The best piece of advice to the original poster of this topic would be to go to a major city (or nearby), work at a University and go home after 1 or 2 years.
Don't waste too much of your life in China earning a terrible salary. Enjoy China for what it has but don't make yourself dependant on living there because of age, salary, personality etc because it can become a nasty trap with no way out if all your support systems at home cease.

Many things have been said here by many different people, and I believe everyone who posted said something quite significant. China is fascinating on one hand and extremely unegalitarian and xenophobic on the other, I believe. This does not detract from having good enriching experiences in the country but you need to be aware of its dark side because at some point we are all affected by that, some more so than others, for a myriad of different reasons. If you really want to go to China, you should go, and it's even better that you are armed with a good knowledge base form seasoned veterens before you get there!