Job Discussion Forums

[solarfairy]

Can anybody please tell me what their experiences of Shangdon are? In particular Qingdao. After a bit of research it looks like Shangdon is a good province to teach in. However I would like to hear the opinions of those who have actually taught there and experience it firsthand.

Now the long list of questions. . .

What do you consider to be the best cities in Shangdon (or in any other provinces if you don't like Shangdon) and why?

How do find the weather?

Are there many western restaurants and other comforts of home for those times of homesickness?

What are the schools like? Do they pay well?

How far does your pay stretch compared to the rest of China?

And of course... What are the people like compared to the rest of China?

and . . . What is the beer like (very important for Kiwi gal )

Cheers

[dwhansen]

To your questions:

What do you consider to be the best cities in Shangdon (or in any other provinces if you don't like Shangdon) and why?
First, it's Shandong with a "g". It might mean eastern mountain, which makes sense, because we're surrounded by lovely granitic smallish mountains. There are other cool coastal towns and one city, Weihai, which is also beautiful.

How do find the weather?
It's been pretty cold lately, but I believe now, we enter a solid spring progression of warmer most every day. The summer isn't searing hot very often and the humidity stays reasonable.

Are there many western restaurants and other comforts of home for those times of homesickness?
Jinan, the inland capital has W-food, but Qingdao has many fine restaurants. Hardly anywhere else does.

What are the schools like? Do they pay well?
Same as anywhere else in China with struggles, and the pay is a bit lower than most because Qingdao is such a desirable city in which to live.

How far does your pay stretch compared to the rest of China?
routine costs are about average for China except for in Q itself, which is a little higher. It surely depends on lifestyle. If you need Western "Stuff" it'll cost you big time on a teacher's salary--3,800-4,800RMB for 16-20 hours per week.

And of course... What are the people like compared to the rest of China?
Again, same as most of China, except that the city is receiving internal and international acclaim as the 2008 sailing center for the Olympics.

and . . . What is the beer like (very important for Kiwi gal
Like anywhere in the world, if the beer is yellow or pale, it's just "beer" with little dif.s here or there. Qingdao brewery brews the (pre-pinyin) Tsingdao beer which is about average. There are other local brews too which suit my tastes fine...all about 2RMB for a big 640ml bottle.

Being a Kiwi, you'd better be in Q just for the proximity to the ocean. I'm a W-coastal american who grows increasingly miserable with every day I spend away from the sea...you might be that way too. It's not that i have to be on the beach everyday, it's just that having that option of a moment or two with mother ocean is good for me.

[Roger]

Yes, body, get the spelling right or risk ridicule! I was once travelling with two westerners who boasted they had been to this place and that place - based on their imagination and itinerary planning.
When I inspected their tickets it was discovered one of them confused 'Kunming" with, yes, get this: 'Wuhan".

Now in a lighter mood: Shandong has temperate climate, is located in the east and adjacent to a sea; summer gets pretty hot but not unberable, while winter - well, that's another matter. If they provide you with a heater then take it.
My problem was that my employer thought natives in Shandong never take a shower "because it is too cold here in winter...". My apartment had no bathroom, just a toilet. And it was a brand-new one... back in 1997, I think it was.
Qingdao IS an interesting city, with a well-preserved historic German downtown. LONELY PLANET is not wrong in claiming "lifted straight out of Bavaria" - the Germans ruled here for a grand total of about 14 years, but look what they were doing!

Also, the Tsingtao brewerey is a German legacy. Beer seems to be a local drink for everybody just like tea is elsewhere.

Other interesting cities: Yantai, north of QIngdao and also on the sea. Wine-growing area. To the west, Ji'nan; not special though not "bad" per se - just ann uninspiring backwater even though it's the capital. [/quote]

[Old Dog]

Roger wrote:

[deezy]

Hi Old Dog... glad you're back - I missed your posts!

To the OP:

Qingdao is great, lots going on, taxis are more expensive than Weihai and Yantai. Sea is nice, shoppings's great (this is a girl talking!), restaurants are also v. good.

Yantai is smaller, a port, great beach, an 'old' part of the city and a very 'new' part. Direct rail to BJ, Shanghai and the train trip to Qingdao costs a mere 22 yuan. (so I'm told). I was there last week and the ice was solid on the railings by the ocean.

Weihai is very small in comparison... can walk across the centre where all the shops are, surrounded by ocean on three sides, and small mountains on two sides. Also a port... ferry regularly goes to Dalian and South Korea. Lots of Koreans here. Rarely costs more than 5 yuan for any taxi ride to anywhere in Weihai.

All have clean air. At the moment it's pretty cold, but not unbearably so, and in the summer it was hot and humid but I was told that was 'unusual'.

Plenty of EFL jobs in QD and Yantai, not many in Weihai. All pay roughly the same as anywhere else in China. Living costs are considerably less than in the south and the big smokes. Obviously depends on what you like to do!

If you decide to move to Shandong, I doubt you'd regret it. The beer's okay, doubt you'll ever get drunk on it though.

l

[solarfairy]

Thanks for your help guys, and for setting me straight on the spelling of Shandong (look I got it right!).

I have two more questions to add to the list. Firstly, how does Qingdao compare to Dalian? For those who have experienced both cities, which do you prefer?

Also, how safe is it in Shandong? Is there much violent crime or mainly just pickpockets? I am planning on going with a friend and she is quite concerned about this.

Thanks

[Roger]

[Roger]

[millie]

The Old Dog still has teeth, eh?
And with a bark like that, who wants to get bitten?

Hello solarfairy

I would be rather careful about impressions which seem to be more informed by the need for people to adjust successfully to the surroundings or by people have been here so long that they have lost their sense of discrimination and/or reality.

IMHO, Shandong is by and large a middling to poor ****-hole.

If Qingdao is beautiful, then I am Elle McPherson (and I can assure you that I am not!)

Apart from the square kilometre or so of the German settlement and a small part of the old city centre, there is nothing special about QD.
Broken down old houses mixed in with new all look-alike high rise, sliced up by elevated freeways and dusty roads.
Well, it has got a huge Haier factory and some de-forested mountains that belong in a desert - but that is not my idea of beauty.
I would not drown my worst enemy in the sea there either.

Roger wrote:

[Talkdoc]

Old Dog - I, for one, think you are being way too hard on Roger. Let me explain.

As you know, most bottles of the grape contain the words "Full bodied-wine," usually in 12-point font. Imagine yourself, with a blood alcohol level of .15 percent or better, staring at those bottles of wine standing right next to your computer. Now I have to ask you (and in all fairness to Roger) - wouldn't you easily mistake "bodied" for "buddy?"

And, by the way, how well do you think you'd be able to think and type during a black-out? You know it's very easy for sober people like us to criticize the inebriated about issues regarding typos, spelling errors, mutilated English, gross contradictions between posts and perceptual distortions regarding climate conditions, time-sequences and places visited. But, under the circumstances, I think Roger does a hell of a job of posting on this forum and I think we should try to show some modicum of appreciation for his efforts.

Reconsidering the matter from this new perspective, wouldn�t you agree?

Doc

[Roger]

I suppose by Millie's standards no Chinese town makes it into her list of places worthy of our attention; I beg to differ and to claim Qingdao as one of China's more charming ones. It isn't Shanghai, but not everyone can cut it out in Shanghai either. It's miles ahead of the run-of-the-mill places such as Wuxi or Shenzhen or Haikou or Baoding or Mudanjiang or Yan'an or Changsha or even Guilin, that's my view anyway.

And what's wrong with "temperate" in my post? Lots of temperate zone towns have bitterly cold winters with snow and icicles growing from roofs. "temperate" essentially means it has four distinct seasons. It still never gets as cold as Harbin or Urumqi.

[millie]

Roger recently wrote “welcoming” a new arrival (jeffinflorida) to China:

[The Red Baron]

Some people get their knickers in a knot easily, don't they?
Actually Shandong is my favourite province. Sure, it's cold in winter, but we survive. It is a calm, moderate province, weatherwise. We don't get the extremes other places seem to get.
Jinan is dusty and sometimes downright dirty, but the people are pleasant.
I have lived in other Shandong cities and found the same. I have never been ripped off in Shandong.
But stay away from Shandong Electric Power School!

[millie]

Hello Red Baron,

I can appreciate the recount of your direct and current experiences in Shandong.
Your recent perceptions of Shandong people are extremely important information for those thinking about Shandong as working destination.
Your views and those from other people may not necessarily be in agreement of course.
That is to be expected, surely and not a “knicker knotting” problem for me.

For example, I cannot regard a place that has a yearly temperature range between -5C in winter to 35C in summer as “moderate” - and of course you have survived to write this here.

But that is fine and it’s not really my point – rather that direct and current experiences such as yours are very useful for intending arrivals to help make decisions where-as second hand accounts and fanciful re-creations of the distant past are not.

And my knickers are my ultimately business, thank you
edit: And my knickers are ultimately my business, thank you

Cheers

M

[laodeng]