Job Discussion Forums

[Gray000]

Anybody have anything to share about this place? I'd appreciate it.

[JMD]

Hey Gray,

I worked there a few days a week during the Summer.

In fact, I was supposed to work for only a few weeks starting at the end of April when I first moved to Beijing, replacing a teacher until the end of the term. However, I only taught 2 days before the SARS crisis and took a two-month "vacation" before things got back to normal, so I just finished there a couple weeks ago.

It's a HUGE campus, quite modern because it's brand new. (Although, typically, there's already signs of deterioration). It's very spread out and sort of feels a bit strange and deserted because the campus is supposed to hold about 150,000 students in the future, but now only has about 15,000. A lot of the buildings that will eventually hold shops, etc, are completly empty or almost.

Still, the campus has a central library, swimming pool, tennis courts, movie theatre... Because I was only there a few days a week, I never really visited so I don't know much about them.

The campus is divided into diferent sections such as the teaching buildings area, the student dorms area, and the foreign teachers buildings. There's even a small "downtown" with restaurants, shops, internet bars, etc.

But like I said, it's very spread out, with 20-30 minute walks from sections to sections. There's a variety of transportation options, though, such as minibuses (5 mao from one section to then next) and taxis that charge a fixed fee of 5 yuan from one section to the other.

If you're planning to visit Beijing often, it can be a pain, unless you plan to share a taxi with someone. The 938 bus, which goes to Guo Mao (China World Trade Center) and the main (east) train station in Beijing conveniently starts from the campus. However, it then procedes to go all around Langfang so it takes about 1 hour and a half to get to Beijing and vice-versa. Scenic the first few times, boring after that.

It's also a pain to use it to get to the Campus because there's a least *3* different 938 routes that leave from the same stops in Beijing, but only *1* that goes to the campus. It's very confusing because the buses arent' clearly distinguised so you have to ask where it's going every time (not just a lack of Chinese ability, students have the same problem) One time, I had to ask about 15 different buse condutors (at about 5 minute intervals) before one was going tot the campus. You also might not get a seat... As well, the last bus from the campus leaves at around 6pm and the last one from Beijing leaves at around 8pm.

I've heard that taxis will offer a fixed rate from Langfang to Beijing for about 80RMB and then you take the highway wish trims the trip down to 30 to 45 minutes, but I've never done it myself.


All in all, Iliked the place and I even considered living there full time, but my wife works in Beijing so it would have been a hassle. It's not the most exciting place, but it does offer a pretty good environment.

Feel free to ask for more details!

JM Duguay

[Jingyou]

Here's some information someone sent me. Are you thinking of working there?

"The campus in Langfang actually holds about 30 other universities and colleges. It's very much the socialist planned educational commune. All the buildings look the same, and in the beginning, I had to count the number of buildings on my walk from my room to the classrooms to make sure I was entering Zhouyue College. That said, there's not much to do in Langfang. You can take the bus into the downtown area, but there's not much there either. What the other teachers did was go to Beijing. There's a bus from campus that goes to the center of Beijing, and the school provides weekend hotel accommodations in Beijing for the foreign teachers once or twice a month. Actually, most of the students go to Beijing on the weekends, too"

[Gray000]

Thanks guys for the info. I am 99% certain that I'll be working there. Just a bit curious what to expect from the campus itself. I knew abt. the scads of buildings from diff. colleges but not abt the 10% capacity. Langfang is a hole, then? Kinda figured.

Anybody know if the gym has a decent set of weights?