Changing from Residence Permit to Multiple-Entry Tourist Visa

Hi. I cancelled my contract with my employer. I was an English teacher. I an waiting to go with them to Immigration to cancel my residence permit. The company said Immigration would give me a 30-day tourist visa, which will allow me to leave the country with no problems. I want to return to China on a tourist visa. I don't plan to travel much. I want to live half my time in Guangzhou, and the other half in Sanya. I am worried about getting the multipl-entry tourist visa. I will return to the United States and apply for a 12-month multiple-entry tourist visa from there, but I am worried that I won't get it. If I cancel everything appropriately with my company (I already paid their fee, and the head person there said she likes me and will help me and we have no bad guanxi), and if I go back to the United States and provide the right documentation, I should have no problem, right?

Regulations have changed, so now I need a copy of my roundrip ticket that shows when I plan to leave China. I also need a copy of my hotel reservation. Since I want a 12-month multiple-entry visa, will they require hotel reservations for the entire itinerary. I plan to stay in China until June 1, 2013. The only documentation the government will have is that I canceled my contract with my previous employer and that we did that cancellation cordially. However, I'm worried because, well, I'll be travelling to China to basically sit on my a**. I'll be studying all day and all night, but I won't be in a formal educational institution, but just studying on my own.

Finally, I'm wondering about one more thing: I live in Guangzhou already, and I have to return to the United States to apply for the visa, so I already booked a roundtrip ticket from Guangzhou to the US and back to Guangzhou. Now the visa application says I need a roundtrip ending with a trip back to the United States. Is that true?

Thanks for your help.