Chinese internet-based enterprises have created thousands of such part-time jobs for foreign nationals outside China. These companies are not as big as Tencent or Alibaba; what they offer are flexible roles and competitive remuneration, with a promise to sweeten the deal further in the future.

"It makes eminent business sense for Chinese online education providers to attract overseas teachers. This helps access intellectual resources globally," said Zhou Zhe, audit partner of PwC China.

More than 60,000 North American teachers now teach one-on-one English courses on VIPKid, a Chinese online education startup. 51Talk, another online English-tutoring platform, links 15,000 Filipino teachers with Chinese kids.

Shanghai-based online education company iTutorgroup has also attracted more than 15,000 foreign teachers from English-speaking countries across the world, including the UK, Canada and Australia.