Does Anyone Live in Xi'an?

[david1978]

I'd like to find out more about day-to-day living in this historic city. Information about the nightlife situation, the expat community, if there is one, and schools where I may study Chinese, would be greatly appreciated. I spent a few days in Xi'an when I backpacked through China, but the city has left a lasting impression. I was especially entranced by the Muslim quarters.

If you live or have lived in Xi'an, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Thanks

[simplyolaf]

I haven't been to Xian yet but will be moving there at the beginning of next year. My wife was there recently and she very much loved it.

[tigerfish]

I am from Xi'an and i am working in Iran!

My msn:lq_huichen@hotmail.com

U can add me:)

[Pravit]

I've been in Xi'an for a month and will be staying for most of the summer to study Chinese. I'm at Jiaotong University and think their Chinese classes are pretty good, and they go up to fairly advanced levels. It's also in a fairly convenient location, only a few bus stops outside the city walls. You can check out the website for foreign students here: http://sie.xjtu.edu.cn/index.php

Apart from Jiaotong, there seemed to be tons of foreign students at 外国语学院 when I went to take the HSK, but they must have come through a program of some sort, because I could never find any information about that school's Chinese courses online. There's also 师范大学, which has a decent website if you look around for it. Those two schools are pretty far from the city center, but at least the city around there feels very new - lots of newly built shopping centers, restaurants, etc.

I have no idea about the nightlife situation and the expat community, but there probably is one if you look around for it.

As for the city itself, to be honest I don't think it's a terribly interesting travel destination. Apart from your typical Zhonglou and Gulou, there's nothing to see here except the 大雁塔(Big goose pagoda) and the city walls. Of course, there's 兵马俑 and a few other tombs around outside the city, but they aren't terribly interesting. I don't know when you went, but the Muslim quarter was awfully touristy when I visited a few weeks ago. However, the city has a nice fairly central location, so you could use it as a base to visit other places - Gansu, Henan, Sichuan...

If you don't care too much about travel, it's a pretty good environment to study Chinese - people around here, esp. the universities, speak pretty standard northern-style Mandarin. It's smaller than Beijing, so it's easier to get a feel for the city and taking buses is much more convenient - there's almost always a bus that goes where you want to go, so you rarely have to switch buses. As for food, people seem to eat a lot of noodles and other 面-based stuff around here. Sichuan and Hunan restaurants also seem very popular.

Feel free to ask any other questions about Xi'an...

[tigerfish]

I agreed upstairs friend, it seems to me u know Xi'an very much.

but as for food, we have many delicious special snack except for noodle.

I strongly suggest u to go eat snack, u will like them.

[gougou]

Hey tigerfish, how about recommending some snacks you consider particularly good?

[tigerfish]

GouGou i can give u some suggestion. But i don't know how to tell u the snacks by English, i just can give u the Chinese name.

For instance:羊肉泡馍、牛肉泡馍、葫芦头泡馍、灌汤包、时辰包子、炒凉粉、烤牛筋

面皮、米皮、蜂蜜粽子and so on!

[gougou]

Great, I am sure David will appreciate that when he is there! And so will I, when I someday get there again

[tigerfish]

You're welcome GouGou.

by the way where are you from?

[Puyopuyo]

Hi David,

i'm in Charge of a Xian expat website, and also live here for almost 3 years. It's a really nice chinese city big but not too much.

You may find some usefull information here

http://www.chinagrooves.com/

fell free to contact me as well if you need some information

my mail