:? I have been teaching kindergarten and elementary pupils in a bushiban for a few months now. The manager has been very intimidating, rude and unreasonable to me and I want to leave my job. There is one big concern that I have. When I signed the contract, I felt stressed and under pressure (due to needing a job and not wanting to waste money on a visa run) and also confused due to all the meaningless bits of paper with Chinese hieroglyphics floating around. I somewhat regrettably signed the English version of a contract with some rather unpleasant clauses in it, and a Chinese version which I was never given a copy of, and in my confusion forgot to ask for. I have no idea what the Chinese version says, and am afraid that asking for it would arouse their suspicions. The thing is, the English version has different dates on it from the Chinese version, due to the legality of getting my ARC, so I thought it must be invalid. The company said the Chinese version says the same things as the English version of the contract, but I do not believe them. The English version says that if I am fired, then they do not have to pay me my salary, and I can not work in Taipei for a year afterwards. Can they do these things to me? That seems unnecessarily nasty. Is it true that I need a letter of release from them before I can get another ARC? Some people say yes, some people say that this is a myth. Some of the jobs I am now applying for, which are much better jobs and could improve my career prospects … and life … considerably, require me to get an ARC through them. Also, if the company does not pay me, can I get legal help? Is it illegal for me to break my contract by giving notice? The contract does not seem to say anything about this. The trouble is, if I give the one month’s notice and they are able to withhold my pay and ARC/work permit then that could cause me major problems. On the other hand, if I get myself fired, they could still hold my pay and prevent me from working, according to the contract. Does anyone know anything about these problems? I am so stressed in this job, due to the manager, that I keep getting sick. It would be a pity to allow these evil money-grubbers to possibly delay my career progress. There must be others out there with similar queries.