Job Discussion Forums

[bdawg]

Heh heh heh...I'm going to subject you all to another one of these pulp questions...and there is nothing any of you can do to stop me!

National University of Defense Technology (Changsha). Anyone worked there? Anyone know anyone who has? Apparently, from what I've been told, it is a 'key' university and was part of the '211' project...whatever that means.

As for Changsha, I believe I have a fairly good impression of how people feel about that city from the search results I got. However, just to satisfy my curiosity, does anyone have anything good to say about it? Oh yeah, one more questions..I hear that Changsha is quite polluted, however, from what I understand, pretty much every city in China is polluted...so how is the pollution relative to other polluted cities in China? Is it horrible? Fairly bad? Average?

Thanks folks.

[Roger]

I don't think the pollution in Changsha is exceptional. No coal mines, not much polluting industry. The city is nothing to write home about though it certainly has some nice nooks and corners. On the whole, I found it to be a bit neglected.
What I did like was the hill along the bank of that river (name?) where 3 or four universities were located. The campus of the one I stayed at was really nice, adjacent to a public park.
I would be more concerned about the weather; torrid in summer, and pretty cold in winter.

[randyj]

I worked at NUDT three years ago. I think you will like it. Changsha is polluted, of course. The students are top-notch, mostly military, and the FAO is outstanding. I maintain contact with several teachers who remain there. PM me.

[oprah]

I worked in ZhuZhoo, not far from Changsha. It is not a Hangzhou but has many things. It is polluted, but has a Carrefort, good store and I hear they are building a Walmart here.

[Jolly]

I taught in Changsha in 2003 but left mid-semester because of SARS. I really didn't like Changshal. It was as if Mao still lived, and he lived there! Of course his birth place is not far from Changsha.

Most of the students were great, but that has been my experience at the other schools I taught at in PRC.

I would definitely NOT go back to Changsha. There is nothing there. I saw no joy on the faces of the town folks. It was sad.

[e_jorgensen]

maybe you just had no friends there. My wife's family is all from the Changsha area and I've never seen a group of more happy Chinese. Actually though, Changsha people do tend to be a bit ruder and cuss more than other places in China.

[Ludwig]

NUDT (as it is commonly known) has some resident authorities on (computational multi-agent modelling of) complex dynamic adaptive systems, and, as I research the means by which such systems bootstrap themselves into existence (not as baffling as it sounds), I went there for a conference and workshop a few years back.

The university itself, by 'western' standards, is really quite good (and so, by Chinese standards, is excellent). The (postgraduate) students I met seemed to be fine, which is good I suppose as there are certainly a lot of them. I seem to recall that there were in excess of some 3,500 postgraduate students (!) of which 1,500 alone were studying for (some form of) a MSc! It is, to say the very least, a huge university in terms of both reputation and sheer size. Another point worthy of mention is the 'type' of student to be found there. My few days there showed me at least (perhaps those that have been there longer could confirm or reject this) that there were few if any 'there-because-their-parents-paid-for-them-to-be-there' (for 'paid', read, 'bribed someone') type of student. A large portion of the Chinese space program research is conducted at NUDT and, accordingly, they require people who know what they are doing, not those that simply have parents who are willing to bribe an official.

Unfortunately, I can not speak so highly of the city itself. Indeed, I got the distinct impression that it was closed when I was there. Apart from the predictable and endless CD/VCD/DVD shops, beggars, street rubble, and cheap spit and sawdust restaurants, there did not seem to be too much there at all. The locals certainly seemed a tad odd, too. One flabbergasted local restaurant owner for example asked me how it was possible for a non-Chinese to be able to speak Mandarin; - quite peculiar.

[randyj]

The main east-west drag in Changsha, Wu Yu Da Jie ����һ��֣�, underwent widening in the year 2000. During the construction period, parts of downtown Changsha resembled Berlin in 1945. A traditional, narrow Chinese street changed into a modern, wide thoroughfare. Can you imagine the devastation? Anyway, visiting Changsha during that time would not have left anyone with a favorable impression.