Many thanks for your perspective on this issue - the z-visa I have is, indeed, an entry visa and is in the form of a sticker in my passport (it clearly has category "z" printed on it), I obtained it after producing the relevant 2 official letters from China (college& gov't)as well as my passport, photo, visa form & fees. I'm fully aware & appreciate that when I get to China I will have 30 days to get the resident& work permit, that's fine, I'm ok with that, it's not a problem. The central issue of confusion for me rests with the request from my waiban to bring a completed medical check with me to China. He thought, that when he sent me the 2 relevant official letters from China that I would also need a medical check to obtain the zvisa from my consulate, which I would subsequently take with me to China. The local consulate here (in UK)doesn't have any such medical forms and, to be honest, they were quite abrupt& clearly not wanting to debate the boring issue with me (who can blame them!?). Tedious as it is, I wanted to do the thing properly but I can't produce what doesn't appear to be available. I will now try to get a medical check from my own doc with all blood tests etc ...or maybe, I'll just quickly try to find another employer and then have the medical check over there in China, as appears to be the usual procedure. The medical check is probably not a major problem, as stated previously by geog ex., (but I dunno) I'm a newbie to esl and trying to grapple with the dynamics of the bureaucracy involved in getting a legitimate teaching post in China (while in my present primary & 'naive' stage) and avoiding the oft' mentioned pitfalls etc etc. anyway...
cheers guys, all advice was helpful and appreciated