| Choosing a city | |
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| Apr 14, 2008 22:49 |   |
| guestTrav | Hello everyone! I've done some research, read some blogs, tour guides, etc but am still looking for a bit more information. I will be moving to China and staying for at least 1-2 years. I am getting TEFL certified for teaching (I am a current student and don't have a BA yet) in Suzhou. However I haven't decided where I want to teach. Only real necessities are I don't like really cold weather (like Suzhou from what I've read), pretty cheap cost of living, and reasonably available internet access. Anyway, if you have any city stories, recommendations, or anything else, please feel free! Thanks for any info. |
| Apr 15, 2008 00:52 | #1 |
 | haha! I think you need to define "really cold"... Suzhou perhaps gets down to 0 in winter which is pretty warm compared with -20 in the north east of China. If you want "warm" winters you need to head south (and perhaps West). Most places in China are cheap. Obviously the bigger the city the higher the cost of living. If you want to go to Beijing/Shanghai... the living costs will be higher. The wages tend to be higher too, for obvious reasons. Most of the salaries offered by schools allow a VERY comfortable standard of living in China, far better than the average... and with no utilities and housing costs... etc. Internet access is readily available in most places, schools will set it up for you or help you out. Something to consider is the size of a city. I am in a city of 500,000 people which makes it about the third biggest city in my native England... but here in China it's tiny. The facilities are very limited, no train station, about 1 bar, (KFC.... unfortunately that HAS arrived here), no cinema etc and there are practically no foreigners. You need to consider what you want. There's a hundred cities for every occasion in China. Do you want quiet or lively? Rural or urban? Clean or polluted (not much choice here!)? Inland or on the coast? Think about the climate, the North is dry but the winters are freezing with snow, the south is wet and humid but the winters are "realtively" warm. Do you need a pub, a gym, night clubs, Western food (apart from KFC) etc... if the answer to this is YES then I would suggest going for a city with at least a population of 1 million. Here's a few things for starters.. Good Luck. |
| Apr 15, 2008 11:40 | #2 |
| Suzhou has about 6 million population and has all that you've described, pub, gym, night clubs, western food...though I do not think it is cheap in terms of living cost especially in housing. However, it is a very good place with natural scenery and urban life at the same time and is well situated among major cities like Shanghai (1 hr train ride), Changzhou, Nanjing and Hangzhou. |
| Apr 17, 2008 22:25 | #3 |
| GUESTTRAV | Hey, thanks guys. Yeah, I'll have to stick it out in Suzhou for my initial training but doubt I'll stay. I don't really care for Western comforts for the most part. KFC, definitely don't need one of those. Weather isn't a huge issue, I just don't want snow year round. I've been looking at Xian or (Xi'an someplaces) but haven't found definitive cost of living information. I will be okay with smaller cities, but I would like a train station as I plan on traveling during my off time. However, population of Westerners or Western flare really isn't of importance. Thanks for the info! |
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