Job Discussion Forums

[Paladinlaw]

I have been teaching overseas for the last 7 years including both China and Ethiopia. This is the first time I've felt it necessary to do this.

Northwest University for Nationalities (NUN) is an unpleasant place to work and live. Among the foreign teachers here this term, there will be a greater than 70% turnover. Salary is low, living conditions are very poor, the personnel in the Foreign Affairs Office are mostly incompetent, and support is functionally nil.

Lanzhou itself is not a bad place to live, if you don't mind brutal cold and pollution. The people are friendly, there are supermarkets that sell a small selection of Western groceries and there are a number of interesting places to see when the weather's nice. The Gansu Foreign Experts Office provides a nice holiday at a fancy hotel each spring. There are other universities in the area that have much better environments that NUN. I would advise that, if you are planning to come to Lanzhou, you seek out one of the others.

[therock]

One post in six years Should we expect your next post in 2018?

Anyhow to the topic:

Sorry maxand, I beat you this time - Lanzhou is a dump!! Why anyone would want to live there is beyond me.

[Paladinlaw]

Maybe 2018, maybe earlier, maybe later. Who knows?

This is the only place in China where I haven't felt safe. One of the other laowai was attacked and beaten in his apartment in the Foreign Experts Building. I was the only other person who saw the attacker and so have had to have an escort if I go out at night.

Yes, Lanzhou is a dump!

[DosEquisX]

Isn't Lanzhou the most polluted city in China?

I'm too lazy to look it up.

[Paladinlaw]

It sure is. Although, it hasn't been too bad the last couple of weeks since they were sprucing up for the international marathon they had last week.

[Laoshi1950]

According to the World Health Organization (September 2011), Lanzhou is China's most-polluted provincial capital city.

The WHO report focuses on air particles known as PM10s (microscopic vehicle and dust specks of less than 10 micrometers, in 121 micrograms per cubic meter).

The China Briefing website (http://www.china-briefing.com) says that the WHO data was compiled from China�s own official sources, the China Statistical Yearbook. That website asserts that the Yearbook is not noted for its overall accuracy and has a tendency to massage data in the State�s favor.

The WHO recommends an upper limit of 20mcg for PM10s, which can cause serious respiratory problems including lung cancer.

The WHO lists the 12 most-polluted cities as -

(PM10mcg)
1. Lanzhou 150
2. Xining 141
3. Urumqi 140
4. Jinan 123
5. Beijing 121
6. Xi'an 113
7. Hefei 111
8. Chengdu 111
9. Shenyang 110
10. Taiyuan 106
11.Wuhan 105
12. Chongqing 105

On a more 'positive' note, the least-polluted cities measured by their PM10 levels were listed, in order, as 1. Haikou (38 ), 2. Hong Kong (47), 3. Lhasa (50), 4. Nanning (50), 5. Fuzhou (64), 6. Kunming (67).