About Us
Principal Author
- Gregory Mavrides, Ph.D.
Dr. Gregory Mavrides is an American psychoanalyst who has been working in China as a professor and mental health consultant since August 2003. In January 2007, he was bestowed the Coconut Commemorative Award by the Hainan provincial government for his teaching contributions while at Hainan University. Currently, he is a professor of psychology at Jinan University’s International School, Department of Clinical Medicine, a Project 211 university in Guangzhou, China. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Prof. Mavrides volunteers as a therapist at the student counseling center and maintains a few hours each week treating private patients as well. He is the author of several professional articles, symposia presentations, and APA PsycCRITIQUES book reviews, in addition to serving as the principal author of the Foreign Teachers’ Guide to Living and Teaching English in China. Dr. Mavrides can be contacted directly at DrGreg@middlekingdomlife.com.
Subject Area Consultants and Contributors
- Kenneth Hayes, M.Ed.
Mr. Hayes is a former U.S. Army officer and professional educator who had a long and successful career working in corporate training, public education, and private sector management prior to moving to China several years ago. Ken is a frequent content contributor and consultant to the guide, and most of the information pertaining to employment, contracts, and SAFEA regulations is the direct result of Ken’s expertise and his personal relationships with Chinese provincial government leaders. Together with his Chinese wife, Mr. Hayes owns and manages a very successful private English language school. Ken can be contacted directly at Ken@middlekingdomlife.com.
- Allan Kuang (匡晓文), M.A.
Mr. Kuang holds a master’s degree in linguistics and is currently an assistant professor at Hainan University’s College of Tourism. He teaches courses in English grammar, writing, intensive reading, and oral English related to tourism, as well as cross-cultural communication, translation, and interpretation. He serves as the guide’s chief cultural and historical content editor. All referenced articles (those not categorized as opinion-editorials and personal stories) have been verified by Prof. Kuang for their cultural and sociopolitical accuracy. This website is indebted to him for his time, expertise and counsel. Allan can be contacted directly at AKuang@middlekingdomlife.com.
Warm Thanks to All Our Readers and Unsung Consultants
In addition, we would like to thank each and everyone of our readers and friends who have very generously provided us with extremely helpful and useful feedback over the years. Several units and many revisions in this guide are the direct result of your comments and we deeply appreciate all the interest and encouragement you have expressed since the guide was first published online.
History of Middle Kingdom Life
The basis for what would later become Middle Kingdom Life was conceived back in 2006 by a group of four members of an Internet forum for foreign teachers who decided the time was long overdue for a single, comprehensive and authoritative guide about what teaching English in China is really all about.
One of the four members, the current author, took responsibility for writing an outline of all the topics that needed to be covered and then delegated writing assignments to each of the members based on their particular interest and expertise. Soon thereafter, the original group of contributors disbanded but the current author continued writing the guide as a solo project in his spare time. Due to other commitments, work on the guide was suspended in the latter part of 2006 when it was about 85% completed.
In March 2007, another member of yet a different Internet forum for foreign teachers contacted the principal author of the guide and urged him to finish his “work in progress.” This “fifth member,” Ken Hayes, contributed original drafts for several of the units that needed to be finished and, a few months later, the guide—in its original form—was finally completed.
At that point, the guide was available as both a PDF document (available for download), as well as a series of PHP pages on a CMS website platform, where it remained in obscurity for almost one year. In March through April 2008, the guide was completely updated and expanded but, this time, was published as a series of HTML pages (in its current form) where it found immediate recognition. Today, the guide is now visited and read by thousands of prospective and current foreign teachers each month from North America, Australia, Europe, China and other parts of Asia. The guide in its present rendition comprises more than 200 printed pages and represents the culmination of several years worth of research, writing, periodic major revisions, and daily updates.
Guide and Website Philosophy
This guide, as well as the rest of the site, is provided as a community service towards the goal of protecting the interests of Westerners who are considering teaching English in China at this time. We know that people are using the Foreign Teachers’ Guide to Living and Teaching in China with which to make life-altering decisions and that is a responsibility we take very seriously. Wherever possible, the information we publish is verified through reliable and authoritative outside sources and every single word of this guide has been proofread for historical, sociocultural and political accuracy by a bilingual Chinese academician, who serves as the guide’s principal local consultant.
We encourage you to ask questions and provide feedback, on our Readers’ Forum.
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...So far, not much has been written about how cultural factors affect what people do online, and, also, how those factors might interact with the online disinhibition effect. Your article is an important step in that direction. Thanks for sharing it with me..., John Suler, PhD, Rider University, The Psychology of Cyberspace.
