Hot Links! (The ESL/China Kind...)

[Raoul Duke]

Here are some links relating to life in China, or to the teaching of ESL, that I hope you will find useful. I'm not trying for the ubiquitous comprehensive list here, but rather am confining it to those sites that we Barflies have found useful and/or entertaining.

General Info Sites

That's Magazines sites
www.thatsbj.com (Beijing)
www.thatssh.com (Shanghai)
www.thatsgz.com (Guangzhou)
The online companions to the legendary print magazines. Good listings of events, places, sources, etc. in their respective cities and across China. Indispensible for any expat living in China. Highly recommended

Laowai.com Contributed by Nate M
www.laowai.com/laowai.asp?P=Main
An absolutely awesome large and active site with a startling wealth of information about expat life in China. Kind of a sober version of us, only much bigger. A very well-done place indeed, well worth a look! Highly recomended


Location-Specific Sites
Got a great website serving your city, region, or province? PM the URL to Raoul!

City Weekend Magazines sites
www.cityweekend.com.cn/en/beijing/ (Beijing)
www.cityweekend.com.cn/en/shanghai/ (Shanghai)
A bit like the That's sites above but more tightly focused on their two respective cities. Good places to get a handle on where and what in either Beijing or Shanghai.

Tianjin Expats
www.tianjinexpats.net/
If you want to get funky, and you're in Tianjin, then this is the the place to be. Event listings, classifieds, a forum, and just a whole heap of local info and guidance for the Tianjin area. Managed by our own Brother Nate M, so ya know it's gotta be good.

My Red Star (Shandong Province)
www.myredstar.com/
An excellent effort presenting coverage of all things Shandong. Good enough sometimes to be interesting even if you don't live there.

Jinan Live
www.jinanlive.com/index.html
OK, let's face it: You live in Jinan. What the hell, might as well go online. If anything ever moves out there, Jinan Live will cover it for you. Note: Jinan is really OK as cities go. They're just not very selective about who they let live there...

Hangzhou Expat
www.hangzhouexpat.com/
Newbs sends us this entry from the lovely city of Hangzhou. Some good info on things happening there!

Shenzhen Party
www.shenzhenparty.com
Gengrant brings us a lively site for the lively city of Shenzhen. Try and have a good time there, eh?

WUXIlife
www.wuxilife.com/index.php
Wuxi is not a big city, but they have a nice local website. This is the place to go to find the scene in Wuxi. NOTE: Beware the local women in Wuxi.

Ningbo Guide
www.ningboguide.com/
Monkey King has favored us with this nice little site featuring Whut-Up info and a forum with the skinny on doings in Ningbo.

Chongqing Live
www.chongqinglive.com/
Nate's vast vault has contributed this site with places and events in Chongqing.

DalianXpat
dalianxpat.com/
Nate also brings us this cool site for Dalian, the jewel of the Northeast. Good city coverage, and some bones are thrown to Shenyang and other Dongbei cities.

Hefei Expat
www.hefeiexpat.com/forum/
Hefei has its own website! Not sure why. But seriously, if it's in Hefei, and worth knowing about, this site gots ya covered. Thanks again, Nate.

Wuhan Expat (contributed by dawgstarman)
www.wuhantime.com/
At last, a pretty good website for the big hot city on the Yangzi. All kinds of city info and a lively forum.


Job Listing Sites

AsiaXpat
www.asiaxpat.com
During the weasel deal that gutted the old That's Magazines web sites, AsiaXpat ended up with their huge and lively classifieds section. That's is taking back its turf, but AsiaXpat still has a big collection of English-language classifieds.

TESall.com
www.tesall.com
An impressive effort with lots of job listings and worldwide coverage. (Unfortunately most are the same listings seen on many other sites...) Also has a bit of a (relatively serious) forum going, plus some innovative news and other services. A bit like Dave's ESL Cafe, only without the jackboots and swastikas. Highly Recommended

Buxiban.com (contributed by Jollyjunklass)
www.buxiban.com
Another very interesting site with info on China and Taiwan. Combines job listings with member ratings about the experience at the school. They have school blacklists...and also foreign teacher blacklists. About damn time. Appears to be another site run by The Good Guys. (Note: Buxiban now seems to be charging a subscription fee for access to most of its services...)

Teachers.Net Job Listings (Contributed by Burl Gable)
teachers.net/jobs/jobboard/abroad/
A massive job site listing an incredible number and variety of teaching jobs around the world. Goes well beyond just ESL jobs. Highly Recommended

Dave's ESL Cafe's International Jobs Board
www.eslcafe.com/joblist
Just because their China forums are run by evil little fascists doesn't mean we can't exploit the other things they offer. A large list of mostly ho-hum jobs in garden spots all over the world.

TEFL.com
www.tefl.com
Claims to be the world's largest database of ESL job listings. Again, mostly mediocre jobs here, but what they lack in quality they make up for in vast quantity. They can't all be dweebs, right? Right?

ESL Teachers Board (contributed by Jollyjunklass)
link deleted
I've removed the link to this site. I was fairly active on their forum there until I learned that they censor perfectly legitimate and true teacher reviews of schools. This site has no credibility any more. Therefore, I do not go there or link there any longer.

The Guardian TEFL Jobs Page (contributed by Monkey King)
jobs.guardian.co.uk/browse/education/tefl/index.jsp?
From the famous UK newspaper. A lot of the jobs are in the UK but many are in China and worldwide. The number of current jobs was small compared to some of these other sites, but the quality was better than average in many cases.

jobs.ac.uk (contributed by Monkey King)
www.jobs.ac.uk/sector/languages/
Another UK site; this one is a general employment site a la Monster or HotJobs. Small number of non-UK jobs, but mostly rather high-ranking- as in professor-level positions.

Classified Post Online
www.classifiedpost.com/jshome.php?lcid=HK.EN
The online classifieds of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. Lots of job listings in every category. Mostly in HK, but also features a lot of mainland jobs.

zhaopin.com
www.zhaopin.com
For when you finally get enough of teaching and decide to try your luck among the saintly philanthropists who run businesses in China. Zillions of business-job listings all over China. It's a lot like the more famous 51job.com, with the crucial difference that zhaopin's English-language search screen actually works. Most listings in Chinese, and most of the remainder requiring fluent Sinophones, but there are some you might have a shot at.



Working and Teaching-Related Sites

There's just a pooload (heavy emphasis on the poo) of well-worn teaching tips at the aforementioned Dave's ESL Cafe to be found at www.eslcafe.com/ideas. Again, if it's useful to you why not take it? Stay away from the miserable forums and you'll be safe enough.

Nate's China School Review
www.ChinaSchoolReview.net
Our brothers, our friends, our affiliates in the Laowai Liberation League, helping wrest our community and the information we need out of the hands of the school owners and corporate types, and into the hands of those of us who live here and work these jobs. Long live the fighters! A growing collection of reviews of English schools all over China, written by the poor bastards who have worked there. Please give them a visit. Better yet, help hold up Your End and post a review, good or bad, of an employer. Hosted by our own Nate M! Highly recommended

English School Watch
englishschoolwatch.org/index.shtml
A worldwide collection of English school information, including a discussion board. Afflicted by an inflexible user interface and a slow server, but performing an invaluable service and well worth the wait. Note: This site, sadly, appears to be dead. The forum hasn't been updated since June 16... It's truly a pity...

Onestop English (contributed by Monkey King)
www.onestopenglish.com/index.htm
Outstanding collection of TESL resources sponsored by Macmillan Publishing. Their vast library of lesson plans may be of most interest. They also have a small but moderately active Serious Teachers' forum (sobriety required!) and a small but interesting supply of international teaching jobs. Highly recommended

The Amity Teacher's Toolkit (contributed by Monkey King)
www.amityfoundation.org/page.php?page=247
Brought to you by the Amity Foundation, a China-centered organization devoted to teaching, development, and imposing your personal religious beliefs upon the Godless heathen. However, their Teacher's Toolkit is a surprisingly large, good, diverse, and non-sectarian collection of resources...some great and useful stuff.

TEFLChina (submitted by Jollyjunklass)
teflchina.org/index.htm
A very respectable source of links to all kinds of information relating to living and working in China. Their links to teaching resources and their mentor list for various Chinese cities are particularly nice.

AAC
www.aacircle.com.au/forums/index.php
This site is produced by a company that provides services for expat teachers as well as students of English. I'm not sure what "AAC" stands for, but they're from Australia so you know they're really sober and serious people. Their site has a very nice EFL-related forum as well as job listings, lesson plans, and lots of other resources. Nice place.

[Raoul Duke]

Living Info Sites

The Universal Currency Converter
www.xe.com/ucc/
Converts Finnish Markkaa to Zambian Kwacha with the greatest of ease. Great for those RMB- to- home money conversions, or for seeing if you can really afford to take that job with a school on a beach in Thailand.

The Tiger NT Chinese-English Online Dictionary
www.tigernt.com/cgi-bin/cedict.cgi
Works in both directions, really. Has pinyin output!

Area Codes and Postal Codes for China
www.asiawww.com/info/telphone.htm
Oddly enough, this is a list of area codes and base postal codes for cities, towns, villages, and agricultural stations all over China. Inexplicably, they don't list Chongqing, whose area code is 023.

MDTravelHealth.com- China page
www.mdtravelhealth.com/destinations/asia/china.html
Nice resource for health info specific to China. A collection of warnings and advice to help keep us healthy here. Updated daily. Intended for travellers but useful for us, too. Highly Recommended

Chinese Laws
www.fdi.gov.cn/ltlawpackage/index.jsp?app=1&language=en
A rather large compendium of searchable Chinese laws, in English. Warning: This way madness lies.

Chinese Tax Info
english.taxinfo123.com/news/showcontent.asp?news_id=1516
An overview of Chinese tax regulations, in English. The page referenced here is specifically about income tax payments and foreigners. If the Chinese law database above didn't drive you insane, then this site is just the ticket. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
More Tax Info www.dezshira.com/china_individual_income_tax.htm
www.worldwide-tax.com/china/china_tax.asp
Except you don't need to create a login for these. Thanks to Joe for the links.



Expat Services and Information Sites

Embassies in China
www.chinatoday.com/dip/a1.htm
A big ol' collection (on 2 pages- links at top) of the world's embassies in China, ranging from the enormous and palatial American Embassy compound to a run-down motel room occupied by one extremely disgruntled guy from Albania. Includes addresses and phone numbers, as well as web site links for the embassies of countries that can afford to maintain a web site...apparently just the USA and Australia.

Chinese Embassies and Consulates Worldwide
www.muztagh.com/chinese-embassy/
Very big list! Has web sites and detailed e-mail addresses for many of the locations.

Health Care International
www.healthcareinternational.com/home-international-insurance.php
A UK company providing medical insurance- including MedEvac Insurance- for expats worldwide. Of course, a generous goodwill offering is required.

Yangshuo Cafe Book Store
www.findbookshere.com
I list this one reluctantly because I don't want to compete for the good books with you lot. A genuine lifesaver for us reading-starved expats. The store has a large database of used Western books. You pick what you want, receive a confirmation, send your money (by mail or bank transfer), and they ship the books to you. I am a repeat customer and will personally vouch for the trustworthiness of this business. Prices are reasonable (most books 48-68 RMB INCLUDING shipping) and service is prompt and dependable. Owner Johnny Lu is one extremely fine human being. There are a few flaws, but my experiences with Johnny and his store have been overwhelmingly positive- even with a few small warts it beats the crap out of the pickins at your local Xinhua bookstore. I highly recommend this service to you as long as you agree to only buy books I don't like. Stick to romance novels and westerns. Highly recommended



Travel Sites

FlyChina.com
www.flychina.com
A long-standing and consistent source of low-priced air travel to, from, and within China. Highly recommended

The Lonely Planet World Guide- China page
www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/north_east_asia/china/
The online presence of the terribly famous travel guides. Of course, they'd take it right kindly if you'd buy their books (which isn't such a terrible idea, IMHO), but there are some basic facts and tips available here. Also has access to the China sections of the Thorn Tree travel forums. There are also similar pages available for Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau.

China Travel Service
www.chinats.com/index.php
CTS is the official national travel agency operated by the Chinese government, so you know it's really efficient, honest, and customer-focused. A veritable catalog of major tourist destinations in China. It's possible to book a number of things online ranging from hotel rooms to Yangzi River/Three Gorges cruises, but the prices here are not so good. At the very least this site can serve as an excellent idea cookbook and basic information source for travel within China.

Travel China Guide's English-Language Railway Timetable
www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/index.htm
Not direct from China Railway, but about as good as you're going to find in English...the China Railway site is just hopeless. You can search two endpoints, or all trains passing through a certain point. No prices provided. Also a few quirks....for example, if you want train info for 'wulumuqi', you have to enter the Anglicized 'urumqi'.

Wings Across Continents Travel Service- Train Search
www.wacts.com/traffic/train/index.asp
Perhaps a more useful way to find train times than the above site. Doesn't work for trips where you have to change trains.

Airport Guides (contributed by Newbs)
Beijing: www.bcia.com.cn/en/index.jsp
Shanghai: www.shanghaiairport.com/en/index.jsp
Useful guides to China's two biggest airports. Note the Ground Transportation links on both sites that just might improve your chances of getting into town from the airport without being lost, robbed, or eaten.

The KCR site (submitted by Dr. Gonzo)
www.kcrc.com/eng/services/services/itts_intro.asp
The official website of KCR, the Kowloon-Canton Railway, which offers train service between Hong Kong and the mainland. A menu of services and information that will seem helpful and efficient to the point of bizarre to those accustomed to life on the mainland.

Elong.com (co-contributed by Edges, Yenny, and Raoul)
www.elong.net (English version)
A great free travel service for China. Yes, these are the obnoxious people waiting at the train stations and airports to hand you a little red booklet with a blue card glued to the cover, but it really is a good thing. They will help you book airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, tour packages and more...all totally free! Within China you can call them and tell them the city you are visiting and the specific area you want to be near and how much you are wanting to spend, and they will find a match for you and book the room. We call them at 800-810-1010; one extension gives you the English-language service. The website lists other domestic and international phone numbers. Confirmations come in the form of an SMS to your mobile phone. Membership is required, but is free and consists of giving them your name and mobile phone number. Highly recommended

[Raoul Duke]

China Blog Sites
If you find one of these you can actually read without eventually gnawing off your own leg at the knee, please pass it on.

Sadly, The Laowai Monologues is no more. Some people just can't handle the truth, it seems. So the search for a really good readable blog site goes on...

...and ends here.
The Angry Chinese Blogger (contributed by Xiaoyu)
angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com/read/597242.htm
OK, I thought we at the Saloon were jaded and frustrated with life in China sometimes. Turns out we're just amateurs. Read work from the master here.
But now the search resumes. This site has been blocked within China. Apparently there are no monopolies on anger.


Computer-Related Sites
I don't want to do a lot of this but there are a few useful ones out there. People who are having computer problems are people who can't come here and order drinks...

Major Geeks.com
www.majorgeeks.com/
A huge, fast, convenient site offering one-stop shopping for all kinds of computer protection software and other useful utilities. Offers many totally free (look for the word 'freeware' in the listings) exemplars of most software types. Contains all the individual software once listed here separately, and thousands more.
Recommended Freeware Packages Available Here:
Anti-Virus: AVG Free Edition (Monkey King and Raoul)
Spyware Remover: Ad-Aware SE (Monkey King)
Firewall: ZoneAlarm (Joe)

Proxy Servers (contributed by Gengrant)
www.hidemyass.com/ Now apparently blocked in China. Bastards.
www.freeproxy.ru/en/free_proxy/cgi-proxy.htm
Sometimes ya gotta go to sites that aren't too...convenient to access. These might help. Write 'em down...ya never know when we might be next.