Job Discussion Forums

[Ferne]

Is anybody currently leaving and teaching there and willing to share their experiences, whether here 'on board' or in a PM? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I don't have any specific questions and am just looking for a general 'feel' for the place.


Ferne

[Kurochan]

Hi --

I've never taught there, but I visited it to scope out the campus for future reference. It had some very nice-looking buildings. The school seemed very well-kept. The teachers' dorm looks quite nice, but it way up on top of a hill.

That's all I know!

[Mister Al]

Never taught there but lived and worked in Xiamen for two years plus. Nice campus close to the beach. Great little island city and not a bad expat scene. Great weather all year round. One of my two favorite places to live/work in China, Suzhou being the other. Enjoy!

[LongShiKong]

I sometimes regret leaving coastal Xiamen (one of the 5 Special Economic Zones). Not too big - about a million people. Great parks within the city limit and Gulangyu (island) facing Taiwan with it's European architecture, puts it on the tourist map. The private school I worked at was owned and managed by an American who had a lot of heart. At the time, I didn't know why privates were derogatively referred to as language mills. Many XiaDa (Xiamen University) students and alumni would frequent our free and open English corner on weekends.

There was a middle-aged American who'd been living and teaching at XiaDa for about a decade and published a book on life in (Xiamen), China as a foreigner. He'd travelled extensively but considered Xiamen his home. I don't know his or or the book's name or whether he's still there but I'm sure I could ask my Chinese contacts there. Just PM me.

Back then, I asked one of the Chinese friends I'd made there to help me write a letter to the editor of the local paper suggesting establishing a voluntary task force to modify existing and approve new English translations of signs in the city. Naivety led me to believe Xiamen was just some small backwater despite its recent economic expansion. Well, it turns out, others had the same idea and the local gov't took action!! Chinese friends put me in touch with university staff who'd once a week, tour the city, review English translations and email the group of volunteers for suggestions or consensus. It was great to be a part of something progressive at the time.

[El Macho]

I just finished an interesting book about Xiamen, Inside the Red Mansion: On the Trail of China's Most Wanted Man by Oliver August. It makes the city sound like quite the interesting place to live. I'd recommend checking it out if you want to get a feel for what parts of the city may be like.

Caveat: I've never been to Xiamen and can't comment on the accuracy of the book's description of the city. But it was a good read.

[eddy-cool]

'CHina's Most Wanted Man' - Chai Langxin (I think I mistyped his name), the Kingpin of Xiamen's Smuggling Underground World, currently awaiting 'repatriation' to China from Canada.

Maybe I was one of his first targets when I was a tourist there? There were these restaurants where single visiting men were seated together with lovely beauties who tucked into yourmeal while allowing their hands to travel up your legs.
Then the bill arrived before you had finished it - in my case it was a whopping588 kuai. I guess the '88' was just the good-luck icing on the cake, the '5' mattered the most. I didn't have the money on me so I walked a posse of thugs and lovelies to the front gate of the Overseas Chinese Hotel, then talked to the receptionist about the police needing to come soon.
I got rid of the extortionists and do regret not having spent more time in lovely Xiamen. It's probably safer now that the Big Gun is 'abroad'.