Job Discussion Forums

[Papa Bear]

Anyone with information and experiances in mianyang.I am leaving soon to teach there and a heads up would be nice, places to go, things to do ,
I have been to China twice,most of my time has been spent in Chengdu and Leshan areas.

thanks Papa Bear

[HunanForeignGuy]

It's an industrial city about 100 kms from ChengDu, a little grimy on a river that should be cleaned up. If you were in Leshan before, you should have no trouble adapting to this place.

I hope that you were very, very, very, very, very detailed about the process with the College. Please make sure that you have suitable housing -- the College has a tendancy to put FTs up in either two-star (and that is stretching it) residential hotels or in shared accomodation with Chinese teachers; neither form of accomodation is anything close to what you might find somewhere else in China. You will see that quick enough upon arrival but perhaps you have negotiated a better place to live (like your own apartment).

The Foreign Affairs Office in the College is particulary disorganized, even for China, and you may be asked and asked for the same things over and over again -- and they will ask you prying, snooping questions and then claim that they need to know these things "for the process".

This is a third-or-fourth level tertiary institution so just bear that in mind when dealing with the students.

If you had posted earlier about the place, I would have strongly encouraged you to look elsewhere but since your decision has been made, the best that I can say is to "batten down the hatches" and pay close attention to things.

Who knows -- maybe the junior FAO has been fired by now and replaced by someone more competent because she gave new meaning to the definition of the word "idiot". Shirley, the dean, is a rather pleasant person, but now and then you should expect to have communication problems with her -- use a rather simple level of language and you should be alright.

The city is industrial in that it is both a high tech and consumer durables center. Usual Sichuan weather. The locals tend to be quite friendly. On a scale of 1-to-10, 1 being Baiyun Institute here in Guanzhou and 10 being Beijing Da, I would rate this place a 2.5 in terms of desirability of a place of employment for FTs.

Any other questions, please PM me. If you would consider another place outside of Sichuan, also PM me.

[KidfromBrooklyn]

What type of snoopy questions do they ask allegedly for the "process"?

We all should be prepared for these things.