I actually refused to move into the room off the shared courtyard with no toilet...

This is not a small detail.

Imagine that it is winter, and that every time you wish to cook a meal, take a shower, or go to the loo, that you must go OUTSIDE in -3 temperatures. Chinese say this is good for the health - must be why everyone coughs with an upper respiratory infection as soon as cold weather sets in.

Never live in a shared open courtyard flat like this, unless you are a sinophile and think it oh-so-authentic to live Yuan-Zi style. The Chinese teachers on campus all have a flat with a washroom in the flat.

Being locked out at 10:30 by an Anyi that lives as your gatehouse keeper, and tells one and all one what your comings and goings are, is also not a desirable setup.

If you enjoy not being treated as an adult, then the now empty IELTS compound in Yuncheng is the ticket.