I'm reluctant to sidetrack the thread, but I will say: The number of people now unemployed in the US alone is larger than the entire population of Canada. I doubt the economy can snap back fast enough by next year to meaningfully change the labor market dynamics I mentioned, even if we get lucky soon with a vaccine or treatment.

If the postings in the classifieds over time are any guide, my sense is that teaching jobs in Lijiang are few and far between. You could get lucky and happen onto an opening when someone is leaving, but I wouldn't count on it.

Normally I would say to look into teaching online, but the big companies that recruit internationally are deluged with applicants who have been laid off due to the pandemic, to such a degree that some have stopped taking applications entirely. You might explore teaching online with less-huge Chinese companies -- some prefer to hire foreigners who are already in China rather than recruit abroad for various reasons including cultural fit and time zone.

@Mario007: The demand is out there. There is no shortage of well-off parents in Kunming who want their kids to learn English, even if that means via online lessons for the time being.

But yes, it will probably take more legwork than on the east coast to find a job here. One thing I might try is digging up old archives of the GoKunming "Jobs Offered" classifieds on the Wayback Machine, and contacting those previous advertisers to check if they have any new openings now that they haven't yet posted. You may have better luck there than with currently-posted jobs, as you won't be competing with all the applicants responding to a new ad.

Please be aware that teaching private lessons outside of the job your visa is specifically for is illegal and can get you detained and deported. This can happen for example if you have a dispute with a student, or if somebody with a CCP neighborhood committee gets wind of what you're doing and passes word up the line. It is quite a low-probability risk, but still a risk.

@bubblyian wrote: "Blaming foreigners makes no sense as since 28 March, the only people allowed into China are Chinese people."

Unfortunately, that is mostly irrelevant in the current situation. An international struggle is underway for control of the narrative about the outbreak, and that overrides all other considerations.