic of foreign teachers "on tour" in China (rather than living here like many of us), do you people working in education think the Covid will take a toll on that?
I mean, will it act as a deterring factor for fear of future pandemic or travel restrictions appearing? People worrying about getting stuck in places they prefer not get stuck in, and staying in home countries?
If there is such thing, will we see a new demand for native speakers being hired regardless of qualifications, or even lowering those qualification requirements by the authorities to answer to that demand?
Google translate is so familiar for foreign tourists coming to China, that blocking it together with other Google products would mean even more foreigners lost here - which, on the topic, would feed more anti-foreigner sentiment.
I don't know how Google's translate service operates technically in China (for example does it communicate with Google's ecosystem elsewhere, or does it censor translate results), but it wouldn't have been a tough sell for Chinese authorities to give it any necessary exception.
@AlPage48:
"information they post about visiting or living here does not match my experience here at all"
Ditto that. Then again they must build their view on the cities and places where majority of the repsective nationals visit, and those are Shanghai etc.
Scams on West Nanjing Road and petty thefts in places are (or have been - haven't been to such in years) a real thing, but nothing that describes life in Kunming for example.
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Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者@aliennew: "the important thing here is to give the kids of the poor an even break, which is hard to do when the kids of the rich have"
Naturally so. My argument is that the poor should have to pay taxes too (even if very marginal amounts), so that they would learn to ask for better services in exchange for that, and this would work towards breaks their kids get. They would learn to ask for them.
The current 3500 RMB tax break in monthly income, defined in national level, means huge number of rural residents never having to pay income taxes, and I would like to see the tax system reformed so that every person feels contributing to the common good, and in that everyone would be on the same line.
Then people in rural Yunnan and elsewhere could slowly learn to ask for same services as those in Kunming or Shanghai, since they would be contributing to the system on same terms..
Perhaps the money just isn't there, but at least more of the little there is would be directed to be spent properly.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者@alienew: "Why "in China more than anywhere"?"
Because political system in China is naturally demotivating people from taking part in public interests and discussions for political reasons. They are also arguably quite restricted from pursuing the same goals for religious or spiritual reasons.
Since Deng, Chinese are however allowed and even urged to acquire financial wealth and prosperity. Social participation and activation of the public should therefore piggyback on money here.
The poor shouldn't have to pay taxes to finance the system, but to activate themselves to follow up on those tax contributions.
Specifically on OP, this means motivating to send your children to school, and to certain degree also making you interested to know whether your neighbour does that. And that once they do attend the school, they get the money's worth.of education.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者"as for the poor caring where the tax goes, many are too ignorant of how governmt works anyhow"
Agreed, but I''d say that it is partly a chicken and egg problem. For better or worse, it is money that makes the world go around, and money can just as well stop it going around. Populism could be one realization of it stop going around.
I believe that in China more than anywhere this nature of money (or exchange of goods in wider context) should be utilized to mobilize the interest of the common people for their common causes.
But it may still be too early for the Chinese government to allow that. Too many skeletons still in open.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者And on the note of 1%ers, if they would be made to pay 1% more tax, the question is whether they would pay it or move to a tax haven somewhere else. Worst case scenario is that instead of them paying 1% more, they would be paying zero.
It is (or should be) a fine balance.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者@Dazzer: I don't mean the difference being in significantly bigger tax revenue, but the impact for individual families when they recognize that they have to pay their children's education and other state costs (via taxes) out of their very little income anyway, so why not use it..
For a person that makes, for example, a mere 100 RMB a month, 1 RMB or 1% tax taken out would go towards activating them to care how that 1 RMB gets used.
If the local government builds a new school house, they'd feel that they contributed to finance it and that they should use it.