Job Discussion Forums

[ChinaAndrew]

I'm just about to leave hangzhou having spent new-years here with my girlfriend. It's a really nice city and my girlfriend and I hope to move down here after my contract finishes in June. This is my third year teaching in China. Spent most of the time in the north-east (too cold) and am now in linyungang, Jiangsu province (ghost town). visited Dailian (really nice) and Shanghai (too expensive). I'm looking to settle down in a suitable place, tired of moving around. Anyone out there working in Hangzhou now, or had a pleasant experience working and living there or anywhere else. Please share your experiences, good schools, reputable employers good/bad areas to live etc.. Any advice would be much appreciated. I have found in my experience the best jobs are never advertised and I've had my share of bad experiences too. best to hear from the horse's mouth.
take care all and happy new-year?

[james s]

You watch too much CCTV9. Your title shows it. Dont surrender to the repetiveness.the repetiveness.the repetiveness.the repetiveness.the repetiveness.the repetiveness.

It isnt.

[kev7161]

As a tourist visiting the touristy spots such as the "beautiful" West Lake, Hangzhou can be quite tempting. However, it's getting more and more crowded as the months/years go by. I've been out of Hangzhou for almost two years now (after living there for two years) and on the rare occasions I return for a visit, am astounded on how crowded the main roads are. I've heard they're working on a subway system but ??? Some pluses for Hangzhou are:


Some movie theaters show imported movies in English, at least for the first couple of weeks.

The Foreign Language Bookstore on Yan'an Road has a wealth of paperbacks on the second floor (they'll set you back a goodly amount however) along with a great "office supply" section - - perfect for finding things for your classroom/office.

Plenty of shopping (like most big cities) and a TON of Western food restaurants to choose from.

Flying out of the Hangzhou airport to your Chinese destinations is generally quite a bit cheaper than flying out of Shanghai.

The biggest negative for me are those crowds. Go to anyplace between Wulin square at the north of Yan'an road and WuShan square at the south end and you'll be greatly frustrated at the sheer amount of bodies, regardless of which day or which time of day you are there. Same goes for their long-distance bus and train stations as well.

[ChinaAndrew]

thanks for your pearls of wisdom james but that wasn't what I had in mind

[jammish]

Crowds will be a problem in most Chinese cities. Actually my part of dalian isn't too bad, but dalian centre - woah, it's almost as crowded as wuhan!

[james s]

spoze it'd be a good idea to say when i be jokin or not, hey?

not dis chinaandrew.

[canb]

I really do think hangzhou is beautiful. There are lots of places to visit and walk/hike around. I enjoyed the tea museum and hiking up through the tea fields and seeing West Lake and Hangzhou off in the distance. Lingyin monastery made for good hiking and photography(Tang dynasty, I think...home to the flying grottoes which were really cool carvings high up in the rocks) I stayed out by the hospital and the hotels and apartments out there were nice and close to a lot of amenities like a supermarket, shopping district, restaurants, internet bars, etc. I'll probably get slammed by someone, because I'm glossing over facts like pollution, foreigners and crowds, but I thought Hangzhou was heaven after we were kicked out of Jiaojiang for reasons i still dont know.

[Brian Caulfield]

If you like Hongzhou why don't you move to Lajolla californian or Nice France . It is not China . It is all new . Nothing China about it . There are no beggars in Hongzhou and the police wear helmets in the summer . Stange place for me . Everyone is neauveau riche. But you have twenty Macdonalds to go too . Only thing good I have to say about it is that the book stores are well supplied .