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| Total Votes : 18 |
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mgafunnell
Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 89
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 Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:42 am Post subject: What to beware of? |
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Greetings,
I'll be in Shanghai September 1st. Is there anything I should beware of? Also, how much money will I initially need bearing in mind my roundtrip ticket is paid and I don't drink? |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| question: to answer your second question, did you read p1 of this forum yet? |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:58 am Post subject: |
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Have you got accommodation or do you have to find your own? If your own, bond and advance rent will be expensive. If you're off the public transport grid, taxis will be a factor. Which district will you be living in? You can spend as much or as little as you want on food. Great LaMian noodle and HunTun shops are 3-5 a bowl at the cheap end. Mum and dad restaurants, 15Y for a couple of dishes with rice, school food free, but expensive at the price.
So many questions. You might want to take up drinking: one of China's more affordable pleasures. |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| at the low price of beer in china, you'd be crazy not to drink while there. |
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HunanForeignGuy
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 989
Location: Shanghai, PRC
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:26 am Post subject: |
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Actually, I have had great luck with most of the Chinese. I have enjoyed them.
I would encourage you to exercise extreme caution and prudence in dealing with many of the foreigners that you will meet in Shanghai and elsewhere in China. The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries and China is a big culture shock for them, just as if they would have move to the premier cities in their countries of origin. Sometimes you will feel, in dealing with them, that it is the lunatics running the asylum but you will experience that quick on your own. Just exercise judicious caution.
Otherwise, enjoy Shanghai, it's a great city; it has a great feel to it, and as a New Yorker, coming from a great city, I can say that Shanghai stands right up there at the top. It's a Class A city, getting better all the time.
What to beware of -- maybe English First...ha. |
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cj750s
Joined: 26 May 2007
Posts: 701
Location: Donghai Town, Beijng
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| no matter what country..the police |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:50 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I would encourage you to exercise extreme caution and prudence in dealing with many of the foreigners that you will meet in Shanghai and elsewhere in China. The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries |
My own university colleagues in Shanghai came from Mumbai, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, London, SF, Melbourne and New York. I can't speak for those of the poster's acquaintance, even though he seems to have done considerable research in this field. |
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tw
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 3898
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| eslstudies wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I would encourage you to exercise extreme caution and prudence in dealing with many of the foreigners that you will meet in Shanghai and elsewhere in China. The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries |
My own university colleagues in Shanghai came from Mumbai, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, London, SF, Melbourne and New York. I can't speak for those of the poster's acquaintance, even though he seems to boast considerable expertise in the field. |
Well, the Greater Vancouver Regional Dictrict is made up of 12 cities, 1 township, 3 districts, 1 corporation, 1 municipality, and 3 villages. So, just because someone claims he/she is from "Vancouver" doesn't necessarily mean he/she is from the actual city of Vancouver. People are more familiar with Vancouver than they would with, say, Coquitlam. |
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therock
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 1266
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:12 am Post subject: |
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| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries and China is a big culture shock for them, just as if they would have move to the premier cities in their countries of origin. |
There is a bit of ignorance in this comment.
While it's true some foreign teachers are here for questionable reasons. The part that the majority are from small towns and villages is totally wrong. The majority of foreigners I have met in China are not from small towns and villages. |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Well, the Greater Vancouver Regional Dictrict is made up of 12 cities, 1 township, 3 districts, 1 corporation, 1 municipality, and 3 villages. |
I'm not surprised. Mumbai and NY are even bigger, but I wasn't going to take 3 hour geography lessons on each of my colleagues' home towns.
The point is, none of them came from Hicksville and even if they did, all kudos to them for breaking out into the big, wide world! Small town doesn't mean small mind. |
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HunanForeignGuy
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 989
Location: Shanghai, PRC
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:56 am Post subject: |
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| therock wrote: |
| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries and China is a big culture shock for them, just as if they would have move to the premier cities in their countries of origin. |
There is a bit of ignorance in this comment.
While it's true some foreign teachers are here for questionable reasons. The part that the majority are from small towns and villages is totally wrong. The majority of foreigners I have met in China are not from small towns and villages. |
Why don't we put a stickie here asking where the posters on this Board come from? But if we do that, we should kindly ask that those posters who have multiple personalities on this Board post only once so as to not skew the results..
Just look at what TW wrote -- people claim to be from Vancouver even though they are from the outlying district and then some.
And in need of gentrification? I should say so...and this has been a well-documented item, not here but in the press as well...let's not pretend that the ESL crowd in China is anything but what it is for the most part... |
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upchuckles
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 111
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Beware of advice coming from foreign guy in Hunan.. |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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mgafunnel. you better just come here with an open mind and not any preconceived notions about what to beware of.
| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
| therock wrote: |
| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries and China is a big culture shock for them, just as if they would have move to the premier cities in their countries of origin. |
There is a bit of ignorance in this comment.
While it's true some foreign teachers are here for questionable reasons. The part that the majority are from small towns and villages is totally wrong. The majority of foreigners I have met in China are not from small towns and villages. |
Why don't we put a stickie here asking where the posters on this Board come from? But if we do that, we should kindly ask that those posters who have multiple personalities on this Board post only once so as to not skew the results..
Just look at what TW wrote -- people claim to be from Vancouver even though they are from the outlying district and then some.
And in need of gentrification? I should say so...and this has been a well-documented item, not here but in the press as well...let's not pretend that the ESL crowd in China is anything but what it is for the most part... |
until 1997, toronto only had a population of only 650,000. in that year, toronto merged with several other adjacent municipalities to form the 5th largest city in north america.
in the case of vancouver, i suspect its the same, only that those municipalities havent yet merged into one so-called "mega-city."
while someone might claim to be from vancouver, he may well come from one of those "outlying districts" as you call them, but most of which are not small towns. they choose to simplify it ("i come from vancouver") since few people outside of BC would have heard of richmond or surrey or any other place on the lower mainland. or, as TW suggests, they may well come from one of the villages adjacent to vancouver. the odds are however, they come from one of the larger suburbs of vancouver and are not country bumpkins who cant adjust to life outside their immediate environs.
| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
| The ESL crowd here is in need of gentrification and for the most part they come from small towns and villages in the heartlands of their own countries and China is a big culture shock for them, just as if they would have move to the premier cities in their countries of origin. |
Ridiculous to the extreme!!! care to back this statement up somehow? in future, you may want to confine yourself to your area of expertise... |
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HunanForeignGuy
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 989
Location: Shanghai, PRC
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
Ridiculous to the extreme!!! care to back this statement up somehow? in future, you may want to confine yourself to your area of expertise... |
And you my good man, and I am being generous with those words, will remain civilized, if that is humanly possible...understood? |
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Leon Purvis
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 420
Location: Nowhere Near Beijing
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| Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| HunanForeignGuy wrote: |
Why don't we put a stickie here asking where the posters on this Board come from? But if we do that, we should kindly ask that those posters who have multiple personalities on this Board post only once so as to not skew the results..
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That'll mean that you get only one vote too, HFG.
Wait. Were you addressing those who have two or more screen names, HFG? |
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