Job Discussion Forums

Eager2teach · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject: Smaller cities in China

I have very limited knowledge of China, but there are so many jobs advertised that I wanted to start inquiring.

I know this about myself - really crowded big cities are not for me. Anyone out there lived or living in a calmer, more peaceful city in China and had a good experience teaching there?

thank you!
John

Voldermort · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 597

hi there. I totaly agree with you, larger cities are just not my cup of tea.

In China, you should expect to encounter a few problems ina smaller city. First, not many of the schools are able to hire foreigners, nor could they afford to. Second, you would be cut off from many things you take for granted. For example, a good book shop and western foods. It is also difficult sometimes to go un-noticed. Schools will sometimes be over-protective. I once had a Chinese escort and curfews because the school was worried about my safety.

When looking for a smaller city in China there are a few things you may want to enquire about. How many foreigners are there? You will want some real English company sometimes. Is there a train station? and How far from a large city? Are there any western conveniences? I eat western food at least once a week.

Girl Scout · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 525 Location: Inbetween worlds

I live in a town that wouldn't even qualify as a city. It's 45 min to 1hr from the city. There are buses that leave from the school's gate every 15 min, so it's not impossible to get there.

There are no bars, no fast food, no DVD store. Forget the western food unless you are going to cook it yourself. Don't forget, your friends will be the other teachers. If you don't get along with them you will need to self-sufficent or easily entertained.

I love where I am. I work in a private college. On campus there are stores and restruants that meet all a persons basic needs. The town has a market and a small grocery store. I only have the need to go to the city about once a month.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Smaller towns could be a one-year pitstop of your life - that is if they attract no migrants and locals are caught in a time warp, as happens sometimes.

The small towns I come through in Guangdong are different from the above; they are modernising and their natives are sedentary or move but leave family here because the local economy is good enough.

In the former you might be dealing with more devoted learners, in the latter the kids will be showing signs of incipient self-awareness and self-importance: you are their servant and you must know your station in life.

grwit · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 329 Location: Dagobah

I live in a small city in china and love it! This is my second year here and I will probably stay for another.

First undserstand that a chinese SMALL CITY can still have a large population. You can drive from one side of my city to the other in about 30-40 mins I live close to the centre of town where all the shops are so 20mins in any direction and I'm in famrlands. However in that small space (i am told) there are about 2million people living here (not sure if that includes the surrounding farm areas) Traffic is still chaotic and the streets, shops and resturants can get pretty crowded at times. But its nothing like the crowds in Bejing and Shanghai.

There is only me and 1 other foreigner - the other teacher at my college. Not much western influence here although there is 1 KFC down the road. This is what I call REAL China. I didn't want to live in the big modern westernized cities either so I purposely chose this place. From what I hear and have experienced during travels... the people in my city seem to be much more friendly that those living in the big cities.

My college may be looking for more foriegn teachers to start next semester begining in September. When do you want to start? PM me with your email address and I will send you more details.

grwit · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 329 Location: Dagobah

I dont have any of the problems that voldermort mentioned about the school being protective of me. However there is no real western resturants and comodities except for the KFC i mentioned. Dairy products are difficult to find here.

Best part of this city is the location. By train i am 10 hrs from beijing, * hrs from Shanghai, 12 hrs from Xian, and 4 hrs from Nanjing. Which are the 4 major cities in north east china.

Also 1-2 hour bus rides can get you to much bigger cities to find the things that you can't find here. But I havent been to those cities for months.

KarenB · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 227 Location: Hainan

I live in a small city (population 50,000) in China and love it. The air is fresh and clean, the people are friendly, and I don't have to worry about pickpockets. I can easily walk to the center of town (20 minutes), or take a sanlunche (3 wheel cab) and get there in about 8 minutes. I don't get that many stares, as the Hainanese are a bit more polite than the average Chinese mainlander. They will, however, come over to chat if I sit down somewhere, especially if I have the baby with me.

The students at our school are generally from small towns and villages -- usually from poorer families -- so not the little emperors -- very sweet, very natural, helpful, get along well with their classmates, etc. Not very motivated academically, but Hainanese are not generally a very motivated people.

However, small town life in China isn't for everybody. The teachers at our school are the only foreigners in town (there's 7 of us). Fortunately, we have a good FT team, and everyone gets along really well and we can cooperate well on school projects. That's generally been the case most of the time I've been in this town (4 years).

The problems many Westerners would find is that there's no Western restaurants (which I don't really miss all that much), no supermarkets selling butter or cheese or other Western products, and not a whole lot to do in terms of nightlight or entertainment (unless you enjoy going to the beach, playing volleyball, getting massages, or hanging out in the teahouse).

If you choose a small town, I would recommend finding one within an hour or two of a bigger city, far enough away so you're not getting the air pollution, but close enough to take the bus or train in for pizza and to stock up on groceries you consider essential to existence.

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

I might suggest trying Yangshuo to someone keen not to live in a big city, but still wanting some western comforts.

Fortigurn · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 390

Malsol · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 1976 Location: Lanzhou

No one, and I mean no one can generalize abouit China.

Every Province is different. Every City is different. The people of every City are different. Each is unique.

Having said that, if you have seen one Chinese City you have basically seen them all.

Let me try to explain in another way.

China is changing and yet China never really changes.

The front stage culture is changing but the back stage culture never changes.

The architecture is modern but the thinking is neanderthal.

I just love it.

lovelybug · Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 32

my city has 400,000 in the greater area, including the counties, it is 5 million. it can be busy, but how the city was planned out 25 years ago, it's pretty spaced out. it's not as busy as a Chinese major city could be.

people here are generally very nice to foreigners. there are about 6 foreign teachers at least in the city. we know of each other, but not necessarily hang out with each other all the time. at my school, currently there are 3 foreign teachers. in September, there should be 5 including me. there are a lot of local English teachers in the city who are very friendly. we go out with them sometimes.

of course the nightlife is very different from the usual in a city of 5 million. i'm still discovering it. my colleages aren't the nightlife type, so i'm at lost a bit. there is a kfc and at least one western-"style" restaurant. i cannot say the western resto is authentic, like really. hmm.. there is a brazilian bbq in the city, which is neat. the supermarkets are like the departments store at home.. they vary, you can find places similar to walmart. i've seen cheese in the supermarket. i haven't bought any. it's almost the same price at home. milk is different here, of course. there's peanut butter somewhere in the market.

the bus system is pretty good. i'm still trying to figure out some Chinese character so i don't get lost going downtown. I can easy return home from downtown on the bus. i could walk basically everywhere.. between the campuses. downtown is pretty much walkable from my school, too, even if it's an hour. there's much to see anyway. hmm.. my colleague rides his bike in the mornings when it's not too busy.

there are three bus stations from my city, one train station. i don't know how far i am from Shanghai, but I am 13 hours from Beijing and 9 hours from Xi'an. Most southern part of Shanxi province. there are a couple of sites around here. temples, temples on mountains, we're near Luo Yan (one of the few ancient cities)/Henan province, parks, Xi'an (another ancient city) was a great trip,..

more and more westerners are coming into this city. it's growing slowly and eventually my college will be a university. people generally haven't seen a foreigner before and are just surprised that they are here. there is a coal mining industry here. i've seen two non-teaching Foreigners in the city since the 2.5 months i've been here.

http://www.sxjczy.com.cn/Article_Class2.asp?ClassID=64