Questions - Transferring to/living in Guangzhou

[joshuawbb]

Hi everyone,

Firstly, sorry to be again posting with quite a few questions. I spent some considerable time researching through this forum and elsewhere for answers to my questions and found some very good information. But I really want to be sure about things related to my personal situation, so I'm asking here and would really appreciate some advice. I have a few questions about some very quickly changed plans:

I'll explain my situation - in June I will be arriving in China and starting a language course at Xiamen University's Overseas College. The course is for one year and is a Mandarin course - my aim is to gain HSK Level 6 to move on to degree study later. I hope to gain this after my year's study and very highly intensive study myself too (I know from the views and experiences of others too that HSK 6 is likely very, very difficult to achieve in a year. But I'd like to leave that issue aside here, no worries).

My girlfriend and I were going to meet here in Xiamen and be close together, and have been together internationally-long-distance for a long time. However due to something urgent this is no longer possible, and she will be moving a fair distance away close to Guangzhou.

I have not yet entered China as mentioned, but I now have my flight booked for June 26th, my X Visa obtained and virtually everything is set and ready. I will be proceeding with my course in Xiamen because there is nothing I can change about it regarding the location. For that year we are not at all going to abandon our relationship and will stay together.

As I said, my plan is then to do degree study after obtaining my HSK 6. For info, I am 18, almost freshly out of UK college and will get my A-Levels soon after my exams. To be with my girlfriend, after I finish my year in Xiamen and get what I need, I want to move to Zhongshan, Jinan or perhaps a similar university in Guangzhou for my degree study instead of the original plan of staying in Xiamen. My eyes are set on Zhongshan but of course, I should keep options open. I'd like to ask:

--My X Visa is related to my one year study at Xiamen so far. Should I then do degree study, I presume I can apply for my next visa for that, and providing that starts to go as planned, do you think it will be relatively painless to then apply for Zhongshan?

--What are the general living costs in Guangzhou - related to renting apartments? Xiamen is generally moderately-priced, and I expect Guangzhou will be higher. My budget feels fine to me, but of course my parents want to be reassured that the bank won't be breaking.

Apart from some red tape confusion, getting my visa after acceptance by Xiamen University was relatively painless. I'm hoping that - despite of course my applying for a degree course next - my experience will be similar. But I am less experienced with the formalities of getting a second visa; it boggles my mind a little.

Once again sorry to be the one asking frequent questions like this. Maybe I'm just rather inexperienced as of now of all these formalities and find myself in need of pushing sometimes. I really appreciate it, and during my exams I'll try to be here as best I can.

Just for extra info, about the 30 day visa expiry, Xiamen University is allowing me to register and pay tuition fees early, meaning I should be fine to get my residence permit during my perhaps unusually early arrival time.

[abcdefg]

I would gently suggest you just take it one step at a time. You're all set for Xiamen now. In a year your girlfriend will be long gone and you will have changed your mind half a dozen times about where you want to study next. Just relax and get the first year done before worrying so much about the rest way down the line.

Edited May 31, 2009 at 02:30 AM by abcdefg
clarity

[Lingjian23]

My impression is that it is pretty simple to get access to a Chinese university as a foreign student as long as you have the requisite language skills and decent high school grades. Applying for another university and renewing a visa should be no problem whatsoever (unless they pull some funny visa stunts like they sometimes do).

You CAN get HSK 6 in a year if you are a) talented and B) work very hard. Otherwise I don't think it is very common. Rather than setting goals that might be unrealistic, I would budget 2 years to learn enough to get HSK 6 and try your very best.

[joshuawbb]

Thank you for your guidance. After my first year I'll apply to Zhongshan University if the situation remains the way it is set out to be, and providing the living costs are okay too (I'm flexible regarding cost, but not on a big budget).

Ah, looks like I'll have to work pretty hard then. I'm all set and ready for that, and to be honest I knew there would be many times kicking myself forward with this.