Beijing Film Academy vs Xi'an Jiaotong University

[mitch]

Hi

I'm planning on studying Chinese in China next year, and thanks to all the useful information on this forum I've been able to narrow my schools of choice down to two: Beijing Film Academy and Xi'an Jiaotong University.

I'd really like to hear some pros and cons of studying at each, since the only information I can get is off the Internet and possibly more or less biased. Which one would you pick and why? And has anyone here studied Mandarin at Xi'an Jiaotong before?

Thanks a lot, this forum is such a great help.

Cheers

Mitch

[xianu]

I have been casing out schools in both Beijing and Xi'an to bring students on a short-term study abroad, and I just got back from China, after interviews with the administrators of several campuses in both Xi'an and Beijing. I began with the assumption that most language programs are basically the same - some have better teachers, or better organization, but the basic chinese language training in most public universities in China are about the same. (Feel free to disagree with me on this) And good teachers tend to be luck of the draw, anyway. Based on interviews with teachers/administrators and walking around the campuses, checking out the classes and talking with students at the schools, I think this still stands. The overall student experience at all the schools was enthusiastic. As far as how well the students performed or improved, it all really seemed to depend on the individual students' own diligence. So mostly I was looking for the pros and cons of living in Beijing versus Xi'an.

One of the pros often listed for Beijing is that most everyone you encounter in the streets, etc. speaks standard mandarin. However, the "er" accent is strong and if you really pick it up, you end up with a regional accent (not that it is bad, it actually makes you sound more natural). In Xi'an, they can all speak standard mandarin, and will do so unless you show that you know the regional dialect. The downside is that if you like to practice your listening by eavesdropping (sp?) on people around you, you are likely to hear Shaanxi dialect, which is somewhat comprehensible, but has non-standard tones/ pronunciation (i.e., you may subconsciously pick up on the regional "messed up tones" and drive your teachers crazy). Another pro for Beijing is that there are GREAT bookstores, if you want to do research in Chinese lit, history, film, etc. Lots of good bookstores, and one really great one in Wudaokou (Wansheng shudian - 10,000 sages or all sages bookstore).

Cons with Beijing/pros for Xi'an: BJ has a big city feel that wasn't there 10 years ago. Really loud, the smell of deisel or other fumes, and the feeling of being much more crowded than Xi'an. Also, the availability of western cuisine, conveniences, etc. are all over, as are the many other international residents of BJ, much more than in XA. Although XA is a major tourist city, the resident foreigners are less, and I think the flavor of China is stronger there, as opposed to Beijing's very modern facade. Plus it has excellent historical sites I can use to enhance cultural/historical lectures for my students.

One notable difference in the XA schools is that the administrators and teachers were MUCH MORE accommodating, and willing to work with me to design the program the way I wanted. This is mostly due to the fact that there are so many fewer international students in Xi'an as compared with the BJ schools which seem to be overrun with foreign students. The teachers and the administrators were much mroe helpful and while everyone was friendly, and everyone was busy (seems a lot of US universitiies make their site visits in May after school gets out), the Xi'an folks seemed much more sincere and honestly friendly than the folks in BJ.

In the end I chose Xi'an because I think it will be a better overall place for my students to experience "China", particularly on the short-term basis, and I felt they were more likely to be helpful for my students than the schools in BJ. I also chose it because I felt I myself, would be more comfortable in XA than BJ, but I know from posts that many other people enjoy the feel of BJ, and the sense of being at the cultural/political center of China.