blake Posted May 25, 2007 at 12:38 PM Report Posted May 25, 2007 at 12:38 PM Hi.... im planning to take mandarin course for 1 semester, is anyone know which city is the cheapest one to study. as far as i know is Anhui ( USD $ 1600 for 1 semester include accomodation and meal 3x/day ) but kind a worry as i have never heard about that city any suggestion ? please please please... Quote
xuexiansheng Posted May 25, 2007 at 05:18 PM Report Posted May 25, 2007 at 05:18 PM Anhui isn't a city, its a province.... Did you mean Hefei? The capital? I lived there for 1 year studying at Anhui Daxue. (安大） The schooling was very cheap and the teachers were excellent. The town isn't anything special, but livable. My advice is to live off campus and cook your own meals. It will save you money and get you out into the community more than staying on campus all the time. I lived well (as a student) on 3500$US for the year (back in 04/05). Good luck! 2 Quote
onebir Posted May 26, 2007 at 03:05 AM Report Posted May 26, 2007 at 03:05 AM I think Yunnan Uni & Yunnan Normal in Kunming are in the same price bracket. Quote
venture160 Posted May 26, 2007 at 03:10 AM Report Posted May 26, 2007 at 03:10 AM Just look on the map and pick any city that you've never heard of. Live off campus and cook on your own. You should be able to live on 5K a year fairly easily. Think of cities like Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Hefei, Yantai, etc etc etc 2 Quote
mr.stinky Posted May 26, 2007 at 05:37 AM Report Posted May 26, 2007 at 05:37 AM how many hours of instruction per week at anhui? check the websites, but if i recall correctly yunda is 4400/semester, yunnan normal 4000, both for 14 hours per week with 18 weeks/semester. elcec is 3600 for 10 hours over 20 weeks. agriculture uni charges us$1000/year. shared accomodation in the university area should run 350-500 per month, plus ut's. basic noodle/jiaozi lunch should be under 5, basic restaurant meals 10-20. a beer will run you 8 rmb, 20-40 in the nightclubs. busses are 1 rmb. taxi from the airport 30-35, and after the bars close you can get home for 10-15. you can pick up a cheap, used cellphone for 100 rmb or so, plus another 50 or so per month of service fee and minutes. there are enough westerners that you won't feel lost, but not so many that you can't get the immersion you're looking for. Quote
ooppzz Posted May 28, 2007 at 04:31 AM Report Posted May 28, 2007 at 04:31 AM I think it would be taiwan or HK..... but you have to undertand the pro's and con's of those places... Quote
blake Posted May 28, 2007 at 06:23 AM Author Report Posted May 28, 2007 at 06:23 AM thx so much for your information guys... Quote
onebir Posted May 29, 2007 at 02:22 AM Report Posted May 29, 2007 at 02:22 AM I think it would be taiwan or HK..... I've only been to HK, but everything there is way more expensive than in mainland China. So I'd be curious to know why ooppzz thinks it'd be cheaper to study there... 1 Quote
Sem Posted October 18, 2015 at 09:27 PM Report Posted October 18, 2015 at 09:27 PM Hey guys, I know this thread is very old, but I was wondering if the statement still stands. Is Hefei still cheap? I'm running on a tight budget and would like to study Mandarin for a year pretty much anywhere my budget can cover. 1 Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:02 AM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:02 AM Guizhou University in Guiyang, Guizhou? Warm regards, Chris Two Times 1 Quote
Sem Posted October 19, 2015 at 01:21 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 01:21 PM Yes, I think Guizhou University would be very inexpensive. What about Guiyang, Chris Two Times? Have you ever been to the city itself? Is it a good place to study? Quote
somethingfunny Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:06 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:06 PM Spent a year in Guiyang. Awesome place. I believe the university is a little outside the city in the 花溪 area which is a little inconvenient for getting your hardcore Guiyang party on. No idea what its like to study there, sorry. I went to the campus once and it seemed pretty nice. 2 Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:30 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:30 PM I've been to Guiyang twice on two business trips, once in September 2013 and once in April 2015. I like the city. It still seems to have a rough edge that Chengdu had circa 2002. I like such cities (am a big fan of Chongqing and the Southwest in general. I like it rough and raw...ermm...please don't take that quote out of context ). Not many foreigners down those parts, so the locals may be curious about you and open to chatting with you, that is, if you can slog through their Guizhouhua. I'm sure you can find people who speak putonghua down those parts though...putonghua with Southwest characteristics. I think Guizhou province is severely underrated. Everyone talks up Yunnan and Sichuan (admittedly for good reason!) but the food and travel of Guizhou can also be quite good and give you an "off the beaten path" sense. Last time I checked, I believe GuiDa's tuition was 11,000 for a year...one of the cheapest uni programs in all of the Middle Kingdom? Warm regards, Chris Two Times 1 Quote
somethingfunny Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:38 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 02:38 PM The food in Guiyang is the best I've had in China. The number of foreigners is on the increase but still very low. There are some legit western bars there now though. While the countryside in Guizhou is absolutely fantastic, it's becoming more popular with domestic tourists and the high speed rail line from Guangzhou to Guiyang is only going to exacerbate this. I was in Hong Kong during the summer and there were adverts everywhere for Guizhou! If you apply for the CSC government scholarship the fees will be zero RMB which definitely is the cheapest in the middle kingdom! 3 Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 19, 2015 at 03:01 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 03:01 PM To mix it up though and to add to this, I believe Bohai University in Jinzhou, Liaoning province and Mudanjiang Normal University in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province cost a cool 10,000 in tuition for a year's study. I am not sure about the quality of their programs though. As both of those places seem to be in third-tier cities, I imagine day-to-day costs could be quite low in those places. From Xinan to Dongbei! Warm regards, Chris Two Times 1 Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 19, 2015 at 03:41 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 03:41 PM If you apply for the CSC government scholarship the fees will be zero RMB which definitely is the cheapest in the middle kingdom! Hear, hear! somethingfunny's words definitely win the top prize here. You always gotta go with the free money! Applying for the CSC government scholarship should always be one's first step in making a year of Mandarin study in the Middle Kingdom a reality. Some time soon, I am hoping to take 1-2 years off from working to study Mandarin full-time in the PRC. I am prepared to and able to pay out of pocket to do this, but I am going to apply for the CSC first and I do hope I get it--free study is always sweeter than a cherry pie with Ready-Whip topping! Sem, play around with the following website to see what places have programs and at what cost. Also...do seriously consider applying for the CSC to try to get a free year of Mandarin study! http://www.csc.edu.cn/laihua/universityen.aspx Click on any university, then scroll down about 2/3 of the page to the fine print on the right side ("All Programs") and then click on the "Non-degree" box. Words like "Chinese Language" are what you are looking for to gauge the types of programs and costs. Happy hunting for your "perfect program"! Warm regards, Chris Two Times 2 Quote
Sem Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:20 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:20 PM Thanks, guys! You've been really helpful. Been watching some videos on Guiyang and Guizhou in general, and I found it pretty great. Chris Two Times, I'll be sure to check the other cities as well, since I have plenty of time to prepare.Guizhou University's website is pretty easy to navigate and pretty straightforward with instructions on how to apply, but the same can't be said for pretty much every other website I used so far. How exactly would I apply for a scholarship? Always found the instructions provided by official websites extremely confusing, and that's true for pretty much every country.Cheers! Quote
Sem Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:27 PM Report Posted October 19, 2015 at 04:27 PM Oh, sorry, hadn't seen the last part of your instructions, Chris Two Times! Thanks a lot for the info Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 20, 2015 at 08:20 AM Report Posted October 20, 2015 at 08:20 AM Yeah, even though Guizhou University isn't a top-ranked university and is in a much less developed area of China, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information one can get from their website about studying at their university. I agree with you, Sem, I have found that many (most?) other university websites don't really have any information about their Chinese language programs for foreigners. Good luck with it all and enjoy the search! Warm regards, Chris Two Times 1 Quote
Chris Two Times Posted October 20, 2015 at 12:20 PM Report Posted October 20, 2015 at 12:20 PM Sem, Check out this website to get an idea about applying for a Chinese Government Scholarship for the 2016-2017 academic year. The application period will begin in January, 2016 and end around March or April, 2016. http://www.csc.edu.cn/laihua/scholarshipdetailen.aspx?cid=97&id=2070 I agree: the instructions for applying can be confusing so it's good to look over things now to try to make sense of it all. It's good to look at some of the websites now to think about how you will apply and to gather your application materials. The application period will come soon enough! Then you will see a lot of posts from people here about applying for a scholarship. Also, check this out from chinese-forums. Expect a similar thread to emerge for 2016. I find that people are extremely helpful in explaining the application process: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/47670-csc-scholarship-applicationsresults-2015/ Warm regards, Chris Two Times 1 Quote
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