It does seem to check out that the maximum age for teaching in China is 60 years old. If you are 66 Adrian, you are indeed too old. That being said, I think this person that hired you should have known this before making promises they could not fulfill. Now it also seems that many places make exceptions to this rule, but they don't have to, so it could very well be that he is actually telling the truth, and is just plain incompetent, and not a liar.

Many places that do not follow this rule don't require any special actions to be made by an older teacher, they simply don't enforce it. Some places do enforce but will make an exception if the below is done.

a. The school makes a special request based upon need and special circumstances.

b. The foreign teacher signs a waiver of medical liability. Medical insurance is mandatory for foreign teachers but no Chinese Insurance Company will write a policy for any foreign teacher over 60.

Other places will make no exception whatsoever in regards to this rule, special waivers filed or not. It could be that this place is one of those places.

Not trying to defend this Indian fellow, because either way he is not very bright, and it could be that the province he is in will grant exceptions, and he just did not know, or care to research the subject enough to know that one simply needs to file a special request. Either way this does make him a moron, but not necessarily a liar.

Could also be that he is lying, and that the province he is in doesn't care, and he simply found someone else to do it, someone who ended up not following through in the end, or maybe he just changed his mind. The point is, this incompetent fellow could indeed be telling the truth. I still would not work there though, because whatever the case this person is incompetent, and even with the best case scenario he's woefully ignorant about the policies and procedures of running a school.