Which 2nd tier city to study in?

[Crowmundo]

I have spent a year in the UK learning written Chinese to a basic level - 500 characters, plus moderate spoken ability which I picked up whilst teaching and travelling in China a few years ago. But where to study with the aim of becoming fluent?

Many posts on here seem to indicate a second-tier city such as Dalian, Qingdao etc is a good plan as there are less laowai to distract from learning Chinese, but enough to get a social life.

What are people's thoughts on different second tier cities? I spent only a day in Chongqing last year, but it seemed amazing. I like Xiamen but it is a bit small, Kunming seems OK, and Chengdu is very pleasant. I have never been to Nanjing but it is meant to be great. One big problem is I have no idea about the standard of teaching at universites in these towns, and that has to be a big factor in any decision.

Tristan

[spiff]

Just wanted to second this request, particularly from a quality-of-life angle. Ideally, I'd like to get people's recommendations for places that both offer a good standard of teaching (and practice opportunities) combined with a nice, liveable city. For example, this thread had some great discussion about cities of a reasonable size, less polluted, less expensive, with public areas and parks etc; and this is a 2006 list of 'China's top 10 cities'. Has anyone got thoughts on places that combine teaching/living virtues? Of course, people's ideas of what constitutes a good/fun place to live will differ - all opinions welcome please.

Also, if anyone has seen other resources on the web that give a good summary of either of these issues - best educational institutions/liveable cities - I'd be grateful for some links.

cheers.

[yonglin]

Dalian is very nice, I would say. Actually, it's so clean and tidy that it's bordering on being a bit boring, in my opinion (like a mini-Shanghai). They have a somewhat regional flare to their Chinese accent, but arguably a lot less so than Chongqing, Xiamen, etc. I've no idea about schools there. The number of Westerners did not seem overwhelming, either.

[venture160]

I would also agree that Dailian can get boring. While there are lots of glitzy malls etc, there isn't much in the way of culture. I've only spent a total of 3 weeks in and out of Dalian, but that was my impression. I think on Friday nights the foreign community can be found hanging out at JD's, a popular nightclub, but that was last spring, so things could have changed by then. Seems like a small foreign community but it could get bigger as Intel just decided to build a huge chip plant there.

[kaifaqu crue]

I lived in Dalian for about a year and a half in 2003-2004. It was modernizing rapidly while I was living there, with lots of the older buildings being torn down to make way for all those glitzy malls and apartments, so I can only imagine what it's like now.

I agree that there's really not much in the way of traditional Chinese culture there, because (as far as I understand it) there wasn't much there at all until the Russians took control of it in the late 19th century. As a true city, it's only really been under Chinese control since the mid-1950s.

I thought it was a great place to live, and there was certainly enough going on to keep me occupied. Summer there is especially interesting, as Russian tourists descend on the city and its beaches in droves, and there's a really fun beer festival at Xinghai Square.

I never actually went to university there, but I knew quite a few people who did, and they seemed to enjoy it, more or less. Like in most cities in the northeast, your classes will be mostly comprised of Korea, Russian, and Japanese students. If you're interested, there are some other threads on this forum about specific schools in Dalian that you might want to check out.

When I lived there, the community of English-speaking foreigners was not that big, which, could be either a good or a bad thing as far as being distracted from studying Chinese is concerned.

When it comes down to it, it's a city of 4 million people. so if you're looking for something or want to stay away from something, it will probably be possible to do so if you're willing to put forth the effort.

It is relatively clean, though, so if you're looking for that really gritty big city experience, it's probably not the place to live. However, Shenyang is just 4 or 5 hours up the road...

[mrtoga]

Dalian is a great place to live in the summer. If you are a bar / nightclub person it cannot compare to Beijing / Shanghai etc. but there is a fair bit to do and you can also RELAX here. DUT has the nicest campus environment of the major universities in the city teaching Chinese Language.