Difficulty of obtaining citizenship in Asia?

I've been looking into the possibility of making a living oversees as an ESL teacher, namely China. The only trouble tho is that it seems like it may be a temporary solution seeing as obtaining a resident visa is very hard to impossible. 

I've been told that even if you marry a Chinese citizen there's still no guarantee you can get a permanent visa. I've read tho that it IS possible if you're married for 5 years and have a steady job at a reputable business.

So I guess my question is for anyone who is living there, what kind of visa do you have and do you know that you'll be able to obtain a more permanent visa when the time comes?