Thanks for posting this update and clarifying some of the changes (and also Jay's actual situation). Carrie Zhang was on the teaching staff when I was there, and she was an absolutely lovely person. In fact, I had little problem with the English Dept. (mainly the Foreign Affairs department) except for doubling up classes (I was teaching 16 hours, but I had to teach 2 classes at one time -- over 100 students -- that was a lot of time spent grading essays, etc. since it was writing and other content classes). Aside from that, the English Dept. was great. It was mainly the transportation/housing/safety issues and the dreadful FAO's. I'm guessing it'll probably be a good 3 to 5 years before civilization works its way out to where the school is and on-campus housing becomes available -- until then, with only about 1000 for living allowances, FTs will have to spend about 2/5 of their salary to get a decent apt. in Sanya or live in squalid conditions.

Hainan is quite overrated in general. Outside of all those 5 star resorts, it is not quite as well developed as many other parts of China, yet it can be a rather expensive place to live due to its desirability as a tourist location or retirement destination. People often come to Hainan thinking that it will be an island paradise, yet they will often discover that when you actually have to live and work there, rather than enjoy a holiday, it's really not all that great.