Interesting question!

At first glance, I would be inclined to say "yes" since we are the ones who are actually (for the most part) having to deal with daily life here on our own. I would also add small business people, bartenders, musicians etc.

Embassy staff, people from large foreign  corporations who are temporarily stationed here are often times "taken care of" (living in "compounds, having peopld "do" things for them, etc.). So for them the experience may seem more "magical".

HOWEVER, the teachers, musicians, bartenders, etc. mentioned above, we also get to see a lot of the charm first hand that the other group does not. So, for me at least, this balances out the not so great experiences that we have here (and which get less and less the longer we live here as we adapt, learn or accept certain behaviors.).

So, in conclusion, I would guess the experience pretty much is the same in terms of liking/hating the place. It is the details that would vary.

Teaching is a vocation, if you don't feel called to it, you'll hate it, whether you're in China or Hawaii.

Now, if you are teaching in China and you don't like teaching, there's a very high chance you'll hate China, I know the logic doesn't automatically follow, but I think it is a common occurrence none the less.

However, that same idea probably follows from any career, if you don't love the job, it's highly likely you won't love the place you're doing the job, although the converse, (loving the job = loving the place) is not necessarily true as so many more factors fall into loving a place. Frequently it only takes one factor to induce hate, at least if you are looking for negatives it does.

i have seen some really un-qualified teachers here...so i would rather say  that its

Easier for china to "hate" "teachers"  than other expats working here?

I've never earned a single RMB in China... and I hate it all the time. There are many things I love too, but... I guess it's a love-hate relationship.

You seem to be talking about training centers...get a public Uni job, most of the problems you are talking about aren't relevant there. Parents? Forget that, man, I'm not dealing with them.

mana is right. i love my life as a teacher because i teach at a uni. i knew going in that training schools would make me go postal. for me teaching is about teaching. not about massaging egos , not about profits or any other bs. 

let's be realistic teaching in china is not like teaching in hawaii. teaching in china has unique challenges. some of these challenges can make you want to quit at times. i'll give you an example. if you are tough on cheating and consistent you become public enemy no. 1 . you anger the depts , students, and the chinese teachers. yeah "the entire world is the same as china" Hawaiian students and schools allow students to cheat. (give that lame argument a rest)

in my entire lifetime as a student or my 4 years working , i have never heard of a teacher/ administrator telling students things to undermine another teacher. hnese teachers and admin tell the students bs about foreigners and their foreign english teachers. they tell them our class is supposed to be easy and full of activities/ games. they tell the students that what we are only to  teach them  pronunciation and it's not really important.  i even had a teacher teach them some racist jokes to say in my class.  oh yeah that sounds a lot like hawaii (cue other "brit" " that happen to me also in britain" yeah right)

actually i will say this about teaching. we see the best of china. some students will believe the bs their chinese english teachers tell them. but the ones who are hungry to learn , and eager to met the standards you set for them make this job worth doing. they're the ones that keep me going. last semester , a student said to me after receiving her scores. "i didn't do to well but i understand why. i will do better the next time." 1 of those is worth a million "why wasn't my score higher? " (from students who didn't come to class, didn't do the work, didn't study and scored low on tests)

teaching in china can give you hope for a better future. 

Wow, such a question it worth the answer. Teaching and living in China it's a 2 ways out and it only depends on what your character is: you die or you become stronger than never. There's no way in between. Either you give rid to yourself and let all the worst of your character get out making you unhappy, frustrated, resented and embittered or you get rid of all this and understand your own frustrations, ask yourself "why does it make me feel so?", find answers, enlarge your horizon of solutions to as much as possible you can do, accept and become tolerant with your own limits, learn to be happy within your cubicle life and so become stronger.
That's why when it comes to living China you either hate it or love it because you either hate or love yourself.
If there is a way in between please let me know. It does indeed get out the worst of you, the most ridiculous about yourself then you can become obstinate to keeping that way or work out on yourself to improve. Thus, I believe it is possible, from time to time, like a sort of revelation, to be at peace with yourself first and with everybody where you are in this Country. The problem that follows such revelations it's a great deal of problem: you need to learn to be constant making such reconciliation a present fact in your every day life here. The challenge it's an upscale on the way out to the man you never thought you could become.

  I've got no complaints about teaching here. For a start my only qualification is that i've been speaking English all my life, but i've still been able to build a career here where in London I was stuck in a humdrum existence of dead-end jobs. I've had to put up with a certain extent of the 'dancing foreign monkey' syndrome, but i've managed to enjoy it for the most part. Never had anyone try to bribe me though, only had minimal grief from employees, and feel i've had a great deal of freedom to do things my way on the whole. Nope.......no complaints.

I am also an english teacher here but my image of china has not changed because my job. I don,t have  the feeling china hates unskilled teacher either, I just have the feeling that you don,t need to be a native speaker to find a job as an english teacher I am really shocked, but I can,t say that I really like china. Sometimes I get crazy and I loose my temper.  

We've all had different experiences. It might depend on area, school leaders attitudes and the students' own feelings about English and/or foreigners. Of course we're a novelty in smaller areas in the beginning, but that normally fades after a while. I loved teaching my kids at my first assignment, the best high school in a small county. Many of the kids came from villages in the mountains, but most lived nearby. It didn't take long to get to know the teachers. Most of the English teachers were young--3 were new--so their English was better than the older ones. It was like the agents advertise, "you'll be treated like a rock star!" But as that faded, the kids got closer, many calling me dad, and wanting to hang out. My apartment was right off the playground not far from the dining hall, so some of the closer ones would stop by with their dinner and visit. These kids were hungry for English, and made me feel more appreciated than I ever felt in any other work! 3 classes started their own English clubs to have on Friday evenings between dinner and evening classes. Even though the leaders didn't honor parts of the contract for providing me with a TV, and weren't speedy with my first 2 months food expenses, they (including the headmaster) always greeted me friendly. Even if they saw me from a distance, they'd wave and call my name with big smiles. Unfortunately, that school only has a foreign teacher for the first half of the year. Despite most of the Chinese English teachers attempts to persuade the headmaster to change policy and keep me on indefinitely, he only invited me back the next year. I was working through VIP China in BeiJing then, and although they say that after your first term they'll raise your salary by 1000 RMB/month, they apparently only work with schools like that one so they can continue paying a starting salary, as they move teachers to the next school which will require a probationary period too. But I loved my students and colleagues so much that after my short visit to the US, I returned for around 2 weeks, as the leaders allowed me to leave some of my things (mostly gifts from the kids) and to stay until Spring Fest, and would visit the students at lunch break and in the evening. 

After Spring Fest, where I stayed with a girlfriend, I went to work for a Jinan company who sent me to my present school in a city-level county only a 2 hour train trip away from the first school.

Completely different environment. The previous teachers were from African countries and I was told their accents were very strong, so some teachers told their students not to copy their pronunciation! Of course this must have contributed to their disinterest in spoken English. The headmaster never greeted me after our first meeting, always looking in another direction when our paths crossed. After 3 years here I still don't know many of these teachers!  But I made some wonderful friends in the English department. Despite my use of the multimedia equipment for MVs and photos most students showed little interest. The other school's students were satisfied with the book lessons and songs from my iPod!  There were a few students that did become sons and daughters here, and the following full term was comparable to the experience at the first school. A great term although I had to spend a lot of frustrating time away due to a screw-up visa agent the company used that year. He was trying to get me to start a teacher placement agency, and cost the Jinan company a lot of money because of his bumbling crooked schemes. Last term was pretty good. Even the headmaster opened up for a while. Through the head teacher the school expressed their desire to keep me as long as I wanted, which of course please Jinan, even though they had some frustrating times trying to get the school to improve my apartment. Each year they'd promise if I completed the year, they'd put me in a better school. But I'd find myself attached to friends and my students, and last year I married a lady from here. After we married and went to bring the wedding party invitation to the headmaster, he roughly informed my wife that he had pressure from some people he never named, for us to move off campus!  Last July we were ordered to move, and the headmaster would not agree to pay the cash food expense nor utilities and internet as had been in the previous contracts. But they agreed to reimburse us for rent and moving expenses in 4 payments this term, although we had to pay these up front. Also when I threatened to quit, Jinan began added the amount of the food allowance to my monthly salary. This term all of the Chinese teachers agree we have more "bu hao" and "naughty" students than ever. Some have said they miss the time when the grade 3 seniors were grade 1, and I do too. But of course we do have sine that are as good as previous terms.

So in my time here, I've had good and bad experiences. And I've gone from absolutely loving teaching to this disappointing term. But overall, for being the only foreign permanent resident in this city, I'm happy. I have a great wife with a wonderful family, some good colleagues, and many sons and daughters. I don't regret for a moment my decision to come teach in China. There are ups and downs, but more ups. I've even heard that the headmaster will be leaving!