“EuroAmerican Teachers Are Our Hardware” Shifting Racial Hierarchies in Chinese Private English Schools After 2020

Between 2020–2022, Chinese private schools encountered a significant crisis in their English programs due to new government policies and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Based on participant ethnographic research conducted at schools affected by these crises, this study examines how these crises led to changes in racial hierarchies related to English teachers. The data points to emerging contradictions developing between established racial hierarchies at private schools and new strategies used by hiring agencies in China’s smaller cities. The established racial hierarchies promoted an idealized image of White British and American teachers, and in practice, also promoted the work of White Eastern European teachers. Meanwhile, some agencies opted to pursue cost-saving measures by shifting their hiring practices towards recruiting teachers from neighboring Asian countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines. This chapter argues that the shifting strategies of agents challenged the existing racial hierarchy of English teaching by promoting ideas of racial ambiguity. While previous studies conducted on the subject of foreign English teachers and race in China predominantly focus on the experiences of teachers, this research highlights the significant role of agents in reconfiguring racial hierarchies of foreign teachers in private Chinese institutions.