Employment & Prof. Development

In other words, she is the "foreign liaison" and she is trying to prevent me from having my girlfriend stay over, saying I cannot.

Is she allowed to do this? I don't think so. Other foreigners have told me she is stepping out of bounds with her actions.

She claims it is against school policy but does not point to the policy or say what it is. Plus, there is nothing in my contract about guests and not being able to have them. I think she just wants to either control me or is afraid that my actions will somehow "corrupt the students" even though I am totally private with my actions.

She also said that it is "against Chinese culture" for unmarried people to live together. Though it may be true to an EXTENT, it is less true each year, especially in the cities. And in more cities each year this is less and less true. In other words, Chinese culture is changing rapidly and social norms are too.

Plus, others have told me it is simply filling out a form with the PSB so she can be a "live-in partner". To my knowledge, the SAFEA (State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs) does not say anything about not having visitors over either. Both the PSB and SAFEA are both higher law than mere university regulation.

I just want to live with my girlfriend. Currently she is an hour away, four days a week, working on her internship.

What can I do?? I need someone who REALLY knows what they are talking about, or has been in this situation.

In many of China's second- and third-tier cities, the question of having overnight guests of the opposite sex is still very much a delicate matter. Several universities still even impose curfews.

Even though your contract addendum is silent on the issue of overnight guests, technically speaking, the municipality may still have certain "morality laws" on the books. Regardless of the law and strictly as a practical matter, no one from the local foreign expert bureau or PSB is going to support you against the university on this issue.

What I suggest is setting up a meeting (preferably a luncheon or dinner appointment) between the two of you and the FAO, and see if your girlfriend can resolve this matter as one Chinese to another. The FAO may have some discretion in this matter if your girlfriend can convince her that this is a serious relationship. I really don't think you will have much success pursuing this a "violation of civil rights" matter. This will have to be resolved on a personal basis or not at all.

If you are unsuccessful at resolving this in your favor, your only option is to negotiate an off-campus housing allowance (if you hope to remain at the university) or start looking for another employer.

I understand that this is a very unpleasant and frustrating experience for you but do your best to keep a level head about it. Worse comes to worst, you can always get an inexpensive hotel room for the evenings in question.

If the university values your contributions at all, they will try to resolve this in a manner that they know you can live with.

Can they fire me before my contract is over for this?

If you check page two of the official SAFEA contract, clause VI, paragraph I, you will notice that you agreed to be bound by the laws of China.

If, in fact, there is a municipal law in effect that specifically prohibits cohabitation outside of marriage and this is not just a personal control issue, then, yes, they can hold you in breach of contract, terminate you, and demand the breach penalty.

That's why I advised that you deal with this as a personal matter. Whether the university has the actual letter of the law behind them or simply the benefit of years of guanxi with the right people that allows them to "interpret" some obscure morality law any way they want, the result is the same as far as you are concerned.

Three questions:

Where can I find the official SAFEA contract? I have found the actual website, but never the contract, to my knowledge. Or maybe I did and it was real short and vague and I assumed it could not be the actual contract. I guess one of my colleague was incorrect in stating that SAFEA has no rules against someone living with you.

Does SAFEA law, provincial law or country wide law trump university regulations and laws? Or is the university free to do as they want?

Is there a useful website that describes cohabitation laws in different parts of China?

Finally, I could deal with this in a personal matter, but the girl does not like me at all. I do not know how I got on her bad side, but I did and that is why she is giving me so much trouble with this issue. It is interesting that you recommend my girlfriend come along. I will see what she thinks, but organizing a dinner with this girl seems pretty hard, she probably won't go for it and will just want an office meeting.

Have you run into this issue or heard of this issue before? Any past experiences would be really helpful, so I can see how others were able to handle it.

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Editor's Note: The following post was moved here from the Ask Headmaster Ken forum as it deals with the same topic and question.

I have been at my school for almost three semesters, the 3rd semester is almost done. I have one more to go. After two semesters, the school choose to rehire me. Ironically, my fear is, one issue might cause them to get rid of me before the end of my 4th semester. I will explain that issue soon.

I have had a few very minor critiques of my teaching 3-4 times since I have been here, but nothing huge and nothing I would consider to be that helpful. Just obvious things like "slow down a little" and "don't try to be their friends." But contradictory from the same person "Don't be so strict." Anyways, kind of a "nothing good, nothing bad" situation overall. I always ask the foreign office for critiques but they never give me anything.

But from what I hear from a pretty reliable source, no complaints have been made about my teaching and the students seem to generally like me (as evidenced by the QQ messages I get saying they miss me or want me back as a teacher). But I never get to see student assessments when I go go the foreign affairs office!

But one thing gets in my way, a foreign office worker (Chinese) who deals with the foreigners and is basically a "go between" between us and the university. She is low level as far as power, but it still bothers me that is seems that she just does not like me. And she is giving me a rough time about my girlfriend staying over. Really this is the only problem I have had at the university. But is it such a bad problem that they could end my contract early, over just this?

Even if it seems that I am a good teacher by all other evidence. Other foreign teachers have done much worse than me. One teacher did the following: Bad mouthing the school in class, always put students down, bring up sensitive topics, touching students in inappropriate ways and request a kiss from some students, apparently. And he did not get fired. His contract was just not renewed after it expired one year later.

How can I feel more secure in my job safety for my last semester? What can I do? Should I talk to someone at my university who might be a mediator or something? Who?

Maybe I worry about this, but I did get in a heated argument about the girlfriend issue and she did mention I could end my contract if I did not agree. Totally do not intend to do that however! She also compared me, WITHOUT any reasons, to another teacher who was disliked by her and many of the students. But I am not disliked by students in almost all cases. In the past she has also critiqued my clothing saying it was not bright and I needed to dress better. But other foreign teachers said she was crazy and I dress better than them. But, she did not say a word to any of the other teachers about dress! She also hated my birkenstocks.

She also singled me out at a foreign teacher meeting as far as "being careful not to pick sensitive topics for the students." My topic? A romance/boyfriend-girlfriend activity, one that many of the other teachers have done! And one previous teacher preached religion (actually illegal) and never got into trouble! Why single me out for this harmless topic? She has some vendetta against me and I do not know why. Accept for the fact that I ask lots of questions (in an inquisitive way) about things like the contract and university regulation.

Anyways, I just want to know how much power this girl has, as basically a foreign liaison (go-between for foreigners and the university) on my contract. I know contracts mean basically nothing in this country, and I would lose out on quite a bit of money if my contract was canceled early because of issues with her. I guess the contract just does not make me feel secure in this country. And that wanting to simply be with my love might give them reason to give me the boot in a quick, unfair fashion. Would they warn me ahead of time if they were to decide to cancel? I am afraid it would be such short notice.

Any help on this issue would be cool. I KNOW it is loaded, thanks.

Rockfan,

As it deals with the same issue, I have moved your question to Ken under this topic and will ask him to comment as well.

If you are working legally in China, you should have signed and received an official SAFEA contract. You can find both a slide show presentation as well as a PDF version of it in the Guide's chapter on teaching contracts.

You are attempting to approach this conflict from a Western legalistic perspective and that rarely works in mainland China.

In the end, it doesn't matter what the letter of the law states, whether the university is in technical violation of the law, which department has the greatest authority, whether four out of five male foreign teachers have lived with their Chinese girlfriends in the same province without incident, or if this is strictly a personal conflict between you and this "low-level" foreign liaison.

One sure-fire way to finish out your contract without fear of being terminated is to simply comply with their request.

You have about six weeks to go until your contract with the university expires. Finish out the contract in peace, get your letters of release and recommendation, and move on. If you turn this into a showdown, I guarantee that you will lose one way or the other.

I think Dr. Greg gave you some very good advice, I'll add a bit of my own.

First, understand your situation. You are entirely powerless in this matter. Yes, even that lowly FAO can probably have you booted, without notice. You are not, as a general rule, entitled to cohabit in China at university housing.

Also, you are skating on thin ice. No matter what you think of them, or how many counter examples you can point to, when it comes to enforcement of China moral laws, punishment can be swift and severe, however arbitrary and capricious it might seem to you. So yes, it is conceivable if you generate enough opposition in the right places, you could be given a three day exit visa from China.

That would be the worst case scenario. But you need to understand, you will not get "your day in court" or to "argue your case". You will simply be administratively disposed of, (fired, non renewal of contract, or hasty exit from China)

So your first strategy ought be finding ways to minimize the damage. Since you seem to have isolated your opposition to a single person, you need to either make amends or make tracks.

If you want to make amends, find a third party to mediate. Explain you terribly regret this "misunderstanding" and want to have a harmonious working relationship. Solicit advice from your mediator and work on bridge building.

If you are unable or unwilling to do the above, make a dignified exit at the first opportunity.