I was surprised to log on to find that no one has addressed...

Is it racism? Or is it a recognition that ones culture that may not be suitable for their school?

well if the school doesn't recognize an ethnic specific culture then it is clearly racism Martin. "Institutionalized Racism". It is rampant in EFL contexts where diverse teachers are discriminated against (it is quite subtle though).

Well Martin is obviously caucasian and has no idea whats it like to receive racists remarks and judging by schools that are clearly mislead and informed. Unfortunately, the culture in China is still changing. I have taught there for 3 years and its only now that I carry less weight have they stopped calling me fat. I am now oh beautiful woman. Id like too think the world will change on this issue bit I fear its always going to raise its ugly head.

Racism exists in many and various forms. Usually we focus on the negative aspects but there are occasions when the racism is in favour of the individuals. Every "Native Speaker" is benefitting from a kind of racism, aren't they? I have witnessed and experienced both the good and the bad forms. As a foreigner I am expected to be rich and "careless"/"carefree" with money. But I have also had the benefit of being more highly paid than local teachers.

Yes it's pretty much racism and discrimination. Especially if they are perfectly okay with hiring me until I send them my picture. If my education and experience are fine then you see my picture and everything is not fine. Then there being racists no more no less. Now I don't think it will change but hey we could at least call it out.

Whites tend to be favored over non-whites when hiring teachers. I have a Bachelor of Science from a Public Ivy and TESOL and CTEYL certifications which recruiters excitedly gush over - until they learn that I'm non-white. It makes no difference to the recruiters (usually Chinese but I've even experienced it with at least one South Korean) that I'm a native-born US citizen. The instant they learn of my non-whiteness excitement over my credentials suddenly becomes crickets. I have experience teaching students online (I tutor students for a certain online platform), which attracts students primarily from the Middle East and Latin America; occasionally I have the opportunity to tutor SouthEast or East Asians but it is rare and I say that even in those cases - regarding the Asians online - racial bias affects their selection of me as their tutor. There have been reports online that Chinese English as a Second Language (ESL) companies are loathe to hire non-whites; when non-whites are hired, they tend to receive far less pay than their white colleagues. It is a fact that whites from Eastern European countries will receive preference over native English speaking non-whites especially blacks when they are applying to jobs with Chinese ESL companies. There are several youtube videos that go into detail about the hiring preferences of Chinese ESL companies; one such video even has a letter from a white male who works for FF which is a fairly well known Chinese ESL company; in that letter, the white male employee of FF admitted that the company fast tracks white applicants but will not hire black teachers because in his words Chinese do not like blacks. In this forum, a Chinese American man said that he has trouble getting interviews and that one recruiter told him via Skype that it was too bad the Chinese American man was not white. So this is a reality for non-white teachers. Why so much hatred? It not only sends a message that Chinese schools genuinely believe that non-whites - especially blacks - are not good enough to teach their students, but it also sends a message that China is, in fact, a very backward country. When companies of a particular nation systematically and deliberately bypass qualified teachers because of racial bias, the companies miss out on hiring those teachers and thus will not receive the knowledge those teachers have to offer. Moreover, if the clients of those companies intend to work in the US or take up residence here on a permanent basis, how will they react when they must interact with non-whites on the job? Because although they may not want to accept it, there are qualified blacks and other non-whites whom they will have to work alongside on the job, and in numerous instances, will even be subordinate to blacks and other non-whites in the workforce.

I think you are correct, sadly. And it is very boring working in an environment which only hires white westerners. All too often they hire the same type of white westerners who will never raise their head when discrimination is often blatantly happening. Be that against people with brown skin, women, minorities, older people. I hate discrimination, because it is inhumane and totally stupid way to assess a person. I think you are also right about people with this mentality finding it difficult to fit into an educational environment which has a mixture of people of all shades and backgrounds. It affects the way people value people who are 'different'. I have seen really bad inhumane racism in China and it makes me very sad.