@Phill88

I attempt to address most of you concerns.

Ask for a photo of your flat, taken today and sent via smartphone, etal.
Not 'similar' - your actual flat.

About the school:
Yin Xing, aka Silver Star, are a boarding school for mostly Xian city kids who are being sent to the 'traditional countryside' to get set straight.

Their contract is the best we have seen in Yuncheng, they are very direct and forthcoming with their hires.

The only issue with their contract is that they pay 50rmb for extra classes when your salary will be 7100 rmb per month for 12 months with 20 classes. 7100 / 4.333 weeks in a month / 20 per week = 81.9 rmb per class you teach. Ask for a higher 'extra class' wage.

Other than that, it's better than any of the agencies in Yuncheng Valley.

Dead links and poached adverts:

A few of the other links you quoted are dead.

That happens. Often an agent will copy an ad, insert their phone and contact info, lower the pay, and pocket the difference. We are glad to see they checked this and had the false ad removed.

Are they on the up and up?:

Are you tarnishing them with the same brush as Yuncheng English
Village or are they connected?

No we are not, No they are NOT connected to Yuncheng English Village, YC IELTS, or any other Yuncheng recruiter or agency.

You are, in truth, dealing directly with the school that is located east of Linyi on the National 209 highway. It's across the highway from the small city, about 3.0km from 'downtown' and the shopping district.

Documentation requests and requirements in 2015:
Yes, Taiyuan has got strict lately. Do what the school tells you, bring notarised/apostilled originals of everything, and YES you must now also have a CRB check from the DBS showing you to be a fine upstanding Briton. Degree, real, a must. Follow the list they sent you, submit it at home to the Chinese Embassy, along with your invite letter, get the Z-visa there, and bring it all with you.

Originals.

Processing time once you arrive in China and submit it all *should* be 3 weeks. During this time your passport and originals will be on a desk at the Yuncheng PSB. 'Should' - it is China, things can always change for no reason.

Request all of your documents back after your visa is processed. Do not accept them 'holding for safekeeping in the school safe' any of your documents. FEC, passport, degree, etc.

Your Foreign Expert Certificate (FEC) is your property under Chinese law - do not accept them keeping this, they may attempt to do so, it is essential for getting any future jobs in China in other locations. If they keep it, it is a way of keeping you on the estate so to speak.

Make copies of your CRB, they will keep that. You won't get that back, and that is normal.

Make copies of everything, actually. Invite letter, contract, everything.

Odds and Sods:
The school does indeed prefer British teachers, those I met were all from England or Scotland.

You can fly in to Xian, fast train to Yuncheng; fly in to Beijing then fly or fast train to Yuncheng.
If you want 'the real China experience' fly into Beijing, then get an old, slow, cheaper, green train to Yuncheng 18 hours, leaves in the morning, arrives late at night 11-ish. Chat with the people in your hard sleeper car. School can arrange this.

Have the school meet you upon arrival. It's about 20 minutes drive, 45 minutes bus, to the school from the various transportation stations.

Taxi fare from your school to the main shopping mall should be 6rmb, but they will likely charge you 10rmb. Taxi fare into Yuncheng on a shared taxi *should* be 10-15 rmb. Bus fare into town is 7rmb. Taxi's solo are 50rmb, 60rmb. They will try to charge you much more. Any store without posted prices will attempt to overcharge egregiously. Try to go into Yuncheng with your assistant, prices will drop.

Keep in mind that the local cultural issues will remain, that China is in the midst of an economic downturn, that when the economy in China goes down, they historically blame it on foreigners, that you will be watched, stared at, pointed at, followed, talked about, commented on, constantly (every 10 metres), once you leave campus and go into town.

Expect to be photographed and surveilled by smartphone everywhere you go, and no - they will not **ask** to take a picture or video of you, they will just do it. Conversations are actually interrogations.

The cultural issues are certainly not specific to Yuncheng. This is China.

My advice? Take the job with them. Your contact is as honest as a Chinese employer can get.
If you have the documentation to get this job, then you have the documentation and qualifications to teach in any other country where pay will be much higher, the air cleaner, the food not toxic.

But, yes, as far as Yuncheng teaching employment goes this job is as good as one can get in this area.

Be prepared to be completely overwhelmed upon arrival.