From the explanation provided by Yi, it seems that their party had not been issued with Letters of Invitation by the College to enable them to obtain the required 'Z'-Visa. Thus if they were "on the plane" (whatever that actually means) they must have been travelling on 'L' Visas or with the intention of applying for 'L' Visas in Hong Kong en route to the mainland. Either way they had no legal right to work in China and whilst they have every right to complain about being led up the garden path by the college or its agent, the fact remains that they could easily have avoided their predicament by asking for Letters of Invitation from the College. Had they have done that and found the Letters of Invitation not forthcoming, then they simply need not have bought their tickets and commenced their journey.

As their contracts would only have been of any use had they been sponsored by the College, then the fact they were not sponsored negates any contract they may have signed. Moreover, the contract would only have any validity even with sponsorship if the employees are provided with a copy of it signed and stamped by the employer and accompanied by the obligatory Chinese language contract similarly signed and stamped.

It seems highly likely that Yi & Co did little or no research into the procedures and requirements foir entering and working/living in China and simply jumped on the plane and flew to China on a wing and prayer (literally). They have every cause to complain about their treatment but their predicament appears to have been due as much to their own ignorance as it was to the College.

Please folks - it is only fair to state where your own actions may have contributed to your predicament. There are procedures involved in entering China to work and if you didn't observe these, then what do you expect?

John