Peace Corps China
July 8th, 2005 by seko.I have been nominated and are waiting for a posting in Asia(hopefully). I’ve heard some rumors that Peace Corps in China is more like a show, with gov’t guides limiting possible interaction with the locals as well as your activities. Can anyone elaborate on this?
Thx
August 7th, 2005 at 5:12 am
all I know is that china usually leaves in June. Which month and for what did you get nomianted for?
August 7th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
I was origionally set to leave June 2 (TEFL), but my medical was delayed so I missed it.
The region I choose was Asia. I had recently talked to a friend of mine who had just returned about his whole experience. I am still waiting for my medical to clear, it’s been almost 2 months.
August 10th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
i am curious as to what asia is like as well as i was nominated for community development in asia set to leave in mid january. all i was told was that i’ll be doing a little bit of everything from water and sanitation to teaching english. i just have to clear medical…
i am excited, i have ALWAYS wanted to serve as a volunteer and even though i don’t know which country in asia i am set for exactly i don’t mind because i’d be happy anywhere, i just want to be there already…
October 20th, 2005 at 6:33 am
yes, the pece corps china program is a public relations tool between the u.s. and china. you are placed in schools that are, by and large, not hurting for resources. many of the schools easily employ foreign teachers to do what peace corps volunteers are doing. beijing decides where to place volunteers, and it is usually not where there is a need. the government of china does not want to expose rural poverty or envirnmental issues. has closed the environment program and only places TEFL volunteers. your teaching is scripted, and your activites controlled. it if you are interested in china or learning chinese, this placement is a good idea. if you are interested in real development work at the community level, i suggest you try for another country placement.
November 11th, 2005 at 7:29 am
I’m currently living in Beijing and considering applying for a spot in the Peace Corps to use my time doing something productive in China. I’m very interested in responses from anyone who is presently in China or was here recently. I’m not surprised about the scripted teaching comment the situation of PC volunteers in China is very intriguing to me! I was a Chinese major in school and this is my fourth time in China to study Mandarin… Any feedback or description of experiences would be great! Thanks
December 15th, 2005 at 12:57 pm
I’m heading out in July for China, and a little disheartended by RPCVs posting on China. I’m a bit of an idealist, I realize, but I am hoping that my placement there will be culturally rich as well as prove personally rewarding. Well, I don’t see how it could be rewarding without feeling that my skills as an educator are truly needed … If I am merely a tool for public relations, why spend that money to send me there in the first place?
January 23rd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
I do appreciate the honesty about the program. It did help sober me for a decision i needed to make!
February 6th, 2006 at 1:30 am
I am scheduled to leave for China as PCV this June, along with my wife. Thanks to the internet, I’ve been reading a lot of first hand encounters of of the Peace Corps experience in China since accepting our invitation. Remember, no matter where you are placed, you will not be changing the world; hopefully you will be changing yourself, and those you encounter on a day-to-day basis. The Peace Corps was created as a public relations tool: to show the rest of the world that Americans are good people who want to help, and to show Americans what the rest of the world is like. The China experience seems to be no different, except that volunteers are often taken on sight seeing tours payed for by the Chinese government.
Personally, I am extremely excited to experience the culture, learn the language, and expose my students to my experience in America.
April 7th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Question for Chaston: You are leaving for China in June? My husband and I are very much interested in serving there, but I thought the China program was suspended.
Are you and your wife assigend to TEFL or EE?
April 8th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
A reply for Betsy: I will be leaving for China in July as well for TEFL and can tell you that, to the best of my knowledge, the China program is still on - although I can’t speak for EE program.
I’d reccommend trying out the yahoo group ‘peacecorps2′ for more current info on the peace corps programs. I’d also check out http://www.ethomsen.com/meginchina/messages.html and http://www.travelwithrc.blogspot.com/ - They are a couple of blogs from China RCPVs that I found helpful. Also, if you have the time I’d check out ‘River Town’, by Peter Hessler or ‘Iron and Silk’ by Mark Salzman - a couple of good books on the experience of US citizens in China.
At the moment I can’t comment on the efficacy of the PC program in China, although I think that the perception of any given individual would certainly have a varying viewpoint on the subject. I would say that any travel abroad is what you make of it. Much luck to everybody thinking/participating in the China and other programs!
May 18th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
On a somewhat different note, I’m a high school teacher of Mandarin who will be visiting Chengdu for a couple days in late June with 9 students and 3 middle school teachers. I’m interested in finding someone who could speak to us about their experiences as a PCV; in particular for my students, who should be exposed to different ways of returning to China and continuing with their language studies in future. Is there anyone who could help out? Thanks!
May 30th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Natasha:
We will be in training all of July and I doubt our schedule will allow any of us newbies any time for much outside of training. But as for current volunteers, I’m sure there are some in Chengdu who would be willing to spare some time to talk to you and your students. I guess the best way to contact them would either be the China desk at PC Headquarters, or through the Peace Corps office in Chengdu which I believe is associated with the American embassy.
June 17th, 2006 at 2:13 am
I have to agree with rpcv. As a China volunteer, you do have to live under several restrictions. The secondary projects in China are also monitored more, so you have less freedom in deciding what you can do for your community. Many volunteers are placed in larger cities at larger universities that already have foreign English teachers. Even in the smaller towns, the schools often already have foreign teachers. I would suggest contacting several volunteers on your list of current volunteers and hearing what they have to say, but also contact volunteers who have finished their service. I received the most candid information from volunteers not currently in the field. Good luck!
July 19th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
This is not directly related to the above, but I thought I would ask anyway…I served in Peace Corps in Ghana, West Africa a few years ago and am now in Kunming, China for a few months on a fellowship. I have a month to travel after the program and would like to visit volunteers to get their persepective on their time here and some travel tips.
Thanks!
Jen
August 1st, 2006 at 10:51 am
I will be in China for three weeks in September 2006. I will be teaching at HURT in Wuhan. On my way home I will briefly visit Shanghai. I would enjoy taking out some Peace Corps volunteers living in Shanghai to lunch and perhaps site seeing. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Carribbean. Also, if anyone knows places to stay in Shanghai besides the usual toursit hotel please get me up to speed.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Hi, I don’t know if anyone checks this any more. However, I am currently interning/volunteering in Yilong, Sichuan at the Association for the Rural Development of Yilong County (ARDY). My supervisor is very interested in starting a collaboration with Peacecorps to get a PCV or two to contribute to this program that deals largely with microfinance. Can anyone suggest how I might be able to get in contact with the right people to discuss this proposal? Thanks!
August 30th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Diana,
I would be SO interested in the microfinance type of development work. I am a college senior with a degree in finance and econ, but applying to peace corps for after graduation. I hope you get through setting up that program! I was disaapointed that there weren’t much development programs in China. Cheers!
September 24th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Right now the Peace Corps China program is limited to English Instruction at the College/University level. If there are volunteers near Yilong, they might be able to help with a microfinance program as a secondary project, but that would probably be difficult.
I think to say that PCVs have limited interaction with the public is not entirely true, and depends greatly on what school you are associated with. My husband and I (RPCVs fresh from China) were located at a site with minimal supervision and a large degree of freedom to choose our own secondary activities; other volunteers are not so lucky. Current China PCVs work with orphanages, primary schools, and other community groups in their free time, as well as provide a ton of enrichment activities for their school communities.
That said, your first priority, and the one emphasized by the Peace Corps, is college level English instruction. So if that’s not your bag, the China program may not be for you.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
It’s hard to imagine it has been nearly 10 years since my service in China however it was an outstanding one and I think given the opportunity to serve in PRC one would be reticent to it pass up. While there were more restrictions placed on us, more monitoring etc. I was given a very focused opportunity to do a very specific job with concrete results. My students eventually graduated and returned to their small hometowns to teach English in middle or primary schools. Without my being there they would have perhaps taught their entire careers a language despite never meeting or learning from a native speaker. The English teachers often employed by these schools are adventure seekers or interlopers without much training or interest in teaching.
Further I have friends who have served in other countries and while they did enjoy more “freedoms” they often spent weeks and months doing nothing. One administrator who had been to many PC countries said that in China you will have one of the most organized opportunities to serve. I am a teacher by trade and love teaching. I had the opportunity to do the thing I enjoy the most and was given wide berth to teach. I couldn’t ask more than that. My students were better for working with me and I better for working with them.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
I was a China PCV from 2000-2002. Yes, we are only placed at selected schools, and none of them are in rural villages. We try to go to 2 and 3 year Teachers College where the students are typically rural kids who got lucky and managed to get into a college. We do have some spots at top provincial middle schools and a couple of 4 year universities. We started a Environmental Education program in 2000, but Peace Corps decided to shut it down (yes, PC made the decision, not China). China is still pretty closed in certain ways. I was the first volunteer at my school and my students were told before my first class that I was probably there for “alterior motives” ie a spy and they shouldn’t associate with me. On the other hand, I taught basically anything I wanted with almost no oversight. There was no textbook, noone ever sat in on my classes etc.
Peace Corps China is not typical when it comes to being down at the grassroots level. On the other hand, its very real when it comes to 2nd and 3rd goals — teaching your host country about the US and teaching the US about China when you get home. I was there during the 2000 election, the EP-3 spy plane incident and 9/11. The people who knew me, who I taught, had a very different impression of 9/11 than most Chinese. I actually had a stranger on the bus ask if my family was okay, and they I said they were they said “Thank God, Thank God” which is not a Chinese expression, I think they may have been Christian. The other fact is that you never really know the type of impact you are having. I had students email me 2-3 years after I left saying what a difference I had made to them, even if they (and I) didn’t realize it at the time.
Peace Corps China is not typical from what I hear of other programs, but I don’t think it is any less Peace Corps than most of those programs either.
November 10th, 2007 at 6:59 am
I’m considering extending my service to China, although I’m not too qualified for TEFL. I’ve never taught english formally, and here in Cape Verde I’m Community Development. Is PC China looking for more experienced volunteers?
Also, which dialect do most PCVs learn? Mandarin?
December 29th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
We have been accepted in the PC and told that we will likely be teaching English in China. Does anybody know the extent of the internet access/restriction/censorship in China? Would it be impossible to take online classes during our 2 year assignment? Thanks, C and R
March 7th, 2008 at 1:03 am
I talked with a PC recruiter this week and it sounded like the only people who get an invite to China are professional teachers with several years of teaching experience under their belts. Is this so? Does anyone know of other backgrounds that get picked for China? Thanks.