Henry, regarding what you should do, you should enjoy the company of your friends here and try to ignore any negative feelings. Soon enough you will be on the other side of the world and you'll be missing them even though you felt mistreated the last few weeks.

Make memories with your friends, take goofy pictures, video record messages, set the video feature on your camera to run unattended while you hang out with your friends. I guarantee you that all these memories you create before you leave will be your life saver when you get to China. You are in for a huge culture shock and rude awakening. You are learning the language, but it takes a long time to be proficient in Mandarin. You'll have your work colleagues to mingle with, but that only goes so far. Take it from me who has done the radical change in culture and language, it can be hard, and I was still in the Western World. You will appreciate the goofy pictures and videos when you become homesick.

If you are brave enough, you could ask your friends to record a message for you and you keep it sealed until you get to China.

Let me know how that works.