rejected_goods, nice article, thanks for that. I thought that Chinese airlines were also hiring foreign pilots to fill the gaps in locally available skills and experience? I know that Sichuan airlines has foreign pilots as part of their cockpit crew. Dragonair, Lao Airlines and other regional airlines almost always have at least one foreign pilot on each flight too. According to a friend who has lived and worked in Laos for almost 30 years, "you can only trust Lao Airlines if the pilot is French and not Indonesian". Last flight on Lao Airlines out of Kunming to Vientiane was horrible on take-off with very heavy turbulence, but otherwise routine the rest of the journey - the pilot was French and his French accent was very reassuring.

@BillDan, agree with you fully. It's sad because Chinese have been treated too well in foreign countries, especially our own (not that we should necessarily change that, but how about showing us some reciprocity?)

CROwai are you sure? I don't really think they care. They only care about the money. I know plenty of students, including YNNU "students" that have signed up for classes but barely attend any. Many of the Thai students there this year don't attend much class at all, instead they drink at night, then sleep until 1 or 2pm (all classes are in the morning). I know exactly who these "students" are, though they shall remain nameless of course, haha.

Good to know re: China Eastern, but like I said before, both safety and good service are important factors when it comes to choosing whom to fly with. I don't understand the need to save $100 only to end up with poor service and possibly questionable safety and unreliable service. I am even willing to pay a little extra to upgrade to business class in some cases...make sure you sign up for a frequent flyer program and the benefits will start rolling in soon enough.

Also, I find the awful quality of the English in any Chinese airlines' inflight magazine and the difficulty in making reservation changes (especially if you don't speak enough Chinese) as a sign that many Chinese airlines are not professional enough for international passengers. Look at the quality of English spoken on THAI and Singapore Airlines flights, in their published materials such as inflight magazines, promotional material, website etc. not to mention Cathay Pacific. THAI has even stopped issuing boarding passes printed in both Thai and English - now it's only English. No wonder they always feature rave reviews by international travellers. Chinese airlines could learn a lot from these airlines. Unfortunately, neither THAI nor SQ fly to Canada at this time, so you'll probably have to stick with Cathay.

@yuantongsi, ah...interesting info, I didn't know that. All I know is that in the most open and least developed SE Asian countries close to China, there are a lot of Chinese citizens that seem to be living partly in China and partly there (Laos and Myanmar), mainly in border areas of course.

I also thought that another reason for allowing dual citizenship was that the large number of overseas Chinese in the west could be encouraged to come back to China without relinquishing their "foreign" citizenship. Anyway, this is just a thought of mine, seems like you know a lot more about this issue than I do.