Crikey mate, you sound more like a whinging pom than a fellow Australian! -Joking, mate. They have to keep your passport for a while, it's part of the procedure, for applying for visas and other junk. I'm back home for Christmas now and it's a good relief to be away from whinging teachers for a while and get some bronzie and a blonde. Crikey, Chinese girls are so easy to get, but I needed a change from dark hair and brown eyes. Not whinging but caviare gets a bit tiring every day, even if the brand keeps changing.

Applying for a visa is pretty much the only time that they should need to keep hold your passport at all. Be suspicious if the process takes more than 2 weeks or longer than that the stated date on the visa collection receipt (as issued by many provincial PSBs these days, my last renewal actually took 3 weeks, but all was good).

I know of one company in Guangzhou that tried to force a teacher to hand over his passport, because they thought that he was a flight risk. He just threatened to call his embassy and they backed off apparently.