Problems for non chinese speaking couple living in Chengdu?

[Shadowdh]

Hi there all,

I have a quick question about living in Chengdu... A friend and his family (Him, his wife and their son (a couple of years old or so) have the chance to work in Chengdu for a while maybe a year and they would like to know what its like for a non Chinese speaking family to live and work there, possible? Hard? Problems? Now if its anything like Wuhan I would say they may strike difficulties but it would not be insurmountable, however I have not lived in or even been to Chengdu... so for those who do/have how would they go? They have lived in Malaysia for a year or so and are now in Singapore for a few months... and have asked my advice re living in China and specifically Chengdu, general advice about China aint a problem, but specific advice is... many thanks for any advice at all... cheers

[Xiao Kui]

I lived in Chengdu from 2002-2004. There are plenty of people who speak English there, especially high school and college students. Ideally they would meet someone who wants to improve their spoken English at an English corner and that person could help them do the things that take some Chinese to get done (getting an apartment, setting up phone lines and internet, etc)

I think Chengdu is also good for families b/c there's lots for kids to do. The only thing bad is traffic, pollution, and it's very cloudy and humid. Surrounding Sichuan is beautiful. Just an hour or so outside Chengdu is very beautiful countryside.

[roddy]

It'll all be doable, but as they've got a young son it might make sense for one of them to head out earlier to sort out accommodation and then bring the rest of the family out. Apartment hunting is never fun, in a foreign country where you don't speak the language with a toddler in tow is hardly going to improve it.

What kind of job? If it's a full ex-pat package type of thing I'd expect the company to do a lot of the leg-work or cover relocation costs, that would soften the blow a lot. If not and they have to do stuff themselves - well, it's not impossible, you just need to be a bit intrepid and not get excessively stressed.

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the info chaps...

Roddy, pretty sure it will be an expat type of deal.

I will check up a bit more and then relay your info... cheers

[roddy]

In that case the company should be geared up to cushion their landing and the major hassles - accommodation, childcare, should be that much easier, and they'll probably be able to borrow staff from the firm for translation and so on.

[Lugubert]

For some reasons that I'm not entirely clear about, I'm getting increasingly interested in Chengdu.

I plan to visit Chengdu in a month or two (leaving Sweden for Shanghai on August 20), for an indeterminate period of time in China (dual entry, 6 months visa. Multiple entry as soon as the Olympics finish?). I hope Chengdu will be a convenient stepping stone for the Tibet train, but I don't rule out staying (or returning) there for improving my close to nonexistent speaking and listening comprehension skills. (Translating from Chinese isn't too bad, though.)