Job Discussion Forums

[Darshinator82]

Hello,

I have been doing research (reading this forum for the last 2 weeks haha) on many different aspects of teaching in China. Ultimately, it seems to come down to job and location. I have decided I want to get a public university job and teach privates on the side, so the first part is decided. But for the second.... there is so much information on cities on here, but there are SO MANY CITIES!! And everything is up for debate. However, I was hoping for some help deciding on what cities I should start looking into based on my criteria, which is as follows:

Most important:

1. Availability of uni jobs and market for privates (I need to save money at some point)
2. Large and/or welcoming expat community. I think this would be very helpful for my first year in China.
3. Not terrible pollution (scratch off any cities known for their pollution)
4. Not extremely MOD EDIT - DON'T DO IT AGAIN cold (no northeast cities!)

Moderately important:
1. Fun, easily accessible nightlife
2. Public transportation/ease of getting around
3. Chinese food/culture.


I want to live somewhere that is a blend of western and Chinese. As in, there is an expat community that is thriving to ease the transition, but I don't want to live in a concrete jungle that has no semblance of authentic Chinese culture.

I have a Bachelor's degree, planning on getting a CELTA, no experience TEFL, but I have anatomy teaching experience from the past year. I am sure I could mess with my resume to make it state I have had 2 years of teaching experience.

At some point I need to save some serious dough... but I realize in the first 3-6 months this may not be feasible as I get used to things.

Thank you all for the excellent posts and threads in this forum. If I am showing ignorance in some aspect of this post, respectfully call me out on it so I can learn.

Peace,

Darsh

[Alien abductee]

Going to be pretty hard to find anywhere that fits all that criteria. Many of the biggest Chinese cities where you'll find large numbers of other foreigners/nightlife are nothing but concrete jungles, they have issues with pollution, and are extremely crowded (this aspect is driving me crazy this summer). These same places have good transportation but for culture they've gotten rid of most of the decent Chinese stuff and imported the worst of what the West has to offer. I know a few lower ranked cities with decent environments and culture* but they're lacking in other things you consider more important so I won't list them here. I kind of feel like moving back to one of them right now myself.

* This all depends what you consider a decent cultural experience.

[Darshinator82]

The thing I am most willing to compromise on is Chinese culture, as sad as that sounds. I just feel like large amounts of pollution would affect my life in a very negative way. I am also willing to compromise on the size of the expat community as long as it is active and welcoming. I don't need crazy nightlife... but decent at least.

Also.... how bad is the pollution really? Am I being too critical on this part? For example, Beijing gets cited a lot. But how does that affect your daily life?

[dongbei united]

[Darshinator82]

Dogbei,

I agree with you that those two factors are more important than salary or transportation. But there are so many schools in China. I think it would be better to get, say, a list of 5 cities I would like to live/work in and then start applying to jobs within those cities.

I would definitely want to teach according to material I select and test accordingly.

By public transportation, I do not mean between cities. I have heard negative things about public buses. I primarily was referring to subway systems I suppose.

As for saving lots of dough... If I could save 1000 dollars a month, I would be pretty happy with that. At least 500 a month. I think that is definitely possible once I get things settled.

[dongbei united]

[Darshinator82]

I wanted to hear what cities others would recommend that fit my criteria. I have like 20 cities right now that people have said they recommend that I found through searching this forum.

I know that unis pay like 5000 rmb. But I think with free housing, smart budgeting, and teaching privates there is no reason I cannot save at least 500 dollars a month unless it is due to my own error.

It seems like I would want a coastal city or one in the southwest, as those have reportedly lower pollution.

It also seems like I may have to choose between pollution/nightlife cities or clean cities that have less to offer in terms of expat community and nightlife.

Yangshuo seems really nice, but I don't know if I could save money there.

Qingdao has been mentioned a lot, so that is another possibility.

Nanning and Kunming have low pollution, I have no idea about them otherwise. Apparently Xiamen is nice.

Someone else in the forum said, "Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Fujian and places like that are fairly decent and far better than most other places in China".

Another stated, "plenty of locations with minimal or no pollution.
guangxi, guizhou, yunnan, hainan come to mind.".

Does anyone live in any of these places?

[Non Sequitur]

[Darshinator82]

I don't want the whole city to be Western. I don't really care about Western food that much, or western stores. I DO care about having a support group there for dealing with culture shock and making friends. I don't want to be in a Tier 3 city... but I don't think I want a Tier 1 city either.

I want to live in a tier 1.5-2 city that has relatively low pollution, an availability of university jobs, a market for privates, and is not in the northeast. I also need there to be some sort of expat community there so that I have people to make friends with. I would like to be able to go to some foreigner oriented bars on the weekends.

[Janiny]

You say: "I know what I want, where do I live?"

How about: Here's where I live, I will now do my best to find what I want.

[IWTFanAT]

[Non Sequitur]

I'd go with Qingdao. It got a bit of a move on courtesy of the Olympic sailing regatta and I know they have an active expat group (Google 'Qingdao Expat').
Pollution isn't too bad and the only drawback seems to be that salaries are kept low because of the perceived attractiveness of the place.
That said your bog standard uni job gives 5500pm with the normal perks, which is about normal.
PM me if you want further information.

[Simon in Suzhou]

[Non Sequitur]

[doogsville]

I live in Zhuhai and can thoroughly recommend it. I don't spend a lot of time in the expat scene here, but I have friends that do, and it's pretty thriving by the look of it. There's a couple of expat websites and a Facebook group for Zhuhai.

Which leads me to my second point. I think you should broaden your search a bit and start looking at expat sites for cities that catch your eye. Not all foreigners in China are teachers, not all teachers in China frequent Dave's and not everyone on Dave's has your best interests at heart. Expat sites will give you a lot more information in the form of articles and news items so you don't have to wait for replies to your posts either.

Thirdly, though I get your point about wanting a 'support' group of other foreigners when you arrive, you should be aware that a lot of the people you meet you will have nothing in common with except being English speakers, and not always that. Don't think that you'll immediately be welcomed into the bosom of the expat family wherever you end up either, since some of those families can be pretty dysfunctional. Just a heads up, you may land in paradise for all I know.

lastly, I would suggest lowering your expectations on all fronts. That way you can enjoy your experience without feeling let down. Also when things go well you will feel much better about it. If you want to save serious money for instance, China might not be the place to do it, especially if you intend to hang out with other expats who's agenda is simply to have fun.