Dear Japanda:
What you must know is that most of the "posters" on these pages are negative people. Think about it, there are probably 1-200,000 Foreign teachers in China and you only see approximately .05% of them posting, and if you look a little more closely you will see it the same old group of people who obviously try to dominate evey question, even when they have no experience with the isssue or the school. I taught in China for 16 years at both public Universities and Private training centers. I only had one bad experience so I condiser that a good indication of the reality. Public Universities are your best bet, but of course the salaries are lower. Pay attention to the school and recruiter postings, you will see the same ones consistently, these are the ones to avoid.