The criminal aspect only applies in China if they physically catch you working on the job. If you leave and then go after the school and did not have an FEC it is a labor dispute without criminal culpability against the teacher. If an employer illegally taxed you and/or did not compensate you, they will be prosecuted by the courts. If you don't have an FEC and they taxed you anyway that's even better because it is totally illegal for them to tax you and it is impossible to tax you without having an FEC since the taxes cannot be reported properly without one. Under China law they are required without fail to advise FT's of the rules in China and to process proper documentation for FT's. Since many schools don't do what is required in most instances the school not the FT's are prosecuted. China's courts are getting tired of crap schools and the bad reputation that they bring on China. If you can prosecute your school for stealing money from you, do it. If they ever deported you, so what? They would be doing you a favor. You get a free ride home courtesy of the Chinese government and since you are never going to see your end of contract airfare from your employer anyway, what's the difference? If it turns out that the place I work for has taken one Yuan from me that was not supposed to be taken I will prosecute them too. The schools have a surplus of cash so let them hand it over to the Chinese government. Many FT's do not have a surplus of cash so make sure you get every single Yuan that is yours. For 5,000 Yuan in Beijing you can easily retain a good lawyer. Keep 10,000 on you at all times and you are fine. 5,000 for medical and 5,000 for lawyers. Don't be afraid of going after your employer if they are corrupt. Hang them and do it with vengeance.

No one needs a recruiter to work in a crap school. Crap schools post directly online daily. Just look at all of the crap ESL businesses in China. How about EF? "1-year teaching experience? Great package..." What a laugh.