Four expatriate teachers, from a variety of educational sectors throughout China, give their individual perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of teaching there. Their reflections from long-term experience provide helpful insights.
Pre-return preparation—a key for assimilating returnee believers back into their families, churches, and society.
Teaching is full of first impressions and often they are not what the teacher is expecting.
Some things are just too good to keep to yourself, and Christmas is at the top of the list for an English teacher in China.
In my twenty years in China I have had the privilege of being both a hostess and a guest. I count these times as priceless moments of learning and joy. The gift of hospitality—friendly, welcoming, and generous treatment offered to guests—is still ready and waiting to be opened.
China in Our Midst: Reaching Chinese International Students in America by Glen Osborn and Daniel Su of China Outreach Ministries (COM) will help anyone who wants to get involved in serving and reaching Chinese students but is uncertain about how to do it or wonders if they are qualified.
A response to "Have We Failed Returnee Christians?"
Shortly after we moved back to the States after living in Asia for many years, a Chinese researcher from a major university in China approached us asking if he could spend his last month in the US living with us. It wasn’t that his lease had expired or his stipend was running low. Rather, he realized that although he had lived in the American Midwest for a year doing research at a well-respected American university—he had experienced very little of American life and had very few non-Chinese friends.
Last week we posted the first part of an article about returnee Christians who fall away from the church that was originally published on the blog The Gift of the Magi. The article discusses how Chinese living abroad come to Christianity but struggle to remain in the church after they return to China. Part one focused more on the overseas church, while part two looks closely at the church in mainland China. This week we post part two of the article with Chinese readers’ comments from the original blog.
The number of Chinese Christians continues to grow, both inside and outside of China. As large numbers of Chinese move and travel abroad, particularly to the West, many encounter Christianity for the first time. Many of these Chinese come to faith while abroad. After living abroad, Chinese Christians often have trouble transitioning into church life once they return to China. Their experience of the overseas church is often dramatically different from their experiences in Chinese churches. Brother Sang Shang, a returnee himself, highlights the difficulties returnee Christians face when they return to China.
According to the Institute of International Education, there were 328,547 students from China in colleges and universities throughout the United States in 2016. This includes those enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, and “optional practical training” programs. But it’s not just higher education institutions where Chinese students are found; increasing numbers are now enrolled in high schools. The Institute of International Education reported that in 2013, there were more than 23,000 Chinese students enrolled in secondary schools in the US.
The good folks at the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University recently published the results of a survey they conducted among Chinese university students. If you are working with Chinese students in the United States, it is a must-read.