Korean Job Discussion Forums

badfish · Joined: 06 Dec 2005

im thinking of finally getting over to china to see what all the fuss is about
what do you all think of these two places in terms of cost, attractions, nightlife, ablility for someone who speaks not a word of chinese to get around?

cheers

shevek · Joined: 29 Jul 2003

was in beijing 6 months or so ago and shanghai 3 years or so ago.
beijing has countless tourist attractions while shanghai is the showpiece city.
if i had to choose i'd go to beijing as a tourist and live in shanghai.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

With the up coming Olympics AND all the traditional cultural stuff...

Beijing is DEFINATELY the place to be a tourist.

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

For tourism of about a week, Beijing.

For tourism of a bit more, Shanghai. While Shanghai isn't really all the good for tourists (though I love that new maglev train from the airport), you have Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou near it, which are all awesome places to go.

Around 2 weeks and over, both, plus other places. I absolutely loved Jinghong.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Beijing is better for cultural/touristic reasons.

I've been to both cities.. and I'd love to go back to Shanghai again.. not sure why.. but it has a real nice energy to it. Wasn't that great from a touristic perspective however.

re:cursive · Joined: 04 Jan 2006

I'd have to agree with the other posters here. I had more fun in Shanghai but saw more in Beijing. I was there 4 years ago though so Beijing might offer more extra-curricular fun now.

Both cities have lots to do and plenty of cool places to kick back or party if that's your thing. I had to look a bit harder in Beijing than Shanghai to find some interesting nightlife.

If you go to Shanghai it's worth considering the trip to Suzhou which is about an hour south on the train if my memory is still OK. I liked that city.

As far as getting by with no Chinese? I didn't have many problems, besides getting lost a few times but that's to be expected. I didn't find any difference between the two cities in regard to this.

It was also a relatively cheap trip...you can keep costs down if you need to.

Have fun.

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

If you've never been to China before, your first stop should be Beijing. Then you can go to other places.

badfish · Joined: 06 Dec 2005

Thanks for all the help guys. Looks like Beijing is more of the way to start off. But I could see Shanghai having that second city / under dog feel to it.

Tigerbeer how does the night life compare?

Thanks again I'll hopefully be going at the end of October