I don't know what happens in GZ but in Hk I ALWAYS use my deposit and have for the last 15 years. There is no way I will trust them to give my money back here.
I've tried this approach in Guangzhou. In short, if you don't trust your landlord, live it out. Most often though, when your deposit goes into your landlord's account here, he/she eats it up and "pays" you back when the contract is over.
If the landlord has connections in the building you're living in, he probably can evict you. Whether he does or not is another story....