Xiamen University

[jacki]

So I've been looking at Xiamen University for a study abroad next year, and Xiamen looks really really beautiful ( and I am so done with snow for a while ) and the school seems great, but does anyone know how well you can get by out in the city with just Mandarin? I know they speak a Minnan dialect there, but how widespead is Mandarin, and would the lack of Mandarin in public be counterproductive for studying Mandarin at school? I emailed the overseas office and they told me that "Mandarin is absolutely the main language here" and that Minnan is only spoken in people's homes and with close friends. Is that true? As superficial as it is, I really want to live by an ocean, and if Mandarin is going to cut it in Xiamen, it looks like a great place to spend a year...

Edited to add: I've noticed on their website that there is an 11:00 curfew for students living on campus? Is this a normal thing in China or is Xiamen weird in this respect?

[mpallard]

I've just been to Xiamen once for a couple of days but I was pretty impressed with the city. It was pretty clean and I've always thought that it would be a nice place to study.

I did hear some Minnan话 but whatever, every place seems to have their own dialect.

So yeah, from my very superficial experience in Xiamen I think that if it was me I'd go study there.

As for the cerfew thing, just get a room off campus and then you don't have to worry about it.

[Jonny Wang]

Don't worry about using Mandarin in Xiamen. It's everywhere. I've visited a friend there a couple of times. He and I & all of his foreign friends there pretty much only speak Mandarin, and they do just fine. Xiamen is a beautiful city! Wish I'd done my language study there!

[wix]

I lived in Xiamen a few years ago. In the time I was there I don't remember hearing much Minnan being spoken. I think it is because Xiamen is a special economic zone and many people from all over China come to live there so Mandarin functions as the main language.

Don't worry, you won't have any trouble learning Mandarin there. And it is a very nice city to live in.

[Yang Rui]

Re the curfew: there was no curfew when i studied at uni in China. I don't know if that means Xiamen is weird, but curfews don't seem to be universal. Depending on how long you're there, you might consider renting an apartment. I think it's certainly worth it for anything over 6 months because you can have Chinese friends round as late as you like and have parties, which may not be possible in uni accomodation.

I've been to Xiamen, and like everybody else found no problem speaking Mandarin there. However, if i had to choose a place to study for a year, i would choose Qingdao (just to totally throw you!) because it's by the sea, still warm and sunny (but less humid and energy-draining), and the beer and food is much more to my taste.

[Kristyx]

I’ve read a lot about how nice the university campus is, but I haven’t actually found any comments about the teaching quality or method, class sizes etc. Can anyone comment?

[Ridgewell]

I'm thinking about going to China in a year or two to study Chinese. I've heard so many good comments about the city of Xiamen, but anyone has a study experience to share ? And, is there many non-Chinese asian students studying chinese at the university or it's mostly westeners ?

Thanks