I would just like to say to anyone thinking of taking a job at DD Dragon in Wenzhou you are actually taking a job in a place called Lingxi or Longgang. DO NOT GO THERE. It is a slum in the countryside 2 hours from Wenzhou city. Unless you want to live in rat infested apartments, no holidays (breach of contract) and paid half what a native speaker makes at any other school. DONT GO THERE

First the school:

They will promise you a lot of holidays, but you find out you are actually making up all the classes during your holiday on top of your regular schedule when the holidays are over. So be prepared to work 12 hour days for over a week straight without any time off just so you could get a 4 day holiday in October, when everyone else you know in China gets a week off for that holiday.

The trend at this school was to make teachers work as much as possible. Imagine teaching kids for over 12 hours straight on Saturday and Sunday and not being given more than an hour break in between. No other schools do this. You have to show up at 7:30 am and you are teaching right until 9pm on your weekend, where as I didn't know anyone who else who had to do this at other schools.

They pray on the naive. Every teacher there is a new teacher, because anyone living in China knows native speakers should not take anything less than 15k where as this school tricks you to take 8k. I promise you if you hold out and interview for a few more days you will find jobs paying double this. Once you have signed a contract and you later figure out how things work, good luck trying to leave they will threaten you and not let you leave and say if you try to leave you will never be able to work in China again or maybe even go to jail.

Intimidation is the worst at this school. The TAs talk smack about all the other foreigners and Mr. Chen (the boss) takes money away from your salary without notice. Random deductions that were not in your contract. 8K is low enough, but don't expect to see that amount in your monthly pay ever.

They say they have training and Chinese all of which is false. They say the TAs speak good English. This is a lie.

They say the apartments are furnished. The apartments are slums. I get it is China, but everyone I have met who didn't work at our school had such nicer places than ours. Expect your aircon and water pressure to be 50 years old and expect it to take months to get it fixed. I moved in and the school made me pay to fix the washing machine that I had used for just a few days, because it broke, but I had heard foreigners had been using that washing machine for five years. You have to pay to fix everything. The apartments have mold and I was constantly sick, zero furniture and beds that were old an rotting. Mattresses with mold and rot.

Again I tried to leave, but was told I could never work in China again if I did. Ironic that when I finished my contract I was denied a reference letter just like everyone else who finished their contracts. They told me if I wanted to get another job in China they would give a reference over the phone, but I had to fly home to America and get a tourist visa and then I could work again. Even though my new employer said all they had to do was write two letters for me and I could get another residence permit and working papers. But no, Mr. Chen is very uncooperative. So the teachers are good enough to be employed by Lingxi DD Dragon, but when it comes time for you to move on they can't give you the documentation you will need to find work elsewhere. The boss Mr. Chen thinks if you don't work for him you shouldn't be able to work anywhere. It is a shame he pays half what you would get at other schools.

The TAs are rude and cold. They are not very helpful. I didn't need them to be my friends, but for some of our female teachers who were surrounded mostly by guy westerners it would have been nice for them to make friends with their female co-workers. But no, they were stuck up and didn't want to associate with foreigners. Which brings me to the topic of the town.

Lingxi or Longgang, regardless which DD Dragon "Wenzhou" job you take it is all the same. The same horrible boss and both towns are literal slums. I am not one to complain about the conditions of the third world. Except this wasn't poor Africa. These Wenzhounese drove fancy cars and boasted expensive real estate values, but they treated their city like crap and thus it is a slum. It smells really bad everywhere. Air pollution is horrible and garbage and feces are just on every corner. The people are rude and sometimes even aggressive to foreigners. IF YOU ARE A FEMALE TRAVELER DO NOT COME HERE. THE LOCAL MEN WERE DISGUSTING AND FORCEFULLY AGGRESSIVE. If you kindly reject the local men they will become angry and physical in a violent or possibly even sexual way.

The food there is horrible. After a year eating local delicacies my digestive system is realizing the consequences. The idea of their food is good, but the hygene is so much worse than the rest of China. Or atleast worse than the big cities. Most teachers were always sick throughout the year. Oh but Lingxi, Longang Wenzhou DD Dragon, whatever name they give it, Cangnan county DD Dragon, doesn't let you take any sick days. If you call in sick you better be dying otherwise they will threaten to cancel your visa, fire you and take your money. Once there was a teacher so sick they couldn't speak or stand. They asked that teacher to just go to class and sit there so they could count it as a class for the students and collect tuition. The teacher told them NO F****** WAY.

Back to the town. You might think it is tropical, but actually it rains almost all the time with the exception of July and August which are nice, but still rain during typhoons. It is grey and dperessing and once again raining. October to May is uncomfortably colled as the houses are literally shacks and not homes. No insulation, you have holes in your walls and cracked windows. The apartments look good in the photos the school will give you, but it is literally a shanty town.

If you are going to go work in China small towns can be ok, but I recommend a big city. Don't work for less than 15,000 a month maybe even 16,000 a month if you are a native speaker degree or not. Someone will hire you and no office hours do the standard 25 hours a week and don't get suckered into any 8k or 9k BS like in Wenzhou DD Dragon Lingxi and Longgang. The boss is smart and relying on hiring someone who doesn't know their value and who takes the first job they get offered. If you have experienced and certifications you shouldn't even be reading this. 18k and awsome working conditions with good teacher references. Don't even look at the training centers.

EVEN without a degree someone will hire you avoid this place and know your worth. This school is hell. The internet shares my opinion on this school.