Everdred (US)

There's absolutely no doubt that white teachers are preferred as English teachers in China, as well as several other Asian countries. My best explanation as to why: Chinese parents don't believe that their children are getting "authentic" English by learning from someone that isn't white. If their children were to learn English from an African-American, that isn't good enough for them, because in their eyes, English is a white-people language. Sure, many of them would accept a non-white teacher, but many of them would also expect to pay less, because in their mind they're not getting "authentic" English. There's also a face issue about learning English from non-whites. It would be much more impressive for a Chinese parent to tell their neighbors and friends that their child is learning English from a white American than it would be if they said their child was learning English from an African-American or Chinese-American. Bottom line: non-whites aren't "true" English speakers, nor do they give parents face, therefore they aren't preferred as English teachers, and they deserve to be paid less.