I have to attend a 1-2 week unpaid seminar in China to make sure I am qualified to teach, and then they start paying me as of Oct. 15th.

That sounds very fishy to me. 1-2 week of unpaid work? Well, that's not really common in China!
Do you have a TESL qualification already? If YES, you won't need their crap.

I smell a rat, and I suggest you decline this job offer and look somewhere else. You could do much, much better....

Sichuan is quite a poor and underdeveloped part of China; salaries, even those for foreigners, are quite low. The eastern part of China is much better, but you may come across the usual crooks there as well.