Job Discussion Forums

[Jo NZ]

Hi there,

I am looking at a job contract at Bohai university in Jinzhou, just below and to the west of Shenyang.

-Is it common to be required to live in uni dorms on the school grounds and have a curfew?

- Has anyone lived here/taught here? What did you think?

-What is the climate really like that far north? Does it snow? (Sorry - silly question - but I am from the South Pacific...)

Thanks for any replies

[tw]

[inetlom]

Here's what I know:

Bohai teachers are required to live in international student dorms. According to teachers who have worked there in the past, apartments have been promised but never actually materialized. At one point there was a 10pm curfew at which point the gate leading to the teachers' floor was locked, but I'm not sure if this is still in place or not.

Jinzhou itself is not bad. The winter can be a bit boring, and there are very few foreigners and Western restaurants. It's polluted, but not terribly, and it even has a magic river!(the government fills it up in the summer; for the rest of the year it has just a little trickle of water). In the last six months cheese has arrived at the largest supermarket in town. In the summer there is a night market in town. There are also some places to go bowling and to play pool, ping-pong, etc. It's the kind of place that you'll be happy if you're not looking for a place that is just like anything you can find in the US, Canada, UK, etc. People who live here say that there are 3 million people in Jinzhou, but the population of the city itself is just about 800,000. It's easy to get buses to Beijing, Shenyang, etc. but train tickets can be a little bit difficult to buy.

Bohai is located across the river from the main part of town, though, and the taxi ride is expensive compared to rides in town. It's about 20 minutes by bike to the center of town and there is a 1 yuan bus that runs from outside the university gates to just down the road from the town center. This can be a little annoying when trying to quickly get into town and go back. There is a small supermarket on Bohai's premises and a few restaurants outside one of the gates. There's also a post office and an ATM.

The climate: hot and humid in the summer, COLD in the winter! This winter was exceptionally warm...but we just got hit with the biggest snowstorm of the last 50 years a couple weeks ago. Usually it snows no more than 1 foot each year--not very much and certainly not all at one time. You can imagine the chaos this caused. It is also almost always windy--local residents tell a joke that goes something like "There are two winds in Jinzhou; each wind lasts for half a year".

(If you have any other questions feel free to PM me, I don't want to annoy everyone else by making this post longer than it already is.)

[mondrian]

[quote="inetlom"]