Mike
Thanks for that valuable information. It sounds like what I have heard and read from many many other sources. Conditions in China are tuff. Did you stay with the one-year contract or leave early? There were a few things you could have done like.....
1. Buy your own heater and heat your own water and the room.
2. Collect your supper and a friend's while he pours the hot baths back at the dorm? I imagine there was no bath (right?), just a shower. In a case like that you have to buy the largest plastic bucket you can find.
3. Cafeteria food is not the best the world over. You have to supplement with your own purchases. I have less diarrhea when I cook for myself especially in the warm season.
4. When lied to you make a stand and get the agreed terms or stop teaching. That is business, service for pay. Many employers think they can abuse the foreigner after they arrive in China or Korea. They can and do if you let them. Passive or active, man or mouse, always a choice.

Personally I would not yet teach in China. The pay offered is way too low. They can use their own teachers. They have all along.