Job Discussion Forums

[caromdweller]

Hi I am using the recruiter networkesl.com and my first job offer looks good except that it is supposedely in a town bordering the worst polluted place in the world Linfen. Do you think if I spent a year there teaching it would shorten my life by a significant amount due to pollution lol.....Seriously anyone know about this area or university?

[mengli]

I too have a new offer at Changzhi, and would like any info about Shanxi in general.

(To those who have viewed my last post, I dropped it but this new offer is for Changzhi University)

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I am not Dr. David Suzuki or anything, but I would look for a cleaner area. No point risking your health for an entire year.

[astrayalien]

I am in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The pollution is not so bad and it is a friendly city and very inexpensive to live. However, I have heard that Linfen is much more polluted.

[veronica2]

There was a news report/short documentary recently that said Linfen is quite a bit cleaner now than it was a few years ago when all the "world's most polluted city" stories came out ...

[mister_kot]

[imjustme]

I was at Changzhi Xueyuan (better translated "Changzhi College") for a year, and so I'll give you the scoop.

First, though the city "borders" Linfen, it's in fact three hours away by bus, and across a range of mountains. Linfen is famously polluted, yes, but Changzhi has blue skies for months on end. It's a green city, with tree-lined streets, and scarcely a smokestack in sight. Very pleasant that way.

Students at Changzhi College were a joy--all of them English majors, surprisingly cooperative and hard-working. Most of them were looking to future careers teaching English, and quite a lot were aiming for graduate school. I'm still in contact with some of them.

Problems were as follows:

1) Substandard housing. My apartment flooded, was horribly grimy, dingy, etc. Other teachers seemed to be more comfortably arranged.

2) The FAO, who I'll call simply "W," tried confiscating my passport. He wouldn't relent until in desperation I finally threatened reporting him to the US embassy. Then at the end of my contract, though I'd given no real cause for complaint, he denied me a release letter. I went anyway, but before I got away he broke into my on-campus apartment and helped himelf to what he wanted of my books, clothes, etc. W flashes a big smile and can present himself well, but will make your life a living hell if you don't play the obedient slave. Sad, but true. So in spite of Changzhi's being quite a nice small city, Changzhi College is probably best avoided.

[Omniscientfool]

Nice place to teach, same as prev. post, housing has recently been renovated, FAO staff work hard to make things right but can't fix everything!