Job Discussion Forums

[JoeThePlumber]

I have job offers from universities in two places -- Changsha (Hunan) and Jiujiang (Jiangxi). I have visited Changsha before, and it was okay. Never been to Jiujiang.

What do the regulars here think? If you had your choice of a uni job where would you go?

[GeminiTiger]

I lived in Jiangxi for three years though further to the south. Jiujiang looks like its near Nanchang.

Nanchang is the most boring provincial capital I've ever been in (I've been in a lot) it doesn't even have a Starbucks and just 1 or 2 McDonalds. Forget any of the trendy or foreign western things possible in Jiangsu or a more eastern developed city.

To be fair, Jiangxi doesn't have much development in the way of factories so the sky at night is often visible and blue skies are not uncommon. Of course this will vary a bit by city.

In Nanchang I never saw anything but a grey sky and the entire capital is also painted almost entirely in grey it seems, for whatever reason the smaller cities seem to have followed this painting scheme.


In regards to Jiujiang, apparently, Bai Juyi (772-846 CE) wrote a poem called "Lute Song", which is about his sadness and isolation of forced exile as a middle rank official to reside in such a small town.

So, there you go, maybe something has changed since 846--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiujiang

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Living in Changsha might be better, it has 7m people compared to Nanchang's 5m people. (And you would be living in a much smaller city). However say goodbye the night sky and air quality.

Both places will be cold in winter and hot in summer.

[randyj]

I second Tiger's opinion. I have spent quite a lot of time in Changsha, but only visited Jiujiang once. Jiangxi Province is even more of a backwater than Hunan. All other things being equal, Changsha wins hands down.