Zeng Guoping, a high school teacher in rural north Jiangxi Province, central China, has 10 years of teaching experience and a junior college certificate. His current salary is only about 1,000 yuan--barely enough for him to live on when he was single. After marrying and having a child, he could hardly bear the burden. In remote and impoverished areas, girls with a decent job would not like to marry teachers like Zeng because of their low social status. These men therefore have to turn to craftswomen. Rural teachers often must do odd jobs or run small businesses to make extra money.

Zeng is not the only teacher of China demanding prompt financial improvements for the profession. In the previously mentioned survey, most teachers pointed to their low incomes as a priority for improvement. Specifically, 51 percent of surveyed teachers said their current salary was equal to that of five years ago, and only 29 percent saw a substantial rise in their income.

"I've been teaching in a township central primary school for five years since graduating as a Chinese language and literature major," said one respondent. "Now I can only earn 700 yuan per month from this tiring work. How can I afford to eat, have a love affair, get married and buy a house? As a result, I'm resolved to go for another vocation if given a choice."

Warning signal for teachers' health

The survey on the psychological health and work pressure on teachers found that 35 percent of teachers felt extremely pressured and 48 percent greatly pressured, combined accounting for 83 percent of the total.

In another survey co-conducted by the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China and the education channel of sina.com, 80 percent of the total 8,699 surveyed teachers reported grave work pressure.

Teachers, especially high school teachers are put under severe pressure by high expectations of parents due to stiff social competition.

"Our school produced a laureate in the entrance examination for secondary school this year," said Liu Yingjia, Vice Principal of Jinan No.5 Middle School, as an example. "Thus a handful of parents have voluntarily asked for transfer of their children into the laureate class. It's the pressing demand and overly high expectations that are weighing on us."

"It's like walking on thin ice," said Zhang Junqing who has been teaching junior secondary students Chinese language for 16 years, "Our teaching has been dancing to the exam's baton. The promotion rate of graduates is highly valued by the school and the parents. We did a good job last year, but what if it's ruined next year? It's more like torture with this mounting pressure."

Some other related surveys found that 33 percent of teachers take the promotion rate of graduates as the biggest concern. The poor performance of students in exams was the most serious setback in the lives of 24 percent of teachers who responded, while 47 percent deem students scoring high grades as the happiest thing in life.

Moreover, a new source of pressure is how to handle the teacher-student relationships since almost all Chinese middle school students in cities are the only child in the family. These students are more self-willed, self-esteemed, and incapable of overcoming frustration. But parents focus only on the academic performance of the children instead of cultivating sound personalities and independence. It's a Catch-22 for teachers as some parents lodge complaints if the teachers become stricter or looser on students.

"Teachers are therefore often embroiled in contradictions," said Chen Jun, a teacher with 20 years of experience teaching math in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, east China, "It's tough to handle the degree in association with students. Neither being too harsh nor too slack is appropriate."

Unfortunately, warning signals have been sounded about the health of Chinese teachers under pressure.

From June 2004 to June 2005, over 7,000 teachers from 17 schools received health examinations, with only 42 teachers found to be totally healthy, accounting for a dismal 0.6 percent.

"My daily routine only contains work and sleep, leaving little time for entertainment or exercise," Wang said. "Some vocational diseases come out every time I go for a health examination. It's quite normal among my colleagues so nobody cares about it."

According to an investigation of 426 middle school teachers conducted by the Education Bureau of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, 54 percent of teachers were suffering from psychological problems. Among these, nearly 70 percent felt mental exhaustion, 48 percent anxiety, and 36 percent problems with suppressing their anger.

Another investigation to over 500 teachers of primary and middle schools in Beijing showed that nearly 60 percent of teachers perceive more annoyance than happiness at work and 70 percent cannot control their temper. Furthermore, depression is also a shared problem among teachers.