i am not sure how China came up with this phrase - Native Speakers Need Apply - for teach English positions in various institutions in this humongous nation. Who are these native speakers? Englishman? Welsh? Scots? Irish? American? South African? Aussie? Kiwi? These are the holders of the Ingwen flag.
What about us from Singapore, Malaysia, Kenya, India, Guyana, Jamaica, Philippines? Many of us dont speak any language except English. And yet we're not native speakers. And the blacks/browns in the white nations get away with it as they hold Western names and a 'white' passport. So it's multi-hued. And this is so in the non-popular provinces eg Gansu, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia where the 'whites' tend to shy away from. The latter prefer the big metropolis of Beijing, Shanghai, where Starbucks is!
What China is in awe is and sadly - passport holders who are white and from 'white' countries. They still think the whites as demigods or gods. People's memory are always short and they forget their history where 'dogs and Chinese are not allowed in'. Once u're white, u get all the attention in any part of China. Imagine someone with a deep Scottish/Welsh accent teaching the China kids! No wonder you get all kinds of accents. Quite interestingly are the Filipino accent where back is bark!
And with these 'native' speakers, they bring in halloween, thanksgiving, easter bunny, Christ died for our sins, FTV, F1, freedom of speech, chocolates, consumerism, materialism. U cant expect otherwise as that is the only yardstick available. The western model is now the best and only model to emulate.
One of the students asked if I celebrate Christmas to which I responded, 'if i have the money'. Disdainful look ensued. Instead of two oranges you get two apples for Xmas.
One of China's great leaders mentioned with an open market economy those who get rich will help the poorer ones. Some say its happening and some say not. Judging from the cars they drive now, I tend to think not! I think for sure you dont see poverty in the cities. U get the oddball begging [looks alcholic] and thats about it. Everywhere business is thriving, new buildings, new shops, new flats, new looks, new make-up, new clothes, new cars. And you get all the designer clothes, categorized as excess production or stolen from those factories meant for the western market.
Here are pix of ingenious ways of using English.
