It all sounds like excellent advice to me.
You've come to the right place as far as i'm concerned as there's some real knowledge on this forum, and you'll do right by heeding ChinaV and Jape's advice.
Also, if you decide to come to China on a research mission, i'm sure there'd be people on this forum willing to point you in the right direction help you get started.

Your project sounds amazing and i wish you the best of luck with it. Be sure to keep us informed on how it all pans out.

Cheers.