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mcloo7
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Posts: 434
Location: Hangzhou
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 Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Any advice as to how i can avoid such a cold apartment? What parts of China dont get this cold at night? Are buildings in different parts of China made to stand the cold better? Whats the weather like in the Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou area? |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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I also find the aircon heaters don't hack it especially if the central hot water heaters are off ie Spring Break.
You need something electric that has a glowing electric coil with a good reflector you can beam at yourself. |
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rogerwilco
Joined: 10 Jun 2010
Posts: 1549
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| Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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| mcloo7 wrote: |
| Any advice as to how i can avoid such a cold apartment? What parts of China dont get this cold at night? Are buildings in different parts of China made to stand the cold better? Whats the weather like in the Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou area? |
Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou are cities in which most buildings lack both insulation and central heating, so you might be shivering in your apartment on the coldest days.
Shanghai has average lows of 1 �C (34 �F) in January and average highs of 33 �C (90 �F) in July
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai#Climate |
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lemak
Joined: 19 Nov 2011
Posts: 368
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| Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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Temperature-wise, as mambawamba mentioned Jiangsu, Shanghai are the pits. A lot colder than the southern provinces, but with regards to warmth none, or at least very few of the (marginally) better constructed and heated apartments of the north. On paper zero degrees doesn't sound that bad, but shivering away inside a concrete ice box with very few options to warm up beyond watching TV dressed up like you're going skiing or taking the 8 minute hot shower that most of the water heaters allow.
Granted this winter was a little colder than usual, but still not atrocious. Having been said I remember one night running three heaters and cooking diner with the oven on and the thermometer was still saying it was 4 degrees inside. lol.
And then the flip side - the 38 degree, 9,000% humidity days in July.
Sage advice to newbies : If you're staying in a university or college campus make sure you have them throw free electricity into the contract, or the very least a sizable allowance to cover it every month. Occasionally you see contracts where the pay (for a uni) is a bit higher than others ~ say 6 or 6,500 per month, but when you read through it you get none of the free crap - like electricity, internet, water etc which ends up negating the extra pay.
In both January and July it will be a godsend to have appliances cranked without having to worry about how much this is eating into your 800 buck a month salary, lol. |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:01 am Post subject: |
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| mcloo7 wrote: |
| Any advice as to how i can avoid such a cold apartment? What parts of China dont get this cold at night? Are buildings in different parts of China made to stand the cold better? Whats the weather like in the Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou area? |
Basically, the apartments built in the "south" of China are often non-insulated, poorly constructed and not made to retain heat. They also lack central heating, and so often the only way to heat them is to use air conditioners or buy your own little space heaters both of which can be ineffective and expensive to run, and must be kept on constantly as any heat generated escapes quickly. As a general rule, the "south" often seems to be anything on or below the Yangtze river (or perhaps the provinces it straddles) despite the fact that in the winter many of these cities are very cold (for example in Wuhan, the average low in Dec - Feb is 0 - 2 deg. celcius according to Wikipedia, which sounds about right).
What this means is that homes, restaurants, schools etc. are often really cold, and people wear layers indoors. If you want to avoid this, you can either a) head north, where the winters are colder but buildings are generally heated and better insulated, so the cold doesn't encroach so much, or b) head far south, where the winter temperatures are much more mild and this is less of a problem. As rogerwilco says, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou can all get quite cold in the winter and are the wrong side of the north/south river divide in terms of better built apartments. |
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mcloo7
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Posts: 434
Location: Hangzhou
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| What are some of the main differences between cities up around Shanghai, like Hangzhou, and cities in the South like Shenzhen? |
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