Job Discussion Forums

[garbotara]

I work at Shenzhen Oriental English College. It seems as though the area has gotten even more dangerous than before.They did not even bother to tell the teachers. I live off campus for many reasons.The most important one is that it is not safe to go out at night.
Two days ago I got my bag snatched that had eveything in it including my laptop and passport.Where were the police?It was in the afternoon.No police in sight, it was raining.
In that backwater area- no one spoke English at the police station.I really like the rest of China, but Shenzhen is the pits. There is no culture to speak of and more thieves and pickpockets than any other area of China I have been in before. I have been all over.
So if anyone is even thinking of going to that school. Just forget it.The area is too dangerous and there is not even a store on the campus/They make you feel bad if you want to go off campus. It should be a prison not a school.

[Kurochan]

Where IS your school, anyway?

I'm way west in SZ, near the Bao'an checkpoint. All of a sudden we had this explosion of pickpockets from Xinjiang. THere were (not exaggerating), 15 guys in two blocks in one area near my school. Then, suddenly, they disappeared, and a couple days later I saw a small group of Hui Muslim men walking together, looking like they were laying for somebody. I wonder if they were going out to kick the Uighurs' butts (like, maybe people were pissed at the Uighurs and boycotted Muslim restaurants, making the Hui guys angry that the Uighurs would mess up their business) and that's why they disappeared. I'll probably never know for sure, though.

[jppu]

My wife's best friend works at a joint venture company somewhere in the Shenzhen boon-docks probably not far from your school. Yes, it is very dangerous out there. My wife visited her once and only once and encourages her everyday to get out of there. This poor girl has no life at all because it's bad even in the day time (except that she does get to go to London several times a year on business trips.)

There are a few of these what I call "unofficially autonomous" sections of China where no one seems to have any control. My wife, long before we got married, worked in Tanggu, Bohai Bay in Tianjin. That's the scariest place I've ever been (next to Colon, Panama). It's like you left China and you're in another country all together. No one is in charge. The Lonely Planet book got it right about Tanggu. "The further you go, the worse it gets." An understatement, actually. Sounds like Shenzhen countryside is nearly the same.

[garbotara]

I have been all over this country and never had anything stolen until this year. That is very interesting about the influx of pickpockets.I wonder if they can do nothing to control them.The school is in Bao An. I have an apartment in Nanshan.That area is nice .I feel fine in that area and Futian,etc.Those areas feel more like the China and know and like a great deal.
I really like my students.They have improved a great deal since first semester. I do not have a Chinese helper and do not need one now.The children behave that well.My little munchkins are so funny. They really cheered me up the day after it happened.
So it is not like I hate China. No way. I have been many times in China.If i did not like it I would not have come back.

[Roger]

Shenzhen has been growing too fast, attracting people from literally all walks of life. With the abolition of the duty of Chinese to carry their household registration on them, there has been a nation-wide upswing in migration, and naturally enough, poor peasants flock to the presumably wealthier coastal towns. Shenzhen has been in the headlines for muggings, kidnappings and murder for a while yet, and their police are seriously undermanned; don't hope for improvements in the immediate future. The PLA had to pitch in, but the situation is still unsatisfactory.

[Lanza-Armonia]

Well, It's better that it's petty theft and not the violent muggings why oh-so-often here about back in our respective countries...

Unless... someone has other stories to tell.....

[noodles]

garbotara - i'm glad to see you added a little more to your original post. Not all of Shenzhen is as bad as Baoan, in fact some parts of the city are rather nice.
I have to agree with you, the area your school is in is the pits. I lived in Baoan for a year. I didnt actually have any problems myself and found the locals to be ok, although i was probably just lucky as i often saw very shady characters hanging about. Maybe its due to the fact i've been around these kind of areas in other countries and know how to keep my wits about me, although i'm sure some of it was just luck. As LA said, there is a lot of nasty crimes happen in our own countries. I am certainly happy to be out of Baoan. I do feel sympathy for you and like you said its even worse when you report these things and noone seems to care to much.

[garbotara]