@Ishmael: "How is all this reflected in educational requirements for foreign EnIglish teachers?"

It is reflected in the continuing popularity of summer and training schools in China, which increases demand for foreign teachers in this kind of informal education.

That demand in turn is reflected in the requirements for those foreign teachers.

OK, maybe, but I think the heavy requirements of the Chinese educational system and the desire for material and social 'success' by parents, and Chinese governmental traditions of education and ideas of modernization, have more to do with the specific requirements for foreign teachers than parental reliance on grandmothers, and I'm not sure about the connection with the latter anyway, except that education was important in gramma's time too, and for many, many generations.
So maybe somebody can explain it.

i could go into a long explanation, only to have another dumb follow up question thrown into the pot, but i wont

Firstly, the "desire for material and social 'success' by parents" translates to masses of children attending extra-curricural training and summer schools (and jobs for foreign teachers) by same mechanisms as other aspects of filial piety in China.

That's how the grandmothers connect to the picture. If this was some other country, those children would more often say no, lock up in their rooms, and listen to Pink Floyd going we don't need no education.

Secondly, the "heavy requirements of the Chinese educational system" and "Chinese governmental traditions of education and ideas of modernization" no doubt cause ever-increasing requirements for foreign teachers.

But original topic of this thread was the opposite - relaxing those same requirements.

And the latter is driven by none other than the parents and grandparents seeking extra-curricular education resources for their little princes and princesses.

I like that. Jan Jal. I'd only add that the lack of enough qualified foreign English teachers probably has something to do with it - but I suppose that's obvious. And that a strict Chinese-nonchinese dichotomy can be overstated, and that things do change, so that national traditions don't rule everything.

Yeah, but I wonder if it is more about lack of said teachers globally, or China still not appearing as inviting destination as perhaps some other countries (in Asia or elsewhere).

That I cannot say, being neither teacher nor student here.

Perhaps someone else can say how China's requirements for foreign teachers (relaxed or not) compares to those in Japan, Korea or Thailand.

And also the importance of English globally, which has roots in historical events.

I think (just my opinion)that more and more foreigners are leaving a bad reputation where they teach. By that I mean that many come unprepared, half drunk, smelly, disrespectful of the country they are teaching in, etc. that with having schools that cheat their teachers (not following the contract, cheating their pay, expecting free class ,etc.) is making teaching less attractive. As a result you have shortages. I see it only getting worse. Word gets around it's not longer worth a try.

@Liumingke: "more foreigners are leaving a bad reputation [...] Word gets around it's not longer worth a try"

Do you think it might be easier for foreign teachers to come to China "unprepared, half drunk, smelly, disrespectful", than some other Asian countries?

I don't mean that visa would be easier to get with such qualities here, but could there be underlying assumption among inexperienced foreigners that in China as a communist country such appearance issues are not so relevant, as in, say, Japan. We are all still comrades in Mao costumes here, right?

Certaintly the language barrier and denial of Chinese government (especially in provincial level outside first tier cities) to provide that solid information in English is factor in getting unprepared arrivals.

And is "having schools that cheat their teachers" an education dimension of problem that covers whole of Chinese society, not just schools?

I think that for a long time there has been a 'fantasy' aspect to coming to another country to teach. When I came to China it wasn't to teach but to learn Chinese. In my mind China was exotic, mysterious. Of course that was just my lack of actual understanding of Chinese culture. Fast forward 13 years later. China is fast losing it's charm in my opinion. It's becoming more and more like the west(in the way it looks and acts). Even the culture is being erased with every year that passes (IMHO). Maybe it's just me living here so long that I no longer find this place so special (still special but not so much).