Live in Chengdu or Wuhan?

[n00dles]

Hi there

At the end of the year i'm hoping to study in China for 6+ months.

My options for places to live are Chengdu or Wuhan, and I need some more information about these 2 cities to help me make up my mind.

1) Weather. I get the impression the weather can be quite extreme in both places: how easy is it to cope with the weather in these 2 places?

2) Size of city, how easy is it to get around, get used to

3) What is the cost of living in these 2 cities? (I'd like to get by without working for 6 months if possible, so that i can concentrate on my language learning.)

4) What uni's/language courses would you recommend in these 2 places?

Any information, tips and advice gratefully received! Thank you!

[Prodigal Son]

Everyone speaks 四川话 in Chengdu, that might make learning more difficult for you. I don't know what local dialect they speak in Wuhan, but I suspect that it might be more suited to learning mandarin.

Aside from that, I recommend Chengdu. I've been to Wuhan and to most major cities in China and find Chengdu to be an outstanding place to live by comparison.

[onebir]

Everyone speaks 四川话 in Chengdu, that might make learning more difficult for you. I don't know what local dialect they speak in Wuhan, but I suspect that it might be more suited to learning mandarin.

Judging from this map, the dialects in Chengdu and Wuhan are both varieties of 'South Western Mandarin'. It's possible that one or the other is more similar to Putonghua, but I doubt it'd make much difference.

Although I've never been to either place, I've generally heard good things about Chengdu - & not so good things about Wuhan...

[n00dles]

Thanks for those comments!!

So what makes Chengdu such a good place to live in your opinion?!

[Prodigal Son]

So what makes Chengdu such a good place to live in your opinion?!

- The food, in my opinion, is the best in China. I like spicy food.

- Sichuan province is known for having the most beautiful women. They are tender, too, which is a lead-in to the next point:

- The attitude and vibe of the city is the most laid back and friendly of any large city I've been to in China. A world of difference between Shanghai, for example.

- It's still cheap, for the most part

- A large foreigner community. This is a plus or a minus depending on how you see it.

- Chengdu is a city of great historical significance to China, lots of sights to see in and around the city including pandas

[中国男子汉]

I used to live in both the two cities, and be honest, I like neither. LOL

Wuhan was dirty and hot in summer

While in Chengdu, it seems few people speak Mandarin and one problem that always haunted me was that I couldn't understand most people's language.

[onebir]

Sichuan province is known for having the most beautiful women. They are tender, too

Note however that Zhejiang province is also known for having the most beautiful women. And someone told me Sichuan women are sometimes known as 辣妹子 - referring to their tempers (as well as sexiness)...

(Also, do we want to make assumptions about the gender/sexuality of the OP?)

[Prodigal Son]

Note however that Zhejiang province is also known for having the most beautiful women. And someone told me Sichuan women are sometimes known as 辣妹子 - referring to their tempers (as well as sexiness)...

I haven't heard that, as many times as I've been in Zhejiang. Anytime you mention Sichuan outside of Sichuan the two things mentioned are always: 1. the food 2. the women

I'm not concerned with the sexual orientation of the OP, he asked why I think Chengdu is a good place to live.

[onebir]

Note however that Zhejiang province is also known for having the most beautiful women. And someone told me Sichuan women are sometimes known as 辣妹子 - referring to their tempers (as well as sexiness)...

I just meant to be a little skeptical about any claim that province x has the most beautiful women. The answer might well depend on regional rivalries &/ ideals of beauty as much as anything. I've also seen westerners say Dongbei women are most beautiful because they like tall women, for example. Also, on the (admittedly fairly rare occasions) I've asked why women from a particular province are beautiful, I've been told it's the local water and mountains. So I think these attitudes border on folk beliefs.

I'm not concerned with the sexual orientation of the OP, he asked why I think Chengdu is a good place to live.

Is the OP a he? Anyway, he/she asked in the context of this original request:

My options for places to live are Chengdu or Wuhan, and I need some more information about these 2 cities to help me make up my mind.

[Prodigal Son]

I just meant to be a little skeptical about any claim that province x has the most beautiful women. The answer might well depend on regional rivalries &/ ideals of beauty as much as anything. I've also seen westerners say Dongbei women are most beautiful because they like tall women, for example. Also, on the (admittedly fairly rare occasions) I've asked why women from a particular province are beautiful, I've been told it's the local water and mountains. So I think these attitudes border on folk beliefs.

Have you walked through Jie Fang Bei in Chongqing or Chun Qi Lu in Chengdu? It's not just body characteristics that create this impression, but an attitude and style. Women from Chengdu and Chongqing dress and act sexy, often to an extent that would be frowned upon in most other regions of China. Sichuan is spicy, put short. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been all around China and noticed that the theme of women in public in Sichuan is actually unique. The folk beliefs seem to come from the reason why this is, from the humidity to Chengdu housing enormous numbers of beautiful women from all around China who were gathered here as warlord concubines in ancient china.

Is the OP a he? Anyway, he/she asked in the context of this original request:

he//she asked:

So what makes Chengdu such a good place to live in your opinion?!

[n00dles]

Thanks for all that info. I'm a girl, so beautiful women are not high on my agenda, but nevermind!

I'm interested in the idea that Chengdu is a laid back, friendly city. That sounds ideal.

However, I am very concerned about not being able to understand peoples Chinese. My comprehension level is BAD, so i don't want to be making things really difficult for myself.

Also, you say:

- It's still cheap, for the most part

Any approx. figures for cost of living? How much is a basic 1 bed apartment?

Thanks again!

[onebir]

Have you walked through Jie Fang Bei in Chongqing or Chun Qi Lu in Chengdu? It's not just body characteristics that create this impression, but an attitude and style. Women from Chengdu and Chongqing dress and act sexy, often to an extent that would be frowned upon in most other regions of China.

Having never been to either place, I'll have to take your word for it...

[Prodigal Son]

Any approx. figures for cost of living? How much is a basic 1 bed apartment?

There's a cost of living thread where I broke down the price of local items including rent recently, check it out.

[monicamars]

in my opinion, chengdu is better for living, which wuhan is better for language learning.

there are several reasons as following:

1. although the local people in wuhan say wuhan dialect, but they also say mandarin chinese most of the time, especially to the travellers.

2. wuhan gathers a large number of universities, its has a good study environment. because many students will to recognize travellers to improve their english or something:mrgreen:

3. wuhan also has various of nice food, and the cost is low. it's convenient to rent a cheap flat, less than 50 Us dollars per month, with all furniture and wiring equipped:mrgreen: .

if you want to stay at hotel, the price is 50 RMB up to thousand RMB per day:mrgreen: .

i think the ordinary hotel room of 50 RMB is also comfortable. decision made by you.

anyhow, i have to agree this

Wuhan was dirty and hot in summer

,but, wuhan is developing and turn to be good.

[magudo]

I'v read some aritcal said that accroding to the data which for summer temperture, many cities summer are hotter than Wuhan right now.

[lilongyue]

My wife is from Hubei, not Wuhan, though. In terms of local dialects, she can understand the Wuhan dialect, even though it's different from her own. She can also understand Sichuan dialects, and people from Sichuan can likewise understand her's. While her dialect and Putonghua overlap in places, it's still quite distinct.

There will be a lot of Wuhanhua spoken in Wuhan, it's a capital afterall, and people who live in capitals tend to be rather proud. When my wife and I have passed through Wuhan on the way to her hometown, she get's treated as badly as I do because the Wuahn locals know she isn't from Wuhan. I wasn't at all impressed by Wuhan, by the way. I've heard good things about Chengdu, but haven't been there.

I live in Hangzhou, a place "known" for it's beautiful women. I haven't yet heard of a place in China where there are ugly women. Personal preferences aside, that kind of talk is mostly stereotypes Chinese have about themselves. It's not much different from when you get the stock reply (from a Chinese person) about people from Wenzhou ("The Jews of China" ) or that Taiwan people speak bad Putonghua (which is BS), or that all Chinese can actually speak Putonghua (more BS). Take all that stuff with a grain of salt.

[Shadowdh]

I am in Wuhan at the moment and have to say I like it alot. Sure its dirty and has a lot more litter than say Beijing or Xian (pretty much the only other cities I have been to in China apart from Chengde) but the people are friendly, helpful and patient with the stupid laowai (that refers to me and my command of the Chinese language btw)... well at least thats my take... The uni I go to is brilliant in terms of teaching and materials and the teachers take a real interest in how well you are understanding the classes and your progress. The food is good but I have to be honest and say that the dishes could use alot more meat in them. Things are cheap to buy and it seems that for most shops you can get the items at the same price as the locals... some places you need to bargain but they start at a decent and reasonable price unlike Beijing for example... this maybe due to the fact that there really arent that many foreigners here...

I can not, however compare it to Chengdu as I have not been there yet, on the beautiful woman front though I can say that I was told before I came here that the most beautiful woman come from Wuhan...

[muyongshi]

They are tender, too, which is a lead-in to the next point:

Where in the world did you here that they are tender. Sichuan women are known to be the most 厉害 in the whole country....

[Prodigal Son]

Where in the world did you here that they are tender. Sichuan women are known to be the most 厉害 in the whole country....

Where did I hear they're tender? Everywhere. Talk to people and that's what they'll tell you. But I wouldn't necessarily believe it without finding out for myself.

I've lived in Sichuan for 3 years, in both Chengdu and Chongqing. Dated dozens of girls and had long relationships with a handful. Traveled all around the country every weekend since I first step foot here, meeting women all along the way and talking about where they're from and how it compares to Sichuan province. I've dated girls from 绵阳，德阳，宜宾， 成都，and 重庆, to name some off the top of my head. If you think Sichuan girls are 厉害 (haha) you should take a trip to Shanghai.

[muyongshi]

Talk to people??

Hmm that's funny because all of my Sichuan friends and just random people on the street (I do live in Sichuan by the way) tell me that they are the 厉害 ones, so.... I guess it just depends on who you talk to you...