Job Discussion Forums

[hilary]

sorry to be a bore, all you old hands, but I could do with some information beyond the Rough Guide's usual hotels-bars-temples-waffle.

I've heard that Kunming enjoys a fairly temperate climate and good air quality, and that it's congenial for kwailos. Any opinions? I have been offered a university job there, but the pay is half what I get here in Guangdong, so I do have to consider the practical implications of making this move. I'm still in the honeymoon phase, China wise, but in the area I live, people do little but chase money and eat and not much grows here except concrete (sounds like home, doesn't it?). I should like to see something other than that when I venture out of the compound!

So if anybody lives in Kunming and can offer advice I'd love to hear from you.

[Volodiya]

I live in Kunming, and I like it; but, to me, it looks like any other med to large Chinese city. It's almost all high rise, concrete and steel. Sound familiar? There are almost no trees, only a few, short stretches of tree-lined streets, and next to no parks (I mean, really, in a city this size? there ought to be more than two decent parks!).

Aside from walking in Green Lake Park (one of the two parks that come to mind), I, along with the rest of my friends, do little but "chase money and eat". [Well, we do watch DVD's some evenings.] There is no Kunming Symphony Orchestra, no Kunming Opera- nothing in the way of high level Chinese or European cultural expressions. (We do have a handful of temples, but how many times can you visit them, unless you worship there.) You can hear people playing and singing, for their own pleasure mainly, in Green Lake Park in the evenings.

The air is "clean" by my standards, but then I didn't find either Chengdu, or Beijing, to be too bad by my standards, either. [I spent the first 45 years of my life in the U.S., in cities banned by the EPA! from human habitation.]

I think what I'm trying to say is that, yes, you may find Kunming somehow to your liking, or like it better than where you are now but, if you do, it will have to be for some other reason than the ones you mentioned in your post. [I can think of one, for example. If you're a missionary, you'll enjoy associating with the four-thousand, mainly American, missionaries who are based in Kunming. If you don't share their point of view, you may not find associating with them so stimulating: on the otherhand, they do stick to themselves, so they're not hard to avoid, if you should prefer that].

Come visit, have a look around, see what you think.

[Roger]

Kunming's climate really is the city's best asset; it never gets too hot (maybe 30 degrees in summer, though it cools off rapidly after sunset!), while in winter snow is a distinct possibility.

The air might not be as good as you think due to construction work and industiral activities; Lake Dian is suffocating from nitrogen, for example.
BUt in fact, the air is better than in the lowlands - every time I go there I feel like my lungs have been cleaned inside out!

The city is nothing special, but the rewards come from the beautiful countryside beyond the city limits. Kunming is 1800 meters above sea level, thus the temperature and humidity are more congenial and conspire to produce plants that are rare or unknown in sweltering Guangdong.

Pay always is considerably lower here because they know how much FTs would like to work there... Make sure they do offer you the regular perks and a legal situation!

[Zero Hero]

[hilary]

Thanks for your responses. Zero, I met Roger a week ago, so perhaps he has a bit of an idea about the kind of person I am. I don't have any access to high culture here in Shunde, and I couldn't afford it in Brisbane, so since my days in London Ive got used to living without it. Likewise I can do without rock concerts and raves. I suppose what I'm looking for is somewhere where there are a few foreigners to natter to and have a few drinks with, somewhere I can go for walks in the country without having to travel for 4 hours by bus, maybe somewhere with a bit of its own local indigenous or folk culture, music. Whatever!

Volodiya, would you mind sending me a pm to tell me where you are teaching?

I'm not remotely religious and have no desire whatsoever to talk about jesus to anyone. Why are all those chaps in Kunming?! Have they heard that it will be saved at the time of the Rapture?! Has George Bush bought real estate anywhere near? Actually here in Guangdong all I seem to do is work, eat and occasionally go to the bar (well, all right, at least 3 times a week) and read books and watch dvds and waste hours on the internet. And it's so revoltingly hot and humid here. What I really want is to go for walks in the fresh air.

[Volodiya]

Well, Hilary, Roger is right about the climate, it is pleasant weatherwise here more often than not. However, the countryside for miles around is somewhat arid (we're on a high, broad plateau): there are hills in the distance, but they are rather "brown" looking, because of the lack of rainfall. I think you might like it, here, but to see much of any natural beauty, you'll have to get out of town. Yunnan has many places worth seeing.

Have you considered Dali. The university there is advertising on the internet for the fall. It's in a much more beautiful setting.