Job Discussion Forums

[louis.p]

Has anyone here taught in Inner Mongolia or northern China. I have always wanted to visit northern China, and I am wondering about the nature of English teachers' experiences there. I should note I speak Chinese well, live in Taiwan, and have lived in Chongqing.

Thanks

[KevinT123]

I live and work in the main city of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot. Life here is relatively comfortable. If you are one for enjoying nature, vast grasslands, local culture and barbecued meat, then Inner Mongolia could be what you are looking for. The negative factors are the climate which can be very windy and dry sometimes resulting in sandstorms, especially in Spring and, coming from a place like Taiwan, you may find it a little under developed. All the foreign teachers I have met here seem relatively content with life and, by Chinese standards, the universities seem to treat foreign teachers adequately. It is possible that the salaries will be lower than those you have received in Taiwan and Chongqing but, generally speaking, the north of China is obviously poorer than many areas in the south.

[NF]

I taught at a university in the Hulunbeir region last year, about ten hours north of Harbin by train. The town was about 250,000 with a (approximate) Mongolian population of 60%. The sky was unbelievably blue, the air relatively clean except during the dust storm events and the people were very friendly. I would recommend it to those hearty souls who can brave the colder winter months and who are prepared to live without a few western conveniences.

[tw]

I echo what KevinT says and more. I lived in Hohhot from September 2005 to July 2006 and it was definitely my least favorite city of the four I've lived in thus far. Dry, dirty, boring, expensive, and dusty are words I use to describe the city. Of course, my Mongolian students, who came from all over Inner Mongolia, told me Hohhot was nowhere near as nice as their hometown. I hear a lot of good things about Baotou, but then again, they came from students whose homes are in Baotou.

The worst thing about Inner Mongolia is the dryness, which leads to lack of vegetations and as a result, three months of frequent sandstorms from March to June.

[louis.p]

Interesting. What languages did/are you encountering in Mongolia? I have heard interesting stories of non-Chinese languages mixing with Mandarin, subsequently creating a hybrid tongue of sorts.

Do you guys have any contacts that might be useful in the job search?

[KevinT123]

Mongolia has its own language which is hard to comprehend. The characters resemble Hebrew or Arabic writing. Generally speaking, people in Mongolia do not speak standard mandarin but can understand it and can communicate using it. The younger generation in Mongolia are gradually losing the ability to speak Mongolian and are taught putonghua in schools. As for teaching positions, you should first do some research into where exactly in Mongolia you would like to work and live. The land area in Inner Mongolia is vast and there are stark differences in such factors as climate, urbanization, culture and dialect. If you really want to indulge in some special local cultures and customs, perhaps your search should start in places like Hulunbeir or Manzhouli. If you are one for city comforts, then you can try Baotou, Hohhot, Tongliao or Chifeng. There is a National Minorities University in Tongliao if you are really interested in the Mongolian culture. I think you could probably get information for that university from the Angelina's ESL website.

[tw]

Hohhot has three major languages: Beijing putonghua, Mongolian, and Shanxi dialect. There are also Hui minorities in certain parts of the city. The Hans are the major ethnic group in Hohhot, and as KevinT says, more and more young Mongolians in Hohhot, along with Mongolians in urbans Inner Mongolian cities like Tongliao are losing their ability to speak Mongolian -- especially those who attend non-Mongolian schools. If it is Mongolian language you are interested in learning, you might want to consider my former school, Inner Mongolian Nationality College. When I was there, about 99% of the students and staff were Mongolians. The ratio is probably now 95% Mongolians to 5% Hans.

[NF]

While Manzhouli is in Inner Mongolia, there is very little that is Mongolian about it. I often went there for the weekend. The town sits on the Russian border and was once part of Russia so it's population is a mix of Russian and Han Chinese but I don't think I saw many Mongolian people there. It can get a bit rowdy (lots of cheap Russian vodka) a friend of mine applied to work there but they wouldn't hire a single woman, thought it was too dangerous.
It's got some interesting architecture, some good 'non Chinese' food and lots of Russians who come to town on cross border shopping sprees.
Last summer there were at least four FTs in the city.