Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Like I alluded to in my earlier post, the problem can be avoided if you choose a port with laxer requirements. I was originally planning to ship out of a northern port, as I have some belongings there at a friend's place, but will get my belongings trucked to kunming, and then go via guangzhou which is no problem.

hope this helps people in the future.

As to the foreign expert's certificate, the school did organize one for me (I presume this is a requirement for a teacher to get a working visa), but I was never shown or given it.

The horrible woman actually gave me a letter confirming that I had a foreign expert's certificate, and it was cancelled, but it was not adequate for customs. They wanted a copy of the original expert's certificate.