Job Discussion Forums

[willill]

I just accepted a position here since the contract is relatively good for a university. And the city looks interesting enough, and it's very close to Xiamen anyways.

Does anyone have any more recent news or impressions of either Huaqiao University or the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province?

Thanks.

[dcukawa]

Greetings,

I stumbled upon your post by accident! Last year I worked at Huaqiao university. Here's my experience:

The university itself has its charm and beauty.
It's outside the center of the city by 30 minutes by bus.
The students are very eager and friendly to learn.
The university supervisor of foreign teachers, Jinjun and Mr. Ye, were not very cooperative with the foreign teachers.

Quanzhou is a very traditional city which means that little or no foreigners live there. This means that the Chinese will stare and stare and stare at you. Quanzhou is also adjacent to an industrial city called Jinjiang. Because of this, Quanzhou is VERY polluted. The air quality is poor. I developed asthma living there. A layer of dust will build up on your furniture after just a few days. You'll wake up to the smell of burning chemicals.

Now I live in Xiamen, which is a MUCH nicer city for expats/teachers to live in. There are more foreigners here and you can find a more international lifestyle (cleanliness, Western food, good public infrastructure, etc).

I regret going to Quanzhou in my first visit in Asia. I'd recommend going to a better and nicer place such as in Xiamen island. There's also more opportunity for work and social life there. If you go to Quanzhou, you MUST be careful and take many precautions to preserve your health.

Good luck to you!