Finding a foreign teaching job in China is quite easy. But finding one that pays more than $3,000 a month, with housing, and without scams is very difficult - unless you learn how to use databases.

First, the CFTU maintains both a blacklist and white list of over 1,000 schools and iniversities and China job agents as well. Check them out at http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com They also have the best and most accurate salary chart for China expats. The China Foreign Teachers Union was founded in 2010 and has over 6,000 members in China.

Secondly, SAFEA (State Administration of Foreign Experts) a government agency keeps a list of all the schools that are authorized to hire foreign teachers, but many schools with bad reputations are on this list. But teachers who get job offers from schools that are not registered with SAFEA are risking arrest and jail by working for a "black school". See http://SAFEA.gov.cn

Last but not least is the SAIC government bureau of licensing (State Administration of Industry and Commerce). Although most expat teachers are not aware of the SAIC, it is a free and easy way to protect yourself against China black school employers and unlicensed job agents and recruiters. Here are the facts that you can verify with SAFEA (Foreign Experts Bureau) or your own embassy...

The SAIC is an agency of the Chinese central government: "State Administration of Industry & Commerce". Their web site is located at http://SAIC.gov.cn. Their mandate is to make sure that every legitimate business operating "for profit" obtains a business license from them in order to be held accountable for any complaints, wrongful deaths, frauds, and law suits. At present there are over 30 million business licenses issued to companies, learning centers, and all educational facilities like New Oriental, English First, Wall Street English, etc. Public Schools & Universities operated by the Chinese government do not need an SAIC license. International schools however absolutely must have one. To see what these licenses look like, go here: http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com/2015/08/saic-is-your-friend-chi...

Now then, the vast majority of China job agents operate as "black agents" without registering with SAIC for two reasons; 1) To avoid identifying themselves with their legal Chinese name, and 2) To avoid paying taxes. If they do comply with the law and get an SAIC license the public and anyone from any country can go on line and find out the following information:

a) When the company started do business

b) Who the legal owner(s) of the company are and where they reside

c) Where the company office is physically located

d) What business they are authorized to conduct

e) How many employees the company has

f) When the license expires

So when expats from a foreign country are applying for a job, they really only need to ask the employer or the agent (whoever they are dealing with) to provide a color scan of their SAIC license. If they refuse to do so, it means they are not licensed and the Chinglish name they give you (like Ben Chen for example) is totally fabricated and untraceable, and they could very well be fronting for an identity thief. These are people to avoid and definitely do not furnish them a scan of your passport or personal information. If you do not take these precautions, this is what could easily happen to you since 20% of all China job ads are blind ads posted by identity thieves http://ChinaScamWatch.wordpress.com

But the SAIC web site is in Chinese however, so if you do not have a Chinese friend to translate the verification search for you, then visit the site using the Chrome browser which has a built in translator. If this is two much work for you, then you can resort to plan B here: http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?644846-China-Job-Recruiter-amp-Visa-A...