Never mind, just let this be a learning curve for you, Ronnie. I take it that you were working in Shanghai before this wretched experience? Now take a leaf out of my book. When I first arrived in China many years ago, having applied for a job on the internet, it was just good luck that the school did indeed have a flat for me to move straight into, but it could well have been otherwise, since the Chinese employers are masters at lying by omission- to omit to tell you that the flat won't actually be ready, that even though they state that your teaching hours are 15 each week, your actual working hours are 30+. There are many pitfalls too numerous to particularise.

Now what is the first thing you should start doing when you arrive in China? Learn the language of course; so when cool FT dudes knock you up, inviting you to a shindig, you must excuse yourself in order to practice your Mandarin. One cannot have the bun and the butter. If you want to avoid problems with new contracts in the future you must be able to quiz the Chinese and get them to elaborate about what they mean by free accommodation to start with. That very often means that the school or training centre, know lots of landlords, and that is when it starts costing you money, because the free accommodation means that they will only pay part of the actual rent. The key money, the heating and electricity money the landlord will want from you. Now it is forgiveable if you come a cropper with your first year's contract in China, but if the same thing happens on your subsequent contracts you must be as daft as a brush and bone-idle for not learning Mandarin. It is too easy for Chinese people to worm out of telling you the full truth if they speak to you in English.