First mistake: Getting involved with the teaching of Chinese teachers. Mind your business unless you like bouncing from school to school or program to program. You're trying to make policy with downtrodden fools and you will always come out the loser. Put the blinders on and collect your check. Second mistake: You weren't "dancing monkey" enough. You're not a teacher you're an "edutainer". 90% of teaching positions in China for foreigners are "carrot-on-a-stick" positions. "Hey look at us we have a foreign teacher and he/she is really popular with the students". It's: demoralizing, insulting, depressing, and horrendously abusive. You're not there to teach you're there to get Chinese parents to spend money on sending their kids to that school. Third: Your position was "bait and switch". The salary you were drawing was high for Chinese schools. They probably couldn't get anyone so they made a deal with you to get you in and then replace you later with a cheaper teacher. That's all that was. Everything you were told served this purpose. They only want to pay 9000 to 11000 RMB. Legitimate schools will send you the contract back signed and stamped before you go. My strategy is to get four or five contracts in front of me and then see who is trying to play me. Call it what you want but you'll be surprised how well you can sift through the B.S. Bad contracts or offers become blindingly obvious. Always be suspicious of schools who give themselves cute western sounding handles like: sino Canadian, maple leaf, or Cambridge. In China they can get away with using these tags because no one can enforce the licensing or name scamming. Always ask to speak to a western teacher on staff. If they refuse or balk; WALK. Fourth: make friends with the male staff, find out who the faux leader is and when is drinking night. The male teachers run the "pig-pen" at the schools and drink together at least once a week. Go and drink "one-by-one". Get puking drunk with these guys once and you'll be golden. Do it once a month and you'll be virtually untouchable. Hug, shake hands, yell greetings in Chinese every time you see them and it's heaven. I know of one foreign teacher (and this is sickening, vile behavior) who can literally physically molest the women in the school and the headmaster just laughs it off. Make money or be poor. When in Rome. Peace.