{"id":12871,"date":"2016-11-18T02:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T01:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/?p=12871"},"modified":"2022-02-23T12:30:41","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T11:30:41","slug":"foreigner-grading-system-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/foreigner-grading-system-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Foreigner-Grading System in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Foreigner-Grading<\/p>\n

To say that China is a *bit* homogenous is something of an understatement. If you\u2019ve never been here, allow me to briefly bore you with some statistics:<\/p>\n

There are nearly 1.4 billion people living in the People\u2019s Republic of China. Of those, well over a billion (roughly 93%) are Han Chinese, and the vast majority of the remainder is comprised of Chinese ethnic minorities<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The census data from 2010 claimed there were around a million foreign residents. Even if that number has doubled in the past 6 years, we\u2019re still talking about something like .001% of the total population. <\/p>\n

The point is, even in a globalized 21st Century China, foreigners are still so rare as to be statistically insignificant. Historically speaking, this has \u2013 with the notable exception of the Tang Dynasty \u2013 pretty much always been a pretty walled off (literally!) and mysterious place to the rest of the world. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, today\u2019s Chinese have something of a love\/hate relationship with foreigners; on the one hand, everyone\u2019s curious to learn more about them and wants a good supply of native English speakers to hire as teachers<\/a>. On the other hand, there\u2019s always been a strong sentiment of “Us Vs. Them” here \u2013 even foreigners you like are still forever \u5916\u56fd\u4eba (waiguoren), or \u201coutside the country people.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result, the visa system here has always been a little wacky at best<\/a>; but it looks like the CPC is doing their best to amp up the madness by introducing a new system of foreigner \u201cgrading.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the announcement on the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs website, they intend to separate foreigners into three categories of acceptability: A (cream of the crop executive-types), B (professionals), and C (try not to slam the door on your way out). The announcement uses the phrase “\u9f13\u52b1\u9ad8\u7aef\u3001\u63a7\u5236\u4e00\u822c\u3001\u9650\u5236\u4f4e\u7aef,” which basically means \u201cencourage the high-end, control the ordinary, restrict the low-end.\u201d <\/p>\n

The criteria for this supposed grading practice are as follows:<\/p>\n