Thanks, Turino, for your suggestions on here and sent to my e-mail address. I will let him have a copy of what you have said and he can then take it from there.
Dave

You're welcome.
By the way,after 2 years of continuous L's in China,your colleague can get a 2-year residence permit,not a 1-year one,extendable after one year's stay for another year.Sorry,I'd made a mistake!
I'd heard that the 5-year RP is much harder to get than before.In your colleague's case,it might well be that since he's only been wed to a Chinese national for around 6 months,the PSB feels that he is undeserving of their trust.For example,he could divorce 3 months from now,and live as a single person in China for more than 4 years thereafter were he to receivedthe 5-year RP now,sth that would not be a good thing from the Waiban's point of view!