I've been working 4 years now at 2 different Chinese universities without any bad records. I accepted a job at another university (Suzhou) back in May then they helped me renew my residence permit at the end of June. Everything was going fine and intended to work there as I agreed to when I signed the contract. Then my fiancée and I decided to get married this Summer. We got our red booklets and everything but she wants to live in Kunshan where she currently works and is also her hometown. It's right outside of Shanghai but technically belongs to Suzhou. At this point, more than a month before classes began I informed the school that this job wasn't going to work out for me unless I could do mostly afternoon classes and commute. They said wait till the meeting in sept 10th and we'll issue you a new schedule with mostly afternoon classes. Turns out at the meeting the classes couldn't be changed and they said just deal with it. I informed them immediately that I couldn't do the job and that I planned to live with my wife in Kunshan. They refused to accept and the threats starting pouring in. They said I will be blacklisted and never work or live again in china, you know how they can be sometimes. I've kept calm and civil with them the whole time as I know making enemies in china is not the way to go. I did however inform them of the probation period being the first month of the contract and that I should be able to leave it without consequences. They refuse to reply to or acknowledge any messages regarding such clause. The latest from the waiban at the university is that while she may not blacklist me, the school will not issue me a release letter and I can't ever reapply for a work permit. I asked her recently what's the next step and she said her boss is out of the country and they will deal with it after the national day holiday. I'm not sure if she is trying to get past the probation period or if that is true. I never worked there a day, never received anything from them except the renewal of my residence permit. I assume they found another teacher and moved on.  

I recently interviewed for a position at a company here in Kunshan which said they could issue me a work visa but if offered the job I'm just thinking there's going to be so many obstacles blocking from canceling my current residence permit and getting a release letter and so on. Am I pretty much screwed for working in china on a work permit in the future now?

I currently do work for a US consulting firm which pays me in USD from back home so I'm also considering just getting a spouse visa and doing this work from China on that. But how would I go about getting my current residence permit changed to a spouse residence permit? Should I go to PSB immediately and tell them I'm not doing the job that my current residence permit was intended for?

Can I go to Hong Kong and change my residence permit to a tourist visa then come back and change that to a spouse residence permit? I'm pretty sure my wife's hukou is gonna require me to go that same PSB that issued me the Suzhou university job residence permit.

 My apologies for the long message. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks