can say I've bought two apartments in Hohhot, and supported a Chinese family partly by selling GBP. but that cuts no ice with those gits. What's more, I've seen them dishing out poison to other laowai there in need of new visas/ Residence Permits.

I would agree. They do not give a solitary rats arse. I have been to Hohhot incidentally, not a place I would like in the winter, extremely freezing.

It might be better to work somewhere where the visa policy is more friendly (not an autonomous region) or Guangdong, but I would imagine Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian are still all ok.