Campus camaraderie and close connections

Given the low, uncompetitive salaries offered to foreign teachers in China, some schools, such as Xi'an International Studies University, have started taking action to retain the best tutors.

In addition to basic benefits, such as free accommodations, insurance and travel, the university has also appointed members of staff to help foreign teachers deal with everyday issues in their working and personal lives. The services range from meeting them at the airport when they first arrive in the western city, to renting cars and searching for churches, according to Wu Yaowu, director of the university's International Exchange Office.

"We try the best we can to make these guests who've come from far away feel at home," he said. "After all, it's not easy to live and work in a new, unfamiliar environment."

The teachers live in apartments on the university's old campus in the downtown area, but they work on a new campus several miles away, so the school provides free rides to and from work.

"Because we are unable to offer the high salaries that help to retain good foreign teachers, we try to provide good services in the hope that they will stay because of the affection we have for them," Wu said.

Andy Cheely, China national director at the English Language Institute, a nonprofit organization that has brought more than 12,000 English teachers to schools in central and western China since the 1980s, believes that emotional ties play a key role in the teachers' career decisions. "Very few foreigners stay in China for the food, the apartment or the environment," he said.

"They stay because of the people and the friendships. Foreign teachers live on campus, see their students regularly and have friendships with their colleagues, so when people ask them why they've stayed in China for so long, they say it's because their students, colleagues and friends are here. Even their former students have become their friends. That's why they stay," he said, adding that the teachers his company recruits stay for an average of three and a half years.

Wu said expat teachers between 30 and 50 years old tend to stay longer than 20-somethings: "It's understandable, because the latter group is still young and is looking for experience. They just become teachers for a while and then go on to explore other possibilities," he said.

Cheely echoed Wu's view, and said his company is working on a program to bring more young foreign teachers to China immediately after graduation. "If we could introduce younger teachers to China at the beginning of their careers, living and working in China could become a long-term career path for them. They could gain professional experience and learn about Chinese language and culture as they develop their teaching ability," he said. "It would also help them form a long-term understanding of China and make them better teachers and better citizens."