Hi Ray,
About teaching in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as a foreigner, is it still the case that, unlike most provinces and other autonomous regions, you need to submit proof from your homeland's police that you did not commit any serious crimes there prior to the issuance of your residence permit by the local PSB office of the town or city where your workplace is located? I can recall reading something about that on another forum, where it had also been pointed out that said autonomous region was woefully short of foreign teachers. I'd have thought that if that is indeed the case, making foreigners jump through extra hoops isn't going to remedy that situation. Now, that's not to say that police checks for teachers are a bad thing in my opinion - at least that would prevent sex offenders from coming into close contact with young people at the workplace.
Another comment worth making re said autonomous region is that the PSB in Huhhot used to replace the L visas of budding foreign teachers that had been issued by visa offices outside China by Z visas backdated to said foreigners' entry dates into China. I'd have thought that is no longer done, but I could be wrong. Have you heard of any foreign teachers there now with that kind of Z visa?
What about foreigners who choose to take two teaching jobs? In some parts of China, the PSB take an extremely dim view of that practice, and will fine you and then force you to exit the country if you are caught doing so? Do you happen to know what the score is in said autonomous region re that practice? Not that I'm for self-serving foreigners doing two teaching jobs, and thereby reducing the teaching job opportunities available for other foreigners seeking teaching posts in China.
Finally, do you happen to know if the Education Bureau in charge of the autonomous region, based in Huhhot, still rubber stamps letters of invitation for foreigners without at least a Bachelor's degree from a western university? Without that rubber stamp, you can't get a Z visa from a Chinese visa office outside China! It used to be the case that said autonomous region had more than its fair share of 'backpacker foreign teachers', presumably not just because such foreigners were principally globetrotters looking for teaching posts to earn extra income to finance their wanderlust by moving on after a semester or two's break at the chalk face in said autonomous region. Over and out.