Wow kind of kool reading all of these comments.
1. Who is a native speaker and who gave them the criteria?2. Who created the phrase and why?(native speaker)
There are simple truths.
China is trying to measure up to the usa. I've been in china for sometime now and two years back when some people were looking for teachers they told me people with british accent are not accepted.
How foolish. The English are the only so called native English speakers. Every other country had to learn English or have their roots in the UK.
2. This game is a thing of racism and protectionism.
A few white guys made up this phrase so as to cut off others from taking their jobs since they are generally lazy sorry for saying so but it's true. The so called whites of which i'm one are most often not responsible. I've been to school where the whites were treated like dirt because they over estimate themselves. They don't prepare for classes and the blacks and other Asians who worked with me were respected by the students. Actually the students loved the black teachers and made a fool out of the whites who don't easily learn chinese and unable to give them what they need just play a few games even parents were not happy about it because their kids always tell them the were watching a DVD or something in class. When the David says the chinese speak better English than the so called non-native speakers of English it's totally not true.
The Brits are the main guys who own English and others have their different accents but most Chinese don't like British accent becuase the whole thing has to do with measuring up to the usa. The chinese are racist as most of us whites are sorry to say...they look down of African teachers of whom are the most populated and educated language teachers in China. Actually it's the non-native speakers that help the Chinese students learn English better.
I met a guy from New York. He's from Bronx i could give you contacts if you want. He worked in China and was classified a non-native speaker by his school becuase he's black. The whole thing is looking down one people because of their skin color and that's all not their abilities and sometime becuase they feel america is rich and say African countries are poor that's how the grading takes place. Most blacks who teach here are more educated than we are. Come to think of it how many of us got degrees...? Why should we live our rich countries to work in China and not Japan?
Go to schools and find out that most whites don't hold up to the expectations but blacks creat a greater image and respect because of the quality of their works. True some have their accents but even in England how many accents are there?
Put racism behind your backs. Need some more ? Contact me. nativeesl@yahoo.com
Most Chinese are confussed and racist and don't know what they really want besides trying to show they're equal to the usa.