Community Matters: New Night Buses, Elle Holmes Kickstarter, Tougher Hiring Standards for Foreigners?

Kipp Whittaker | Sep 18, 2014 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 995 reads

Beijing Youth Daily reported that Beijing will open up 34 night bus routes starting September 22, from 11.30pm-4.50am. These will replace the current schedule of 15 night bus lines currently in use.

The buses will run at 20-40min intervals and provide late night access to hospitals, universities, and popular recreation hubs. It will only cost RMB 1 to ride, or RMB .4 with the use of your little blue transit card. 

Getting a proper job in Beijing just became a bit harder for non-Chinese citizens ... or did they? A new regulation now requires foreigners seeking employment as teachers to have at least five years' experience to teach non-language subjects, state-run media reported. Previously, teachers were not governed under separate regulations, requiring only the two years of experience mandated for other positions. It is unclear how teachers who have already obtained Z visas who do not meet this new standard will be handled.

However, language teachers "should have Chinese teacher certificates or international language teaching qualifications, include Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), and The Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT)." Clearly local officials believe dealing with unqualified teachers is more important than local students learning English,

Foreigners wishing to be employed in Beijing must also be between the ages of 18 and 60, although the upper limit may be extended to 65 in the case of senior foreign experts. They must hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and have two years of relevant work experience, except in the case of teachers. Other regulations require that foreign employees have no criminal record in their home country.

That being said, a report just released by South China Morning Post states that most English teachers in Beijing are able to land jobs without a background check, as witnessed first-hand by their undercover reporter.

A former Beijing expat parent whose daughter tragically killed herself in May is crowd sourcing funds to have the song the 15-year-old wrote and recorded just days before her death remade by New Zealand pop star Anita Prime to raise awareness about the dangers of teen eating disorders.

Former British School of Beijing Year 10 student Eleanor (“Elle”) Holmes dreamed of becoming a psychologist. She loved drama and singing too, acting most recently in December 2013 performance of the Wizard of Oz staged by Beijing Playhouse. She studied hard, made friends and was captain of her swim team. Listen to Elle performing "Mirror Mirror" on the Kickstarter campaign page here.

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Photos: elleaholmes.com, livethelanguage.cn, www.pbase.com