Shanghaiist: More news on death of Canadian model Diana O'Brien in Shanghai

hubcap

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:42:38 +0800

it should be -extra- illegal to kill hot people

EL JEFE

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:43:43 +0800

Eastman, I think you should and nanny should get back on the time machine and return to 30 years ago when everyone was full of anger and paranoia.

eastman

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:36:09 +0800

I just wonder why to such a "extremely horrible hell" of China, some westerners are still so desperate to come, some even apply a green card. When denied a visa, they could even go as far as to bribe the cops while cursing China each day. Westerners are real wierd creatures.

Andy Best

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:15:02 +0800

Obviously it's all speculation and the police are unlikey to give anything out while it's 'ongoing'. However, the story of the agency is very familiar. When I first came over in 2001, this kind of story was al to common amoung China English teachers, even in Shanghai. You'd not get paid, get f@cked around, sent on unrelated work for the boss's guanxi and get cheated at every turn. If you stood up to it or refused to work, they'd withhold your passport and in some cases, send round some guys to beat you up. In provincial towns, some teachers literally got intecepted at the city limits by the police, and taken back to the school to honour the contract. It was like the wild west. An ex-colleague of mine was on the phone to Helen of Helen consulating/EFL China, a famous teacher placement agency, and they were having a right laugh about 'mai laowai'. This was around 2003. It doesn't seem to happen so much here these days. But then again, if this story pans out the way it's looking, I guess it does.