Job Discussion Forums

dog8food · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 60

Looking for decent-sized cities that contain universities without huge amounts of smog. Any suggestions?

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

Try Shantou.

igorG · Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 1473 Location: asia

If smog doesn't kill you, the Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant, which is not so far, may. Smile

But i agree it's a nicer seaside town that i think has got a special economic zone status.

Baozi man · Joined: 06 Sep 2011 Posts: 214

Dust, smog, noise, and traffic congestion. Avoid them all. The dust in some places is horrific. It's really not dust, it's fine dirt; it's every where, including your eyes and lungs.

If you want to have some quality of life, such as peace and quiet, clean air and lack of traffic congestion, consider smaller cities.

One positive, recent development is the relocation of many universities to more rural areas outside of major cities. These places, perhaps a one hour bus trip from a large city, can have an entirely different atmosphere than the large city it is near.

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

thefuzz · Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 271

Zhuhai, Xiamen, Shantou, Guilin, Kunming...

Baozi man · Joined: 06 Sep 2011 Posts: 214

Mr. BK, Been there too. Paid ~650RMB/mo, including utilities, for a three bedrom flat with two bathrooms. Only dust was what I raised putting in a garden in my yard. Nice and quiet most of the time. Great environment. That was a while ago, however. Things change. That's one advantage to being here. You can look around and not end up living in a rathole in a dirty, freezing, noisy, congested, smoggy city.

For an FT, the living arrangements have the greatest possibility of ruining the China experience. Classrooms are just hours a week. When your home life is hell due to noise, that's hell.

dog8food · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 60

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback.
Being a small-towner myself, I'd much rather live/work in a smaller city or rural area. Just trying to find such universities so I can start applying.

igorG · Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 1473 Location: asia

Jiangmen, Zangjiang in Southern Guangdong, or Beihai in Southern Guangxi are smaller and little cleaner as for the air.

sistercream · Joined: 18 Dec 2010 Posts: 497 Location: Pearl River Delta

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

I live in a small town now and I quite enjoy it. I can ride my bicycle 4 minutes from my school and be surrounded by cornfields and farmers. The sky is crystal blue and there is never smog. There is a farmer's market half a mile from my school which supplies all manner of fresh produce at very low prices. The people are very friendly and the food is good. However, I would agree that if you don't speak Chinese living in a small town would be very difficult. I can make Chinese friends, and meet women who only speak Chinese, but if I couldn't speak Chinese I'd be restricted to the few other foreigners in this town and my students, who are not viable romantic options. BTW my town has a pop of around 300k. But I can walk across the whole town in like 2-3 hours, and a taxi anywhere in the town is under 8 yuan. There is no smog. Also, I don't care but some people would have a problem with this, there are no western products at all. No cheese or butter in the whole town, not a lot of western liquor, no good western food, but to me that's fine, I like the Chinese stuff better anyways, well at least the food.

Mike E · Joined: 06 Oct 2011 Posts: 132

sistercream · Joined: 18 Dec 2010 Posts: 497 Location: Pearl River Delta

Zhuhai itself doesn't have nearly as much industry as places like Zhongshan or Dongguan; in fact by mainland Chinese standards I'd say it's remarkably clean.
The caveat with that is that in winter the prevailing winds are from the north, so you do get a fair whiff of industrial areas' smog.
Nevertheless, I've heard more people there complain about the tropical humidity than about the smog.