Info on Hefei

[Carl]

A few months ago I accepted a teaching position with an organization called Ameson Institute where I would be teaching American History and English Lit to Chinese students who instead of taking the test for placement in a Chinese university will instead be taking the SAT and ACT because they are planning on going to college in the US. Initially I was going to be assigned to the #2 High school in Shijianghuang. It was a new school that was added to the program, but today they informed me that that high school is no longer part of the program. Instead I will be assigned to the #1 High School in Hefei, Anhui, still teaching the same courses.

 

I am curious about any information about Hefei. I would like to know as much about the place as possible.

[Mick]

Cnagrats on the assignment, Carl. If I'm not mistaken, Hefei is where Mick used to teach.

Indeed it is, Don. I taught in Hefei one year, before moving on down to Guangdong Province. In fact, it was in Hefei that I met my darling wife.

 

Carl, Hefei is an interesting city and, at least for the most part, the folks there are friendly. My wife taught high school there for about six years or so. I taught at Anhui Institute of Education, which was a teacher training university. I lived there in 1998, so things have changed a lot since then. Even back then, they had most of the usual western fast food joints, like McDonalds, KFC, etc. Also, several of the restaurants have decent western food if you get a bit homesick.

 

By far the two worst things about Hefei is the smog and the weather. The air, at least back when I was there, was an absolute horror. The former Holiday Inn (they have a second one now I hear), had a revolving restaurant on the 29th floor and there were times we ate up there and literally could not see the ground. In addition, Hefei is the hottest, most humid place I have ever been in. And I grew up in the swamps of southwest Florida. Winters, on the other hand, are frigid with a wet cold that gets into your bones. Plan on either taking along, or purchasing, some warm gear for the winter. Things start going cold around November. Those are the bad things about the city, but there is a lot of good.

 

Be sure to check out the "Round the City" park, which encircles the downtown area. It is built along the course of the ancient moat, which has been widened and deepened. Xiaoyao Jin Park is also worth a visit, especially in late October when they have the flower show.

 

Hefei is the capital city of Anhui and the folks there like to view themselves as "cosmopolitan," but we found, as China goes, the values are fairly conservative. The party remains strong there, whereas it is less so in other cities. This may have changed some since I lived there. Like I said, it was a long time ago. To give you an example of the conservative nature of the place, let me relate an experience we had. Li and I were engaged during our year in Hefei. She was not allowed in my apartment past 11 pm and this policy was enforced by both her school and mine. If we were at my place, someone always called at 10:30 and knocked on the door at 10:50. It was absurd to say the least. When we moved to Guangdong, it was entirely different. The university provided us an apartment where we lived together and they gave Li a job teaching English to freshmen students. It was like a whole different world.

 

I enjoyed my year in Hefei and whenever we return to China for a visit, I plan to go there for a few days. We have many fond memories of the place. Another member here on Candle adopted a pair of girls from Hefei, so he may want to chime in as well. I think he has been there a little more recently than I. I'll write more when I have a little free time. Good luck.....

Edited June 27, 2011 by Mick (see edit history)