Are there taboo subjects we don't talk about in China?

Well, yes and no.  It has always been my policy as an ESL teacher, and generally the policy of other teachers I know, not to talk about religion and politics in the classroom, and I guess to be selective in who else you chat to about these subjects privately.

When you sign a contract with a school it will probably have a clause to the effect that you will  not spread religion or do anything that could be construed as being against the government.  And I think that anytime we visit another country we hardly want to be seen as causing policital problems, not only in China.

Many contentious subjects are talked about freely amongst the Chinese.  They are not stupid and they are becoming more and more informed about what is happening in the world.  Nevertheless as foreign guests on their soil, we need to act sensibly.  So appearing to take sides on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan, communisim and the way the government runs the country in general is not a wise move.  It may be that you would talk about these things privately, but not in a public situation like a classroom, where it could be construed that we are trying to influence students policitally.

I have had instances of adult students giving opinions that made my hair stand on end!  When that happened I just said, "These are not things we talk about in the classroom, our lessons are not on these topics", and steer the conversation away.

Often students, and especially adult students will ask quite pertinent questions about politics, our views, how things are done in the West etc.  You can't avoid these subjects altogether.  They are part of our life and Chinese people are often very inquisitive about how we live our lives and how they are different.  This is different from us as teachers bringing up such subjects.  If I have been asked about religion/politics/whatever, my general response is 'I am not really supposed to talk to you about religion/politics/whatever, it's not why I am here teaching you.  But I guess I could say....." and then I went on to talk to them about those subjects but in a general way.

Some of the school text books talk about Bible stories, and Christmas and Easter are becoming big deals there, so those opportunities open themselves.  And when it has been appropriate I have often talked about democracy in general terms, most of the world works on that basis.  Where to draw the line is where we seem to be dictating our ideas, or criticising the way the Chinese government works.

One last thought on Taboo subjects...have you been into an airport lately? Have you seen the signs by the check-in desks?  If you mention the word 'bomb', boy you are in trouble.  Even in jest, we are told we should not use any words that may suggest a bomb or similar.  I guess every country has its little 'taboos'.

And one thing is for sure, once you have lived there for a while you get to know that whether you like their methods or not, the government is doing its best to keep its people fed and employed, and thats a lot more than many countries are doing these days.