I guess prospective teachers had better hope that they fall into the 'good' foreign teacher category (however that is judged) or else by your own admission they're likely to find themselves in a poor working environment without legal working status.

Not having legal working status cuts two ways. If you wish to do a runner without repercussions, you can do so, as your contract is illegal, which means its terms and conditions cannot be enforced - I'm thinking of penalty clauses that would affect you if you were legally employed, in contrast.

If you are fired while on a Z visa and waiting for the issuance of its associated RP, or if you indeed have the RP, it'll all be cancelled, and you'll be pushed for time to find another job. But with an L or an F or an X, you'll have more time, and therefore more chance of getting another job, also because you can change province to do so, and won't have any negative teaching report to hinder you.

The judging of an FT is something that is indeed oftentimes unreliable. I arrived at a university in Shandong on a shit visa after having been told there will be no problem teaching with it. But the dean didn't like my accent - I wasn't taken on. However, I asked for and received local travel reimbursements, and also cash for tickets to Shanxi, for my wife and me, where I'd managed to find a new post at short notice. I got a great report from the agent there - I didn't ask for a report, by the way, after deciding not to renew my contract after 3 semesters, for famly reasons. That was senior middle school work!

Yes, all of us better hope we fall into the good foreign teacher category, which reminds me of a university that I was eager to work for rejecting my application through a recruiter. It was said that I was too old, unfortunately had an accent instead of no accent..lol, and hadn't taught at any key universities. Same recruiter came a' begging me to teach there in the middle of September. But by then I'd already signed up elsewhere through another recruiter, the day before actually. The first recruiter said many employers are like this. First, they don't want you, but then a foreigner doesn't arrive, or falls seriously ill, or pulls a runner, and they'll take anyone at short notice, flattering you to get you to go there. That recruiter said most of the employers using his services are dishonest and will lie at the drop of a hat. Like other posters have said, finding good jobs in China is a tall order - there's always something wrong! There's intolerable and then there's barely tolerable, and there's a lack of job security as things can change drastically for the worse job-wise if there is a change in the school leadership.

Even so, it's still worth teaching in China - there are many easy jobs for us, good money for little effort, but we must do our best to find one.