We are back in Jinzhou, our home for the next several months. We are starting to feel like high school seniors. The administration treats us like children, but it is okay, because in a short while, we will be gone. The rest of our colleagues have signed on for the next semester. Of the eight foreign teachers, we are the only two who are leaving - a very impressive rate of retention. The other teachers are staying, despite the fact that Mr. Wong, the grumpy hotel manager, can sometimes be difficult.

Part of Old Wong’s job is to act as night doorman, and to enforce our 10 o’clock curfew (11 on weekends!) He puts a chain on the door after hours. When we do stay out late, we call him from our cell phone and ask him to unlock the chains. He always scolds us in Chinese, and we are very apologetic. It is ridiculous for two adults to act this way, but at least we get to stay out.

In truth, we like Mr. Wong. He is appealing in a Norman Fell kind of way. Norman Fell was the meddling landlord in Three’s Company. He was also the meddling landlord in “The Graduate” who asked Dustin Hoffman, “are you one of those agitators? One of those outside agitators?” He is a crotchety, old codger, but we know that he likes us, and we like him, too.

The only real problem with Mr. Wong is that he sometimes intimidates our Chinese friends. Someties he gives Jessie, our Chinese tutor, a hard time. He knows who she is, and he knows what she is doing, but he likes to remind her that he could throw her out if he wanted. Once he took her national i.d. card when she came, and then he wandered off somewhere, knowing she would be unable to leave without it.

He has been rude to other Chinese people who have come to the hotel as guests. Last month Mette, one of our colleagues, was having a dinner party and one of her Chinese friends was invited. His name was Bennie. Mr. Wong actually came into the kitchen and told Bennie he had to be gone in twenty minutes. Then he said he was joking. Then he said he wasn’t joking. Bennie told Mette he wouldn’t come back to visit her because Old Wong had made him feel so uncomfortable.

There aren’t any written rules about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed in the hotel. There are unwritten rules, but we don’t know what they are. Are we allowed to have Chinese guests in the common areas? We think so, but we aren’t sure. Are we allowed to have Chinese guests in our rooms? Probably not. Jessie always tutors us in our rooms, but Mr. Wong could crack down on that if he wanted. Are we allowed to stay out late? Definitely not. If we complain too loudly about the curfew, Mr. Wong might start enforcing it.

The teachers have all complained to the Foreign Affairs Officer and now they want to take the issue to a higher level in the University. But in my opinion, taking it up the chain of command would be a mistake. Mr. Wong has a lot of “guanxi” so the administration is not going to give him a serious reprimand. We have two other, realistic choices:

1) Do nothing. Let him harass people. Mr. Wong’s crotchetiness may be one of those cultural differences we are so excited to experience. Maybe it is just a part of China, and eight foreigners are certainly not going to change China.

2) Try to bribe him. We could pay him a little bit of money to lay off our guests. We’ve heard it works in similar situations in China.

Any other suggestions?