Why I Fled from China

“Be careful what you wish for” is what we’ve all been told in our lives. Too many times people crave something so much to the point where they will go to incredible lengths just to get it; only to then realise that all their efforts were in vain. I feel that it is necessary for me to tell my story of my return to China and why I fled from there.

I quit my role as an English teacher in Suzhou, Jiangsu in December 2018 due to disagreements over my salary; cultural dissimilarities and a complete lack of respect towards me. Before leaving China in January, I was contacted on WeChat by Richard Licy, a recruiter, and he got me in contact with a company based in Shenzhen called China International Personnel Training Centre (CIPTC). After speaking with Charline, an employee of the company, I signed a contract with them. However, I didn’t have all the required documents and thus had to return to London. Upon returning, I wasted no time in acquiring the documents and getting them notarised and legalised. It was a costly procedure that subsequently left me very short of cash and because of this, I was unable to return to China after the Spring Festival. Due to my lack of funds, I did some temping work from March till May.

Throughout that entire time I was constantly harried, hassled and harassed by Richard. “When will you arrive?”, “The school want to know when you’re coming” and “The school is very angry with you for not arriving yet!” are some of the messages that he bombarded me with on WeChat almost on a daily basis. Although I explained to him umpteen times that I wasn’t able to leave because of insufficient funds, he failed to get the message. Also, coming out in April or May would be futile. What point is there in coming out with just one or two months left of the academic year? It makes no sense. I tried telling him that arriving in August, a few weeks before the new year commenced, would be more logical but shock horror: he still couldn’t fathom this. I succumbed to the pressure and immediately made plans to return. I already knew that I was making a monumental mistake in not following my gut instinct but little did I know just how badly things would turn out.

I arrived in Hong Kong on the evening of May 19th. During that week, Charline told me that “a guy” was going to collect me from the airport. No name, description or ID were provided even though I had asked for them on numerous occasions. Unsurprisingly, when I landed “a guy” was nowhere to be seen. I waited almost 2 hours yet this man still hadn’t arrived. I messaged Charline frantically but she took what felt like an eternity to finally respond. I got sick and tired of waiting but at last the driver arrived. Already, there was a complete lack of communication and CIPTC and I weren’t off to a good start.

I met with Charline the next morning however, I couldn’t have imagined what would transpire that day. “We didn’t need you to come now because we don’t have any teaching positions,” were the words that came out of her mouth. I froze immediately after hearing this. I initially thought that this was some Chinese prank but I was wrong, much to my dismay. After her words sunk in I was dumbfounded, I couldn’t believe it. They forced me into coming all this way after endlessly pressing me for months, only to then tell me that I wasn’t needed at all. I was lied to, misled and exploited just so Richard and Charline can get their commission at work. I felt sick to my stomach! The anger that surged through my body at that point was similar to the anger that one will usually feel when they’re about to get into a fight. It was that bad. I questioned them about why they did this but unsurprisingly Charline decided to play dumb and Richard kept providing me with scripted responses.

My mood was slightly better the following morning, but I was still vex. Shockingly, things took a turn for the worse. For months I was told that I was going to be paid ¥13,000 per month. Yet, I was now being told that it was now going to be ¥11,500. The contract clearly stated in black and white that it was the former every month but they kept giving me these asinine technicalities. I rejected much better offers after signing a contract with them, I could have easily jumped ship at any given time but I felt that it would be somewhat of a betrayal. What did I get in return? Nothing but a pack of lies. Irate? Too right I was, my blood was boiling! In just 48 hours I got played like a fool, it’s almost like the word ‘jackass’ was written all over my forehead. Charline tried to contact me that evening but I was in no mood to speak to her or anyone else associated with that company.

I had a trial at a middle school the following day and at last, there was something to be cheerful about. The demo lesson was exceptional, I got a rapturous response from the students, along with their teachers. I was later offered to work at the school and agreed to return the week after. On my first full day, I arrived expecting to begin teaching but the lessons had been cancelled thanks to the torrential rain. I met with Rachel, my contact teacher, after breakfast and she showed me to my accommodation. I asked her for the WiFi but she failed to provide it and although I explained to her that I wouldn’t be able to message her without it, she still wouldn’t give it to me. “It’s complicated” she said, whatever that even meant.

Finally, I began teaching the day after but the lessons went badly because the students were haywire. Afterwards, I spoke to one of their form tutors regarding the behaviour of his class. What was his response? Laughter in the presence of other teachers and students. I was annoyed because this asshole just humiliated me in front of several people. Once again, rain started hammering down and I got absolutely soaked. I was outside and had nowhere to go because Rachel didn’t do her job in showing me where my office was or where her office is. I searched to and fro all over this enormous school for either of the two, but to no avail. I was unable to contact her because I wasn’t connected to any WiFi but at last, I was finally given it by one of the interns. Once I connected, I received several messages from Rachel asking about my whereabouts and why I wasn’t responding, I explained to her that I tried looking for our offices and that I couldn’t respond to her because she didn’t provide me with the WiFi.

I then got contacted by CIPTC at around 14:00 and was told that the school gave them negative feedback about me. They didn’t like the fact that I yelled at my class and were unhappy that I ignored their messages. I beg your pardon? I was ignoring their messages? Poppycock. They refused to give me the WiFi and as a consequence, I couldn’t answer them. Their fault, not mine. Regardless, I assured them that I would turn things around and apologised for the inconvenience.

Things vastly improved for the rest of the week. I befriended some of the grade 9 English teachers and began forming bonds with my students; so much so that I got standing ovations at the end of some of my lessons. I ended the week in fine form and felt on top of the world. I thought that things were on the up but once again I spoke too soon. I received a message the next Monday morning from Ray, my supervisor, and he told me that I had to leave the school as I didn’t pass the probation. Of course I was perplexed because despite the initial blip, I was doing a tremendous job. I asked Ray for their reasons and I kid you not his response was “they didn’t say much”. Really? That’s it? Wow, unbelievable! I then asked Rachel for some feedback but she was too spineless to do so.

A few days later, Camille from CIPTC informed me that there was a position at a primary school. I sent her my CV along with my self-introduction video and prepared a demo lesson for the students as requested. For reasons unbeknown to me still, I received no response or acknowledgement from her. Impatience gained a stronghold over me after waiting days for a response, so I messaged her asking what the latest was only to be informed that the position was all of a sudden unavailable. I asked her what I was going to be doing in the meantime and her response was substitute lessons, if there were even going to be any. So now I was in a position where I had no work which meant that I was going to get no money in return and by now, I was already down to my last pennies and hadn’t even got paid yet. After being endlessly jerked around, I hit the roof. I began verbally dissecting Richard, Camille, CIPTC, China, everything. I just simply had enough.

Rumours about my breakdown began spreading throughout the company like wildfire and needless to say, they were stunned. Never before had they come across someone who fervidly spoke his mind. Ray contacted me to find out what was wrong and we had a meeting. He proposed three options that would put an immediate end to the ongoing turmoil:

1. Briefly return home and come back to CIPTC in August/September.
2. Leave China and permanently return back home to the UK.
3. Be transferred to another company.

I worked so hard to escape from the UK and all the negativity that has engulfed it in recent years i.e. the surging rate of knife crimes, inept government, deteriorating economy, Brexit, you name it. Due to this, a return home was something that I refused to even consider. I also had no money so there was no chance of a return home. I tried looking at other companies but their salaries were lower so I felt that a transfer would have been regression. I was going insane because I had absolutely no idea what to do or where to go. It felt like I was trapped in purgatory; I could feel the walls closing in on me and I was consumed by the feeling of claustrophobia. Eventually, I made the cowardly decision and chose to stay. Why I did that? I have no idea. The only thing I can say is that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

After a brief spell of peace, things rapidly went from bad to worse. Ray informed me that both my residence permit and work permit card applications were unsuccessful because I didn’t have the hard copy of my authenticated degree. This therefore meant that I was no longer able to stay in China.

“When do I have to leave the country?” I asked.

“Right now!” Ray responded.

All I had was ¥50, where the hell was I meant to go with that? Hong Kong was the only place. I went there and obtained a 5 day stay visa for Shenzhen. Ray told me the next day that I had no option but to start the entire application process all over again. The work permit as well as the visa application and of course, the flight would cost me over £1,000 in total. In addition, it’s extremely difficult getting an appointment at the Chinese embassy in London during the summer as slots constantly run out almost at the blink of an eye. I could end up waiting around three months just to get a new visa which meant that I would end up coming back late again.

By now, I had enough and decided to throw in the white towel. It felt like I was in a heavyweight boxing match; it was becoming increasingly difficult to consistently get back up from borderline knockout punches after being knocked down and almost out on numerous occasions. This calamitous experience was killing me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially.

You’d think that this would have been the end, right? Wrong! The company still hadn’t paid me despite the fact that they had my bank details. My payment was now two weeks overdue. They told me that they were unable to transfer the money but I knew that this was preposterous because several others in the past had transferred money to that same account almost effortlessly. After fighting with them tooth and nail, they finally decided to pay the initial salary. Nonetheless, I was still owed the flight reimbursement money as well as the money from my cover lessons but they were refusing to pay me. “We can’t give you the flight reimbursement money because you weren’t here for the whole semester” they said. These people forced me into coming out late yet this is their excuse? Bollocks! I couldn’t believe it. This level of mockery is something that you would only see on the MTV show, ‘Punk’d’. I wanted to go ballistic again but so much had gone wrong to the point where I no longer had any fuel left in my tank.

I was due to leave in two days and they refused to give me what I was owed. I didn’t have enough money to return home or go anywhere else and as a result, I was now in grave danger of overstaying and eventually being arrested at the border, detained, receiving a criminal record and being permanently banned from re-entering the country. Time was running out thick and fast and I was rife with fear, panic and anxiety.

Be that as it may, I remembered that I had some friends in Hong Kong so without wasting any time I contacted them. Kane, a good friend of mine from Keele, sent me some money which I then used to book my flight home. In addition, Jeff, who I lived with the year before in Suzhou, along with his girlfriend, Molly, placed me in a hostel in Hong Kong. From there, I left and returned back to London. However, CIPTC’s refusal to pay me led to me leaving with the equivalent of just £10. Ray gave me his word that he will pay me but this promise still hasn’t been fulfilled in spite of the numerous reminders that I have sent him.

I can hear murmurs of “why didn’t you tell your parents?” It’s real simple: they’re extraordinarily unhelpful (both individually and collectively), and they would have exacerbated both the situation and how I felt by tenfold. I couldn’t be asked to deal with their bullshit hence why I didn’t bother wasting my time going to them for help. If you have Nigerian parents, you would understand.

These events happened over a five week period. Yes, you read it correctly, a mere five weeks. Needless to say, this was by far the worst experience in my entire life.

So, why am I sharing this? Because young people in this country are moving to China to teach English now more than ever. Many of them get seduced automatically by the prospect of making lots of money, working low hours and being able to travel and ultimately dive into this headfirst without doing any real homework or thinking. Believe you me, what I endured was gruesome but having said that, it barely even scratches the surface. Examples of the stories that I’ve heard, read and been told about from other foreigners in China include the following:

• Being conned and extorted by vehemently dishonest, morally corrupt recruiters into paying them thousands
• Their employers overworking and short-changing them for months
• Receiving fraudulent documents by their employers and subsequently being arrested, detained, deported and banned from China
• Being sexually assaulted by their employers and bullied into silence with threats
• Suffering an infinite amount of racial abuse and discrimination from their employers over long periods of time.

One of the last things that I want is a 20-something year old spending over £1,000 or more just to leave home, go to China and experience this or anything similar. I cannot and will not sit by and allow that to happen. Thus, it is fundamental for me to raise awareness to as many people as possible hence why I have written about this. To the people interested in teaching in China, all I ask is that you do your research before making that move.

Edits made by Lisa Berrie