Did you just say canteen referring to a bathroom? Anyways, the places I've worked at no they don't. 

I don't know where you work, but in my LTC I'm the only laowai and so I'm often asked for advice on English matters and of course I often chat to the Chinese about food and life in general. Then occasionally we have a social gathering, (usually KTV).

I try. I chat with the Chinese teachers about work and make as many bad jokes as I can but so far no socializing outside of functions and such. I'm working on it and expect success within the next year. 

 There's no socializing between foreign teachers & their Chinese colleagues. There were several attempts (dinners)  to induce inter-cultural communication,  but they didn't work out.

Foreigners hang out with other foreigners, normally form their own culture. Chinese get discouraged because their English is not up to scratch + culture differences. They finally give up.

It's normal.

I'm the only laowai here, and I detest mixing with most Chinese people because their English level is so bad, and they're disgustingly inconsiderate. I don't mind if they want to talk, and I'm generally pretty friendly, but... sometimes the cultural differences annoy the piss out of me, so I go out of my way to avoid these things.

Here's an example: I've stated 100 times that I will not drink or smoke, yet I'm constantly offered such things. To make matters worse, they always smoke in front of my pregnant wife. I have to constantly ask them to stop.

Yet another example: I told everyone I dislike seafood (I don't, but I'm not touching Chinese seafood), and I don't like spicy food. Everyone knew that. So they take me and the wife out to eat... turtle soup, fish, etc... all mixed with hot peppers. And then they start drinking and smoking in front of her. They also parked 4 coal-burning ovens on top of the table, in front of my pregnant wife.

I just have a very difficult time adjusting to utter idiocy. Therefore, I avoid Chinese guys like the plague. They might be really friendly, but doing all that stupid stuff over and over drives me nuts. I also dislike watching them spit on the table constantly, and spit on the floor, etc. This happens in like every province.

I don't know, I don't work. There a lot of interaction between this foreigner and some Chinese in their place of work.

 I see lots of interaction here, look at all the pretty red maple leafs, makes me feel at home. I just learned something. China does have maple leaf trees, different than Japanese trees and not hardy in cold climate. The Chinese trees are becoming endangered.

Like some previous posters, I am also (usually) the only laowai at my company.  About the only interaction I have with colleagues is when they find out I've scheduled a trip back to the USA, and then they hit me up with their shopping lists.  Otherwise, interactions are pretty much limited to work-related issues.  I've always tended to look outside work for friends, women, life....work is work, no need to mix it up

Mostly it's work-related, sometimes it's just casual chats. My manager is French and we do get along very well, we even joke about each other's life sometimes. When you're at work, be professional; after work, be smart and considerate, then it should work out all right.

I'm a teacher , at university, and I say SFA

Sweet F all

I must be the odd man out. In my four years of being here I have only had a few real close foreign friend. In fact, pretty much 90% of my friends are Chinese and Im pretty close to my Chinese co-workers.

It is quite common for foreigners to only associate with other foreigners here. 

Personally I feel it is pretty stupid to live in another country and largely shut yourself off from the local people. That being said, overseas Chinese are probably the worlds worst at doing this. 

In my school I rarely see the Chinese teachers, except when passing them in the corridors! I have lunch in my apartment which is on campus or with the one other English teacher. I have many Chinese friends, but none of them are from the school, in fact the only people I really detest in China are teachers in this school! So not mixing with them is fine by me!

I'm happy to say that it's a pleasure to have lunch out with the ladies in our office.  It's a chance to learn tons and forget about work (generally) for a bit and just act silly together.  Having said that, there is a fair amount of light flirting happening but well above aboard professionally so everyone's comfortable.  The office is actually a pretty happening place when everyone's present - students included.  Suddenly I feel lucky!

Not much, just obvious "do you like chinese food "and so on. 

last week, when the nongfu spring water affair came up, people around have talked a little about it, just after they noticed, I drank out the bottle of named water, but without any notice to me, like be aware of it, because of this ... no, rather they will wait to see me die i guess

I think it's pretty normal for people to tend to "stick with their own kind".

I have no problem talking with anyone, but the simple fact is that another American is a lot more likely to understand me, my cultural references and my background far more than a Chinese person is.  Just like Chinese people will relate and understand each other far more than I probably ever could.

Last week I had a 45 minute conversation about pop tarts and breakfast foods with another American.  Even just simple conversation like that probably couldn't be had with most Chinese people , heck I've met plenty of Chinese who don't even know what cereal is. 

At my new work place, still being the only laowai, I am indeed interacting quite a bit with the Chinese people here. They are very kind and friendly, and I enjoy it immensely. The boss's son takes me biking, and his daughter (the mini-boss, I guess) treats me better than I deserve.

All in all, it's a rather pleasant experience. I'm enjoying China a lot more, and not hating it like I used to. I'm back to being Happy Hulk. It's a shame I wasn't able to come here with my wife (I turned down this job 8 months ago) and work earlier. I would've had a more positive outlook on China.

Truthfully, I hadn't experienced much  of the stereotypes so prevalent on this board UNTIL I went to Hunan province for more than 30 days. When first I read this board, I thought half the people here were idiots... then I got some more China experience. That's why I'm not so hard on Hugh.G.Rection and mArtiAn for living in Chinese Wonderland, 'cause I've found it up north.

I also love to complain (I find it funy), so there's that too. Hunan was every major stereotype... combined... into one giant colossal failbag. The food wasn't really that good in Hunan, but I did enjoy Mao's favorite food.

Oh? I went off on a tangent again? Sorry. Yeah, most people here can't speak English, so my wife translates for me. We have some pretty good times here. I can speak Chinese, but they can't understand it very well, so my wife translates my Chireese into Chinese. If need be, I can communicate using Hanzi exclusively... that works well, but it's slow.

I love it here... hope you can all find a place where stereotypes aren't in action, or are at least much lesser than in Hunan...

EDIT: Oh yeah, it gets better... I have an educated room-mate... a 65 year old grandmother who... speaks English and understands ALL of my broken Chinese! How cool is that? She does all the house work, and cooks breakfast and dinner. She brought her grandson to live with her (a student at my school) and they took up the spare bedroom. They don't even bug me for English lessons, but I'm happy to help.

She goes out of her way to make sure we don't have to do much, and she always tells us what to avoid, and what to buy. She pretty much only buys vegetables and imported products, so she's up-to-date on the latest scams and tainted products before we are.