Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Forgotten foreigners shanghaied in Shanghai

By Cireena Simcox - posted Wednesday, 20 January 2010


When the bells rang to usher in 2010 all over the world, there was special jubilation in Shanghai. Following the success of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China is poised for another world celebration - the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

But for a group of expatriate teachers in the glamorous, glitzy city New Year’s Eve was a subdued affair.

These teachers, representing Australia, UK and the United States, are part of the flotsam left floating around the wreck of a business partnership between a Shanghai construction company and two Irishmen with their eyes to the main chance, Ken Carroll and Brian McCloskey.

Advertisement

The Company, KaiEn, an English language school which for 13 years had been a trusted name in Shanghai, folded ignominiously on payday a week before Christmas.

However, under Chinese law, no foreigner entrepreneurs can register a business without the co-operation of a Chinese partner.

So when teachers reported for work to find that McCloskey, Carroll and all their salaries had fled the country, the full impact of their plight still hadn’t hit home.

At first all went, if not well, at least hopefully. The Chinese partner, unearthed by a sympathetic media, appeared to negotiate with the foreign teachers; local (Chinese) staff were paid out by the Labour Board with compensation to boot; students were reassured that their interests would be protected and a payment of 30 per cent of one month of each foreign teacher’s salary - not quite enough to settle outstanding rent or utilities, but enough to eat from - was paid out.

The press took their cameras and retreated to look for another story, the Chinese teachers moved on - but the foreign teachers have been left in limbo ever since.

Under Chinese law it is the employers who are responsible for their employee's Working Visas. It is also the employer who must prepare and deliver a Letter of Release to employees before they can legally be re-employed.

Advertisement

Neither McCloskey, Carroll nor the somewhat shady “investor” from Singapore, Alex Wee, stopped long enough to alert anyone of their departure date, let alone sign Letters of Release or make visa provisions. Under Chinese law, it is now the duty of the listed partners to do so.

The Chinese partners however, refuse to sign anything.

Even the part-payments given out were unsigned. Teachers noted, rather ominously, that the receipts which accompanied the small percentage of the money to which they were indeed contractually entitled, refers to it as a “loan”. As the purpose of a loan is that it is returned in full this has led to much uneasiness.

The biggest problem which now besets these beleaguered teachers - apart from imminent eviction from their homes, prosecution for unpaid bills and how to feed themselves - has become the cultural divide between East and West.

Despite the lessons learned from the bad press and demonstrations which also accompanied the congratulations and euphoria of the Games, it seems that efforts to try to understand guests in the Middle Kingdom are not high on the list of priorities of the average businessperson in China.

While the government and diplomatic envoys call for understanding and harmony, many Chinese remain oblivious to the West - other than acknowledging the stereotype.

In this scenario all Westerners are wealthy and privileged. The company now forced to deal with an anxious group of foreigners is neither as uncompassionate nor as uncaring as their actions - or lack thereof - appear to Western eyes. It is not that they don’t care about the problems of a handful of broke and out-of-work strangers in their midst, they simply do not believe there is anything worse than inconvenience happening here.

At one of the interminable set-pieces which comprise Chinese negotiations, one teacher burst out that a decision in 60 days was useless: they needed to eat now. The Chinese negotiator merely stared unblinkingly back for a full 20 or more seconds.

This was neither contempt nor disregard. It was simply utter confusion.

Not for one minute would it have entered his head that this was a statement of fact. Instead it would have been regarded as merely another step in the sequence of choreographed events that is the negotiation round. A step however, that found him left-footed and of which the Westerners are oblivious. It was not in the script.

Why would anyone demean themselves with such a statement? What was the purpose behind it? Why would a white collar worker deliberately court Loss of Face by giving the impression that they, like some indigent beggar, lacked food? With a look similar to that of George Bush when told America had been attacked by terrorists, not a muscle in the man’s face twitched - he was out of his depth.

Even public opinion, at first shocked and mainly sympathetic, is no help to the foreign teachers caught in this deadlock. In a country of 1.6 billion nationals where the gap between rich and poor, peasant and princess, yawns wide and seemingly impenetrable, foreigners problems are not taken seriously.

Although all of the teachers now left behind consider China their home, with most having Chinese partners, it is inconceivable to the average Chinese that they are not in transit. The most common question asked to Westerners in China, after “how much do you earn?”, is “where do you live?” Experience soon dictates that answers such as Shanghai or Beijing - even if one was born and raised there - are not acceptable. A giggle or guffaw then accompanies the next question: “no - but where do you now really live?”

To the thrifty Shanghainese the idea of any adult who does not have a hefty bank account behind them is risible. To try to explain that some in this group - with unpaid bills and rent - do not have money even for airline tickets nor means of support on arrival at their new destination, is to risk being held in contempt rather than compassion. It is beyond comprehension.

Others maintain that, when coming to live in a different country, one should be aware of the rules and regulations. An opinion that doesn’t take into account the fact that even lawyers, with years of specialist study behind them, do not have laws for every contingency memorised, but must make use of copious research and precedents.

Yet these are teachers, not lawyers. They did not come to exploit people but to educate them. They do not have company lawyers behind them, nor a parent company for protection.

However, they know that the rules and laws of the Chinese government DO protect them. It quite clearly makes provision for those whose jobs are terminated in such a fashion to receive moneys owing - including compensation.

But no government can legislate the greed and cupidity from individual people. Especially people who consider this group of unrepresented teachers as easy prey.

The whole of Shanghai is under re-construction at the moment for the Expo. Buildings are swathed in scaffolding, roads being widened and people being cautioned not to walk around in their pyjamas when “The Foreigners” come. Taxi drivers are being given lessons on manners and clean white gloves, schoolchildren are being coached to say “hello” and the city is to look its brightest when the expected hordes and the foreign Press begin to descend in May.

For more than a month the foreign teachers of KaiEn have been living on fresh air and deferred hope. Without the papers and the salary, bonuses, overtime, airfares and visas to which they are entitled they can move neither on nor out.

One wonders how well their story will impact upon all those Westerners being courted at the Worldwide Expo? What enticement is there in a work contract in a strange country to people who cannot trust it to protect them?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

5 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Cireena Simcox has been a journalist and columnist for the last 20 years and has written a book titled Finding Margaret Cavendish. She is also an actor and playwright .

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Cireena Simcox

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 5 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy