Job Discussion Forums

[tradinup]

Hi,

I have done some research on this city and it seems like an interesting and exciting city. Does anyone have any experience there or knowledge about it? Work-wise, or personal-wise?

Thanks!

[mandu]

well i will do my best to let you know somthing about shenzhen
1st of all shenzhen is a city full of migrants,most people come here to try and make money
its very easy to get to hongkong from here,and the 1st part of the metro should be finished by the end of december.
work-when i 1st came to china i went through a recruter for my 1st job then i found all my other jobs on my own so the work is here if you want it.
entertainment-well i dont think there is that much entertainment here,but in sherko they have some good bars and restraunts,there are some good clubs eg club Dj,my friend also gets some international djs to play here as well(hard house)(cannot remember the name of the club).
movies at the cinema dont get here very quickly,but they do come out on dvd very fast.if you want to see movies on the big screen its better to go to hongkong.

rock concerts there are none here in shenzhen (hongkong)
dongmon (spelling not correct) is good for shopping many copies of everything.
transport is good buses, many taxis but taxis are expencive the flag fall is 12.50
not that much english is spoken here compared to hongkong,driving is pretty bad,
but in the 4yrs i have been here shenzhen has come along way its growing everyday.but i feel to be truly an international city it will take some time,just because we have starbucks and kfc and mcdonlads does not make it international.
but its not a bad place to live and work it has its good points and bad points.
one more thing after being in shenzhen and then going to HK for a day you will understand what shenzhen is all about

[tradinup]

thanks man! Yeah this is a bit of an echo of what I've heard from other people. Shenzhen is pretty much all business. I have done a search online and I did also find that there were quite a few night club spots and restaurants there, so that's good. I've heard Beijing and stuff has alot more parks and nature, but Im probably too lazy anyways to do that. Thanks!

[Kurochan]

Hi --

I lived there for four years. It's a very livable city, with comparatively high wages, good food, clean air, inexpensive clothing and stuff.

To me there were a few disadvantages -- it is VERY, VERY hot for a lot of the year. Bugs and spiders are scarily big. There aren't a lot of cultural things like concerts and art galleries. Also, I found the expat area pretty seedy, and quite a few of the expats seemed to be shady characters. However, this may have changed in the past one or two years -- I usually kept out of that area. There are some crime hot spots to beware of -- mostly around the Luohu train station and around Dongmen. It's really mostly pickpocketing you'll have to worry about -- just remember to put your wallet somepace inaccessable, or have a secure, sturdy bag. I was never robbed, but I think most people probably are.

Personally, I moved away partly because of the weather, and partly because I needed a change. I'd live there again, some time in the future, though.

[Roger]

I found a lot Kurochan says is what I felt too. Shady expats? Lots of them. Culture? Shenzhen is a cultural desert. It hasd grown too fast, so fast that they don't know today how many million drifters are down and out in the streets of downtown Shenzhen.
It is a city that's constantly reinventing itself; 2 and a half decades in existence, and no recongisable Shenzhen charactertistic. It's a vast, very spread-out concrete jungle. Inhabited byloonies and cranks.

It does have a few positive sides to it: shopping is easy, transport is getting ever more modern (a subway is nearing completion), and most international brand-names are to be found here. I also can recommend great outdoors such as the area around Donghu Park and Fairylake Park not far from the city centre.
But if you really crave a modern city, then Shenzhen can only be third choice; Hong Kong is next door and it certainly is a world class higher than Shenzhen. Besides, why come to Shenzhen if you hail from a developed country?

[Susie]

In terms of finding a teaching position in SZ, I think the Americans' Memphis Program is the way in to the mainstream schools because the USA has a contract secured with the SZ Education Bureau to supply America teachers to schools.

There are some private schools if you do a yahoo search for ESL EFL Shenzhen.

The Shenzhen Daily newspaper www.sznews.com/szdaily advertises some jobs as does the Shenzhen (Communist) Party website http://www.shenzhenparty.com/linktoszp.html

I think the Expat area is in Shekou (Snake mouth). The Shenzhen University is located in that area or Nanshan. You could teach at the university if you are qualified http://www.szu.edu.cn/szu_en/

There is Shenzhen Polytechnic (but some posts on Dave's Information Journal about Mr Long there) http://www.szpt.edu.cn/

[arodeorowdy]

I'm going on my 3rd month now and truthfully...I don't like it here, but that's because I was expecting to find a lot in the way of Chinese culture, really there is none. Remember, Shenzhen (SZ) didn't even exist as a city until 25 years ago. So I have yet to see anything that looks Chinese except for the Lions posted in front of many building entrances and the trim on some buildings. This city is full of high-rise apartments. This city could pass for any city in the West as it's very modern, maybe the newest city in all of China. According to the Shenzhen Daily SZ. has the youngest population AND the HIGHEST-POPULATED per square km. of any city in all of China. Whenever I ask the Chinese why you came to SZ I always hear the same thing, a bigger paycheck, which is true and that's also why I came here. While I fully expected to live in a small Chinese city and live in a primative house when I first come to China, now I live in a luxury high-rise apt. and work at a modern school. I also live right next to SZ U. and with all the young people here there's bound to be many places to hang. Since I work 35 hrs a week I've only been to one disco as I'm often tired I spend most of my time watching DVD's and going online.

But it's much cheaper to live here than in HongKong.

Sheku is a lot nicer than it sounds like it was several years ago. It must be popular because many of the cities Chinese come down on the weekends to the new "Sea World" which is a nice area next to the water full of Western restaurants.

I believe this area to be like Los Angeles (very few people are really from LA) because non of the Chinese are from here, they all relocated from all over China so you get to meet a wide spectrum of people.

[tradinup]

Great posts guys. I'm pretty young (23) and like the hussle and bussle so I think I will be fine. I saw some pictures of the skyline and I think it is an industrial work of art. Those apartments are amazing and I look forward to getting a really nice one in the city. Hopefully once the rapid pace of the business and residential growth slows down, they can get to adding some more cultural things. I think there are alot of good reasons to go tehre even though Im from a modern city; a major learning experience for one.

[Roger]

Apartments and living on your own in general:
I was there in the mid-1990s, but I doubt the apartment blocks have undergone dramatic enough changes to be so much better now than they were then.

My boss initially housed me in a rooftop hotel spare room which was constructed, I suppose, illegally on the landing of the emergency stairwell. It had windows and even an aircon but no bathroom; I had to take my shower in the communal shower room reserved for the hotel's staff, which was not exceedingly pleasant.
During two months I spent there (March and April), heavy downpours forced me out in the middle of the night to seek shelter in another house. Each time my boss had to come and rescue me inside a flooded room, then drive me elsewhere (he wouldn't foot a higher bill for me for one night in that 2-star hotel).
It took quite some time for him to locate a decent enough flat with western conveniences that he was willing to rent for me; I rejected out of hand a couple of places he showed me - they all had those squat-down toilets with a shower mounted on the wall right next to the hole in the ground... Some were extremely dark and the air couldn't circulate, so the walls were damp...
Finally, he found a block in Liantang, a few kms out of town, next to the gate of Xianhu Park. That was almost idyllic but the daily commute was a drain on my nerves. Buses had no aircon in those days!
The flat had 2 nice rooms - one a bedroom - and a kitchen; the bathroom was in western-style, with a real bat. There were two balconies. The whole thing cost my boss RMB 1400! That was expensiver at that time, but no doubt cheap by now!

Later, I found a one-bedroom piece with a tiny anteroom and a tiny kitchen in Jingcheng Building (there are in fact 8 towers to the whole complex situated opposite the Dongmen/Shennanlu post office), and this cost me RMB 2300. Since this was right smack in the hart of the city the rentals were considerably higher. Proximity to the commercial district and to the bars had another price - it was excessively noisy, and the complex was c-ckroach-infested.
The janitor/watchman would check every visitor's credentials, and if it was a female he would occasionally sneak up and knock on the door, then walk off...
The cops also visited my home a number of times; luckily each time when I was without female visitors! Because I had so many female visitors - mostly students, really, and one real girlfriend though others tried to be that too! - I soon earned the reputation of being a multiple husband of sorts.

The brand-new block of flats I lived in in phase 2 of my Shenzhen stay was marked by another recurrent problem: we had power outages at least once a week! If it wasn't power, then it was water. You come home - and you find your ice-cream molten. Or you can't take a shower in sweltering July, for a whole night!

[tradinup]

Nice Roger, lol. Does any one know what the rent is like for something now, average to nicer in Shenzhen. I don't want to travel far...

[Kurochan]

Tradinup --

Your school might find accommodations for you -- most people I've known have gotten a pretty nice apartment, not shared, in the school's residence hall, or nearby. I think Roger's rent was atypically high, and there are a lot of nice new buildings -- I can't really imagine paying more than 1500 a month for a one-bedroom, unless it was a fabulous area.

[arodeorowdy]

Well Roger, Shenzhen has changed a lot since you were here. I can see the difference between the old buildings of 10-15 years ago and the newer ones built in the last few. In fact I'm very impressed by the Chinese architects because the newer buildings are an art form in themselves. There are many very attractive buildings in the SZ skyline. When I was looking for an apt. I searched 19 different ones before I selected my apt. It is a luxury high-rise; 26 floors, but their are many others 35 to 40 floors. This city has continued to grow and shows no signs of stopping. They say at the current pace ALL THE LAND will be built-upon in less than 15 years. 67% of SZ pop. is between 20-39. On the down side there are many smoggy days.

I pay RMB2,700/month for a beautifly-furnished 2 bedroom apt. My Finnish friend in the same building pays the same. My Canadian friend pays RMB2,400 for a sparten 2 bedroom in another complex 20 min. from mine. My Azzie friend pays RMB1,800 for a newer but ugly unfurnished 3 bedroom only 5 min from him. These are all luxury high-rise apt's located in the Nanshan District. If you want something simple you can find a 2 bedroom for RMB1,000.

You only need aircon during the summer as it is quite chilly in the mornings now and will stay this way till April, in fact I'll be needing to buy a heater soon. Oh and never had a black or brown out yet, but I read about the growing electrical demand and possible shortage in the future.
If you need further help I'll do what I can for you. But I would suggest come and you'll find work.
Cheers, Rowdy

[tradinup]

Hey Rowdy thanks for the info. When I get there in the next couple months I will PM you, we'll go drink some Tsing-tao. Peace...

[myesl]

[Kurochan]