Facing bankruptcy, Liang Guang, CEO of Vivid
English Club (VEC), shut down his school and absconded with about 2
million RMB on Dec 1, 2008.
By Zen Vuang
VEC teacher Amanda Roeth said, “We all knew the school would close
sooner or later; I just wish they could have closed it in an
honorable way without hurting so many people.”
Over time, faculty, staff and students witnessed Beijing's largest
English-language training school (in terms of office space) lose
two floors in two buildings in Jianwai SOHO. At the very end, VEC
only occupied the 5th floor of Building 6.
VEC faced many peaceful protests and extensive student complaints
in its final months. Trash was thrown on the floor, angry words
were written in dry erase markers on doors, and two people were
punched. Each time, Liang was nowhere to be found.
Yet, despite months of suspicious grumbling in the expat community
regarding VEC's duplicity (just scan the Beijinger's online forum)
no one suspected that he would embezzle the company’s money:
especially since the school was running according to
schedule.
Countdown
On Friday, Nov 28, VEC teachers hosted a Thanksgiving party for
about 40 students. Liang attended the party, smiled at students and
teachers and even participated in activities.
On Saturday, the sales department signed up two new students for
the school. These students didn’t realize they just donated their
money to Liang's personal fund.
On Monday, Dec 1, faculty, staff and students were greeted by a
school on lockdown and a homemade notice claiming VEC applied for
bankruptcy and classes would be closed until further notice from
the court. This notice would never arrive, however, as VEC never
applied for bankruptcy.
D-Day
Teacher Jabari Bernstine said that on Dec 1, he saw many Chinese
students who came to the school expecting to learn. “Honestly, I
kept my head down half the time. I couldn’t look anyone in the
eye," Bernstine said. "I felt like I did something wrong. It was a
horrible feeling."
Yet, students did not attack teachers with questions or demands.
Instead, they empathized with teachers and asked them where they
would find employment and what they intended on doing about their
visas. This empathy came even before students realized foreign
teachers were not paid for their last two weeks of work.
Liang walked off with that, too.
An internal culture of contempt
Foreign staff recruitment specialist and director of the teaching
department, Reginald Wang, said Chinese and foreign teachers alike
knew that the company didn’t care about its employees.
Former teacher Jim Blackburn chimed in saying, “It seemed as though
their first priority was to earn money and present an attractive
image, and their second or third, or fourth priority was to make
VEC an effective and efficient place to learn and teach.”
Although upper management often accosted teachers and students, and
treated students as though they owed the company something,
teachers and students have left this situation with a sense of
community.
Recourse
Students and teachers are both looking for retribution, but
that may never come. It is rumored Liang has a Canadian passport,
so he may very well be out of China’s criminal jurisdiction by now.
While all Chinese staff were paid for their work, none of the
foreign teachers were paid because they were illegally employed
with F visas and had no legal protection.
Bernstine said he could have gone to the police but he would
have “risk[ed] the police saying ‘You shouldn’t have had a job
anyway; get the fuck out of our country.'"
Online communities have been formed to try to induce criminal
recourse against Liang. Many students, however, who were on leave
in December still have not been notified about their loss.
Some students who are aware of the situation say they do not
want their family to know about the incident because they feel
duped and don’t want others to know that they lost tens of
thousands of RMB. The average sum amounts to about 14,000 RMB per
student.
A student who prefers anonymity says she can't afford losing
12,000 RMB in tuition because she’s single and the money was hers.
Other students borrowed money or have family and financial
obligations. She feels sorry for the latter group of
students.
Roeth and Bernstine do not regret working at VEC even though
they lost a combined 16,000 RMB. Jabari commented that a lot of the
teachers are “angry because [they] didn’t get paid, but the way I
look at it, [VEC] didn’t take anything from me. They just didn’t
give what they said they would.” He feels bad for students who paid
for a service that wasn’t delivered as
promised.
Fallout
Although the Liang family bought out all partners in September
2008, formal documents still show Zhang Qi, Chen Ben, and Jiang Wei
as partners at VEC. After three years of friendship and
partnership, Liang left them to deal with the authorities and chaos
in his absence.
Liang told Reginald Wang that he just wanted his parents to
come solve the problems so he could have fun and relax. “Whenever
there was a crisis and students complained, Liang was the first to
run,” Wang said.
Perhaps, Liang's final departure isn’t as surprising as it is
upsetting.
Zen Vuong worked for Vivid English from Oct 2007 to May
2008.
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