Only a Chinese film company can get the shooting permit. Even a foreign company (not talking about individuals like the two of you) has to co-produce a film with a local company and go through the CFCC (China Film Corporation Company) to obtain the permit even if the Chinese company is simply helping the foreign company by providing equipments and counseling (协拍) and not actually coproducing (合拍).
These people you met in an office could of course have told you that, but if you've been here long enough you know that they usually don't give a shit and googling (ok, you ll need a vpn :/) will get you better answers much faster for these kinds of issues...
I'm curious about the shutting down threatens though.