"Middle Kingdom Life recently reported that there was no existence of the so-called 5-year rule in China. It turns out we were not entirely correct. There is in fact an SAFEA advisory guideline that stipulates (based on a literal translation): Foreign experts who come to China cannot stay more than five years. If rehired, it must be after a two-year period. (Weve attached a copy of the guidelines in Chinese. The relevant stipulation is highlighted in red.)

It is interesting to note, however, that we could not find one provincial government official in either Jilin or Hainan province who had even heard of this guideline. In Guangzhou, Guangdong province, section chiefs at two different university foreign affairs offices denied any awareness of this advisory guideline and a third reported hearing rumors to this effect but could not confirm it either way.

As one director of the foreign expert bureau in Jilin City stated with 100% certainty: Foreigners can live in China for as long as they want with legal documents unless they have criminal records. We based our original report on information received from no less than three different PSB directors who, as it turns out, were technically wrongalthough certainly not wrong in a practical sense. If this sounds like double-talk to you, you havent lived and worked in China for very long. " http://middlekingdomlife.com/wp/latest_news/safea-foreign-teachers-and-chinese-boxes/

Does this answer your question? of course not. You've been in China for four years, you ought to know this.....