It is my understanding also that unless a Residence Permit has been stamped "cancelled", that it is still valid. I left a university last year ( did not do a runner ) , I paid a breach penalty, but four weeks weeks later I was told by that crap university that my RP had been cancelled. The local PSB ( in a city in Guangdong province ) told me that my RP was still valid in that province ( I had applied for a new job with my existing RP ) , and it was legal there until it's expiry date. However, I am sure that it is illegal to do this in most places. A new RP must usually be obtained in a new province to work legally.

This new university job also turned out to be garbage, so I went back to Australia then returned to China on an L visa in February this year, which was amazingly turned into an F visa, and then a new Residence Permit.

What I am trying to say is, that like other people here have said, it is now quite possible that a university could blacklist you if you do a runner, but I don't think that a school or uni could cancel your RP, it would have to be stamped as cancelled in your passport.

If you have a crappy employer, you are very unhappy at your work, and you are employed on a RP, then I think that it is best to say you are going to leave ( give adequate notice ) and then just pay the breach penalty stated in the contract ( provided it is not an unreasonable amount ) If you have no intention of ever returning to China then it is OK to run, as running is a great way to punish a lousy and corrupt Chinese employer, especially when several FT's run.

A problem I had with my new university this year ( a good one at last ) is that I did not have a letter of release from my last uni, but they ended up accepting a reference I had from a previous Australian employer.

My advice to newbies is this: If you are lucky enough to find a good job at a public university then stick with it for maybe two or three years, unless you want to risk working on L visas in different places ( some people prefer this option, although it is illegal ) Moving around to different places on RP's is a big hassle if you get a bad employer, crap accomodation, and you have trouble getting paid.

As for me, I have decided to stay at this new uni, but it can be a hassle as far as romance is concerned, if you GF or wife is from another city, need to commute.