It's been a while ...

[PJ]

Hey everyone,

 

Wow, it's been quite some time since I've posted on Candle. Been so busy lately, really haven't had time to keep up on the site. Figured I'd keep it running though, since I think it's been useful for people.

 

Well, just wanted to catch everyone up to speed on my life ...

 

Work has kept me incredibly busy. This is good, because I am saving up money to live in China for a while.

 

I have a general target date in mind for when I would like to move, but I'm just going to go with the flow and see how well under control the epidemic in China is at that time.

 

Say, are there any cities anyone would recommend in particular? I already have some in mind that I will definitely visit before finding an English teaching job someplace. However, I always like to hear ideas and suggestions.

 

Also, I'm trying to figure out a budget. Thanks to information provided by friends, I do have an idea of what food, rent, etc. costs in some cities. However, I do realize that cost of living differs greatly between cities (like how NYC is much more expensive than little old Tampa, Florida in the US). Is there any sites or listings that compare costs of living between various cities in China?

 

Thanks,

 

P.J.

[Guest R2D2]

Nanning is the place that I fell in love with. It is a city of 1.5 million people. The people there are very friendly and the climate is tropical as you are in a south east Asian jungle. The city is beautiful and the parks are out of this world. I would highly recommend this city and I will probably retire there. Guanxi Province is an autonomous Province of China like Mongolia. They have their own laws as well as the laws of China and have their own People's Party Congress. As I hate cities, I was surprised how much I fell in love with Nanning!

[SBS]

yeah PJ you are right the costs of living between various cities in China are so different. well i dont know much about other cities but we did have experences about how my husband and I spend money for living and eating here last year in Hangzhou

 

we got so lucky to find a really kind old man who owns two nice apartment. we had chances to stay in both of them and we really enjoy the first apartment very much. it is about 150M2 and everything is new in it. only cost 1800 RMB for one month(well but its a bit far from city center so we can only taxi each time if we wanna go somewhere). if you teach here some of the school will offer apartment for you and you wil be easier to find a good place to stay than us as a couple

 

Well but living is really costly in Shanghai. and it was a nightmare that we stayed in a apartment cost 4500RMB per month but shanghai monkeys were so rude to us and we left that apartment 2 days later.

people in shanghai really care money more than anything else and they will trick you since you are not local people and can;t speak chinese.

 

in my opinion, if you really wanna get a teaching job in China then you should try to find a city as Hangzhou , Suzhou. they are not as big as Shanghai but still they are not poor. If you work in such a big city as shanghai or Guangzhou you might be tired of crowd street all the time. but if you live in a city close to the nature then you will be able to relax your mind and really feel Chinese culture better by yourself.

well up is only my own idea because my husband and I love the living style like that.

 

anyway if you get a teaching job which is too busy then you will not have any free time to do anything else.

 

about food. if you can make your own food at home then you can save alot money. most food in resturants are oily here. we dont like them really. and they wont be healthy if you eat them everyday. you can get fresh vegeable or fruits in super market here and 600 per week is enough me for in hangzhou.

[sarah36]

Hi, PJ:

My suggestion is Qingdao where I was born and have been living. Qingdao is in eastnorthern China, a very famous beach city. It has a nickname as¡±Eastern Switzerland¡±. From the nickname, you may be able to easily get the outline of what the city looks like. Yes, its filled with many European style buildings and the city planning is pretty good. It¡¯s much cleaner than most of other cities in China, even compared with Shanghai, not to say Beijing, Beijing is dirty.

 

The economic here is good. There are many famous light industrial companies, like Haier or Hisense or Qingdao Beer, but of course I know you are not interested in them, me either. What I want to say is if you have good luck to join a good English school, you will be paid pretty well. But from this way, you shouldn¡¯t expect to be paid as much as Beijing or Shang Hai, while the living cost here is not so high as those cities.Nothing is perfect.

 

Anyway,also in Qingdao you will find a good feeling as a foreigner. Qingdaonese, they will neither ignore you nor idiotly surround you looking at your spectacular face slobbering, they will respect you if you behave well, think you different but not slobbering, accept you and join you. This is maybe their normal thinking, I¡¯m not so sure.

 

Anyway you wont feel bizzar or being lost to live here. Many Qingdao people can speak good English---but not so good as mine---hehehe, so maybe you will easily make friends here. But you should be careful with your contract mentioning about some English corner. English corners in Qingdao are like ants holes on a hill, you cann¡¯t see them when you don't notice but they are all around. It should be called English saloon better than English corner which is too direct from Chinese translation.

 

Many English schools are trying to attract people¡¯s eyes by guys like you. So you have to sacrifice your free time to do that for free because you have agreed in your contract unless you can negotiate with it. But also there is good point of it, you can meet different peoples, know the local culture faster. B)

 

One thing I don't like Qingdao is the dialect, which you are lucky that you wont know about. They say its smelled with seashell, :

 

What else? Oh, yea, food. Because Qingdao is a beach city, so lots of seafood will be easily bought. But Qingdao¡¯s market is full of all kinds of foods. Don't worry, they are not expensive. If you want to know something else, you can just ask, as I am a pure Qingdao woman:angel:

 

 

:greenblob

[Mick]

My first year in China was spent in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province. I really liked it there and the cost of living was very cheap. Spent four years in Shantou in Guangdong Province. Shantou was nice but the weather was too hot for too long. I do like Guangdong Province, however. I think your choice of city should be based on what your goals are. If you want to experience what life is really like in China, then you need to choose a smaller school in a smaller city. If you need more westernized experiences, then opt for the larger coastal cities or Beijing/Shanghai/Guangzhou. I hear that Harbin is very interesting and also has a strong Russian influence. Be prepared, however, to freeze your buns off.

[skibum]

Hi PJ, If I had my choice, I would live in Kunming. The altitude is such that the weather is nice year round and there are many interesting things to see in the area. There are many of the minorities in the area also which makes for interesting cultural experiences. There is a rather hokey cultural park as well as a huge botanic garden as the result of an international botanical meeting there. It seems that they over build hotels for that event and it is possible to get some good rates. There is a large lake and the Stone Forrest is a long days trip away.

I did like Qingdao also and it may be a good choice if you want to stay near the ocean. But I would think that the winters may be pretty cold. Hangzhou is very nice and would probably be my choice over Shanghai or Nanjing, both of which I rate highly.

[orbitalpunk]

PJ, i would recomend you look at the job markets in the cities people have reomdneded above, then narrow it down by weather conditions cuase they are so different. LIke i would abvoid the north cuase its damn cold, cold cold cold, and near bejing is dusty as hell. I can tell you the the city with the most jobs for an english teacher or other jobs with US companies would be shanghai. there weather is not so bad either. no snow storms, no dust storms. just watch out for some of the people. can be snooty and deceptive with money at times. Im not saying all are like this but the ones who are target forigeners. I personally worked in hangzhou. city is not as crazy as shanghai, its 2 hour train ride from shanghai, weather is good also, less jobs but people are much kinder and down to earth. I found a english teaching job in hangzhou without even having teaching credentials or certificates like tosel. but was easier to find jobs in shanghai. i landed 1 nice one and had an offer even before that one. was not a problem. MOst require 6 months to 1 year contracts. there are webisites in china that post jobs. thats how i searched for jobs but some were word of mouth as well. there in english too. do some seaches. youll find them.

 

goodluck, and boil your water!

[Guest Sarah&Paul]

Dear PJ,

 

I am from Kunming city, it is in Southwest of China. Kunming is also called Spring City, from the name you can guess that the weather is one of the best cities in China. I taught English before I came to the USA in a private ENGLISH TRAINING SCHOOL which was owned by an American couple, I think they still need Englsih teachers, especially native speakers. I can recommend you to the school. Normally the private school will pay teachers more than public ones. And also other public schools need English teachers too. The second reason I recommend Kunming to you is because the cost of living is less expensive than other cities. The third reason is that Yunnan province(Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan) is a minority province, there are lots of natural great sceneries to enjoy, besides it is close to Tibet. I have some good friends there who can help you to settle down.

 

Thanks a lot for the kind support when I was waiting in Kunming for my delayed visa.

 

Best wishes!

 

From,

 

Sarah&Paul

[PJ]

Hi Everyone!

 

Thanks for all the responses. I believe that weather is less of a factor for me than clean air and receptiveness to outsiders. Of course, I say that now, since I am sitting here in Tampa, Florida, and honestly have forgotten what it is like to feel cold.

 

As far as the cities mentioned here,

 

Kunming city

hangzhou

Qingdao

Nanjing

Hefei

Harbin

Shantou

Nanning

 

... etc. Is there any online sites where I can get more information about the cities? Also, does anyone have a digitized map of China that they could send me, so I could figure out exactly where these are all located?

 

Also, do people speak Mandarin in all these cities? Any where people speak Cantonese (or other dialects)? My Mandarin studies are progressing well, but I still don't feel like my understanding of Mandarin is quite there yet, I don't have much of a vocabulary.

 

P.J.

[sarah36]

Hi, PJ:

Please refer to http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides...andong/qingdao/

 

From there, you can see a small shandong province map, pointing out Qingdao's position. Here people dont speak cantonese. our language is quite similar with Mandarine, and with the smell of seashell Btw, qingdao has been chosen in China as the most suitble city for people living, it do has mild temperature, even its in north, even it has had so many advantages, even you dont mind B)

 

Hey, Good luck with so many choices!!! (There are seagulls flying or stopping over the sea, on the weekend, people go to feed them with chips of bread )

[tonado]

Also, do people speak Mandarin in all these cities?  Any where people speak Cantonese (or other dialects)?  My Mandarin studies are progressing well, but I still don't feel like my understanding of Mandarin is quite there yet, I don't have much of a vocabulary. 

 

P.J. 

A lot of people in Nanning speak a dialect similar to Cantonese. I have no problem speaking Cantonese to taxi drivers, sales people, and hotel workers. The weather in Nanning is very damp in winter time and humid in summer.

[SBS]

Hi PJ

 

Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003 is really useful. you can search for any city in China and know where it is.

 

also i just found these websites may be useful.it has nice photos of the cities you mentioned.

 

http://www.chinats.com/index.htm

http://china.muzi.com/travel/city/hangzhou.htm

 

 

also each city has their own dialect. it will be hardly understand especially in most of the cities in South China. however young people can speak Mandarin well so it wont be a problem to understand each other.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

 

PJ, Hanzhou is a nice city that is not too big. There is a lot of opportunity there. A new city

is being built across the river. Lots of light industrial and high tech start up companies. This

may be an opportunity to to more than just teach english. The province wants to build an

export base to compete against Shanghai. Your computer skills might so well there.

 

If you are not comfortable with Mandarin you should try Shenzhen. The city is bilingual

and bi currency. Mandarin and Cantonese are spoken there. RMB and Hong Kong Dollars

are both used there. You can also get television programs in english from Hong Kong. The

climate is similar to Florida. That includes humid summers. You can make more money in

Shenzhen but the cost of living is higher there.

 

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[Guest Sarah&Paul]

PJ, people speaks Kunming dialect, it is slightly different from Mandarin. But local people normally speak Mandarin to outsiders if they speak Mandarin. There are more and more foreigners in Kunming, most of them come there to study Mandarin or work. I used to teach Mandarin to foreign student in a university too before I came to the States. the air in Kunming is quite fresh, because it is not an industry city. House rent is much cheaper compared with other big cities such as Shanghai,Guangzhou. The houses my foreign friends got there is about 600-800RMB per month(two to three bed room size)1000 RMB(per month) you can rent a big and beautiful apartment in Kunming.Local people like to eat spicy food, you can always tell the cook"BU YAO LA--JIAO, BU YAO WEI---JING" if you are not comfortable with spicy food or allergic to MSG.

[Tom & Jen]

PJ,

 

Jen lives in Hangzhou. I have been there twice. People spoke mainly Mandarin. Very very little English spoken there. I could never get around or do anything without Jen. The city is definitely growing. People were not overly rude nor overly friendly. I felt safe everywhere I went. The weather is somewhat extreme in Hangzhou. In the summer it is hot and humid. In the winter it is COLD to the bone! Living in Tampa, you may appreciate the south like ShenZhen more. I have never been to the south but I hear the weather is much nicer.

 

Tom