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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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 Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:21 am Post subject: |
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Question for the forum: relatively speaking, would Kunming be a "healthier" city to live in?
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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SH_Panda
Joined: 31 May 2011
Posts: 455
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| zactherat wrote: |
The only two smaller places that aren't hellish in China are Dali and Yangshuo - only if you are willing to work for pocket money though.
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Oh dear. A load of rubbish from somebody who has clearly never lived in a smaller place in China. |
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unclealex
Joined: 22 Apr 2003
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:23 am Post subject: |
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| Of all the cities in the list I'd choose either Guangzhou, Shenzhen, or Shanghai. But even there it would depend on the districts in these cities. Dalian and Xiamen are also better cities to live in. Definitely stay away from Beijing and Chongqing. Avoid the inner cities farther away from the coast and, of course, industrial cities. Finally, keep in mind that small cities and rural towns can be just as polluted as the large cities, what with the many factories in the area and the population density. And winter can make matters worse with all the coal that's being consumed to heat private residences. Also. the smaller cities and towns are dull, isolated places to live in. Unless you are an introvert and have a nice comfortable apartment to spend most of your time in, these places would depress you -if not at least make you feel acutely lonely and restless. |
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BlueBlood
Joined: 31 Aug 2013
Posts: 261
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| Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| teenoso wrote: |
All of these are mega-cities , with the possible exception of Ningbo, and are all likely to be polluted and unhealthy .... welcome to China.
Stick to coastal cities and the south for marginally better conditions - just my opinion . Inland, you could try smaller towns in south western provinces like Guangxi, Yunnan etc , but there may not be the opportunities there you are looking for . Or consider Hainan island. |
teen, I followed Qingdao and Dalian AQI's closely for several months as I was seriously considering moving to either of those cities to teach ESL. The long and the short of my findings were that their respective AQI's, while better than Beijing's, were frankly at the very unhealthy end of the scale. |
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weshh
Joined: 25 May 2012
Posts: 12
Location: USA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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| BlueBlood wrote: |
| teenoso wrote: |
All of these are mega-cities , with the possible exception of Ningbo, and are all likely to be polluted and unhealthy .... welcome to China.
Stick to coastal cities and the south for marginally better conditions - just my opinion . Inland, you could try smaller towns in south western provinces like Guangxi, Yunnan etc , but there may not be the opportunities there you are looking for . Or consider Hainan island. |
teen, I followed Qingdao and Dalian AQI's closely for several months as I was seriously considering moving to either of those cities to teach ESL. The long and the short of my findings were that their respective AQI's, while better than Beijing's, were frankly at the very unhealthy end of the scale. |
Could you explain what you mean by this? |
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muffintop
Joined: 07 Jan 2013
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Uh...the air quality sucks? |
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zactherat
Joined: 24 Aug 2011
Posts: 295
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| Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:07 am Post subject: |
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I can understand why people might prefer smaller places - for first year teachers it's usually cultural curiosity. For seasoned China teachers though it's usually the big fish, small pond factor. Some people want to be the only foreigner in town, some people still need that special status to engender any sort of success. Maybe their skills don't cut it alone. I can understand why that might be frustrating in the long run, and why such people might take up anonymous discussion board trolling as a hobby. Boredom + frustration = need for an outlet.
| SH_Panda wrote: |
| A load of rubbish from somebody who has clearly never lived in a smaller place in China. |
That's a misguided assumption, expressed unnecessarily aggressively. Has small-town living robbed you of your civility? I've lived in smaller places. They were all a nightmare compared to tier 1 and 2 cities. That was my experience. If yours doesn't tally, you might like to compare your own, but there's nothing to gain from getting your troll on without anything substantive to contribute.
I personally found that the compromises of small city living - specifically the lack of availability of goods, fewer like-minded people, lack of exposure to foreign people and ideas (which meant prevalent stereotyping, usually negative), not to mention lower pay - just weren't worth the lower CoL.
Just because a place is developed doesn't mean it's not a meaningful experience of Chinese culture. Shanghai is just as Chinese as anywhere else in this country. |
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jlwild
Joined: 25 Nov 2012
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:40 am Post subject: Taiwan |
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| You might have better in luck in Taiwan, man. Got a friend working at an organic farm down in the south near Taitung at the moment. |
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BlueBlood
Joined: 31 Aug 2013
Posts: 261
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:24 am Post subject: |
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| muffintop wrote: |
| Uh...the air quality sucks? |
Once again, mt's dry sense of humor kills me, and nearly my keyboard as well!
I'm still laughing... |
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NoBillyNO
Joined: 11 Jun 2012
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:10 am Post subject: |
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| i really thought that Beijing would loses some of its peasantry as well as it's foreigner..... but it looks like more folk than ever has moved to "DaJing" as the amount of folk here is now staggering.....air is pea soup although I am not sure as to the dire predictions as to shortening ones lifespan..... but for sure it is not healthy....yet the lure of money, nightlife and advantage still maintains the beacon of hope that has become what Beijing represents. |
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NoBillyNO
Joined: 11 Jun 2012
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| China consumes a lot of veggies - trouble is the quality of them. Additionally veggies aren't synonymous with a healthy diet. The average Chinese person's diet consists of a few veggies and heaps of rice/noodles. Very little protein. This is slowly changing as China becomes a richer society. |
Don't worry ...... melamine and other compounds such as cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide can be used to inflate the apparent protein content of products |
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mw182006
Joined: 10 Dec 2012
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:00 am Post subject: |
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| zactherat wrote: |
I've lived in smaller places. They were all a nightmare compared to tier 1 and 2 cities. That was my experience. If yours doesn't tally, you might like to compare your own, but there's nothing to gain from getting your troll on without anything substantive to contribute.
I personally found that the compromises of small city living - specifically the lack of availability of goods, fewer like-minded people, lack of exposure to foreign people and ideas (which meant prevalent stereotyping, usually negative), not to mention lower pay - just weren't worth the lower CoL.
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I'm learning this the hard way! First year in...didn't think that being 20-30 minutes outside the city would be that big of deal, but it's night and day. No foreigners, no night life outside of KTV joints, hard to meet friends/women due to language barrier...yeesh. Just have to stay productive for 3-4 more months! I feel bad ditching these kids after a year, but the majority of them just don't give a shiz so why should I? I hope to be able to hack it in Chengdu. |
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MisterButtkins
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221
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| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:29 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I've lived in smaller places. They were all a nightmare compared to tier 1 and 2 cities. |
I have had a better experience with smaller places. I feel that they are more relaxed, cheaper, and more convenient in many ways. Also less crowded and, most importantly, less polluted. At least many of them are.
Availability of goods... you can get 90% of what you need off taobao. |
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Shroob
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 1339
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| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| MisterButtkins wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I've lived in smaller places. They were all a nightmare compared to tier 1 and 2 cities. |
I have had a better experience with smaller places. I feel that they are more relaxed, cheaper, and more convenient in many ways. Also less crowded and, most importantly, less polluted. At least many of them are.
Availability of goods... you can get 90% of what you need off taobao. |
Yep. I agree with all that. |
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EmGee
Joined: 14 Mar 2014
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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| I personally really liked Qingdao because it had a decent combination of nightlife, shopping, conveniences and apparent air quality. I lived in Beijing and Shanghai but only visited Qingdao. I've no idea of the work situation in Qingdao. |
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