I do not know if they have changed their way of finding students but years ago what they used to do was get the list of students who failed or got a low mark on their gaokao. IEN would then call those students and tell them that if they paid the tuition (almost triple regular university tuition).

The DOS at one point was an Australian man who had given his son a job teaching even though the kid was 19 and had no idea how to teach. His son once told me about going for a massage with with his father that concluded with a happy ending. Now I am by no means a prude but what I did find pretty creepy was that it was one of those incredibly cheap back alley places, the kind with curtains acting as walls. While they were being serviced they were talking and i suppose revealing to each other their vinegar strokes (I shudder at the thought of sharing that with my son.

That DOS was eventually replaced by a Philipino woman who along with her husband had basically conspired to have him released. They were the sneakiest couple of humans I have ever met. They would smile to your face while they stabbed you in the back. when she was the senior teacher she had plenty of complaints and refused to do certain things but as soon as she became the DOS those same situations no longer seemed to be a problem. What made me laugh was before the took over the position they were cheapskates who would barely spend a cent but after moving up they were purchasing items like E-bikes, Iphones and other luxury goods all the while telling the FT's to do things they would have refused in the past.