Job Discussion Forums

[oprah]

Could anyone tell me have they ever been to this place?? The travel write ups are not good.. I have an offer to go there for a small job, but I am not warming up to the location..

[Laoshi1950]

I worked at a small public "university" in Nanchang from August 2001 to July 2002. Therefore, I suspect that my impressions of the city are now somewhat dated. Development is so rapid these days in China.

For what it is worth - I liked the job I had in Nanchang. The college honoured all provisions of the Contract, I was paid on time, the on-campus accommodation was good, and I was very well-treated there. I guess it helped that I was their first-ever foreign teacher and, at that time, I was the only foreigner on campus too. Local people were friendly, and generally helpful, but the "Helloooooo" factor was fairly high there, and staring at laowais was quite commonplace. There were not many foreigners living and working in the city during that time.

Nanchang was a very polluted industrial city when I was there and under-developed at that time also. But, the city government was undertaking a major clean-up program of unsightly areas, and was commencing a greening-up program too. That might have helped improve the environment during the past two years. I can only recall about five clear days where you could see the sun during my year there. It was very hot and humid during the Summer months, and the Winters were unpleasant.

I am told that there is now McDonalds and even a Wal Mart in Nanchang. Both were non-existent during my year there.

[Johnmc]

Hi , yes, I currently work in Nanchang and now like it here. (See my reply to 'mellissa11' futher down this forum. )'Heellloooo's' are not too bad now, and the people are are friendly. Now have Walmart, a few Maccas and KFC's.
It's growing fast and depending what you like, ask if you would be at a new or old campus campus since most are now in process of building new campuses. I prefer an old campus because the gardens are more established and it's not as stark. My uni has so far been very good to me. It does get extreamly cold and hot here though. Airconditioner and heating usually OK, but occasional blackouts. pollution bad, like everywhere, but not oppresive.You could do worse.
John

[anthyp]

I work in a small city near the border with Hunan; though we're actually closer to Changsha, I've been to Nanchang a few times.

I think it is a very dusty little place. Laoshi mentions a clean - up program, I think that must have been successful, because I thought the city was very clean last time I was there (or have I just been living too long in the sticks?). Lots of green leafy things, too, I was very pleased.

It's rather quiet, I remember my girlfriend and I were asking around for bars or nightclubs open late, but everyone kept telling us they all closed down around 11. But that must not be true, unless the nightlife in Nanchang is even worse than the one here, and trust me that's saying a lot. Somebody tell me where the hell everybody is hiding after dark.

But it has lots of nice Western restaurants, even some coffee shops. I didn't see many foreigners there, which was actually kind of disappointing. I don't see many here and I wanted to shout "Hello" at somebody just to see what all the fuss was about.

Anyway there are plenty of things to buy and places to wander around; all in all a dusty little Chinese town, where apparently nobody stays for very long ... I think it would make a nice place to live and work, for a while.