Where should I study?

[missbrokensmile]

I know there have been a lot of topics regarding asking for advice about where to study in China... Hopefully you're not sick of them?

I'm planning on studying in China for a year - either through a university program or language school (I'll decide that once I know where I'm going).

I was thinking about Beijing, but I'm not sure... Can anyone suggest a place to study?

I want to gain a standard Mandarin accent - not like the Mandarin accent in Guangdong - so, I guess a place further up north? Though I don't really have a preference to location. Also, preferably a place without a local dialect or a place where the dialect is not spoken most of the time, again, like Cantonese in the Guangdong province (because I usually get distracted by them and lose focus on learning Mandarin). Also, a relatively cheap place (compared to Shanghai, etc) would be nice, in addition to a place not so heavily polluted, such as Shijiazhuang.

[anonymoose]

If you want the most standard accent and relatively cheap place, then Harbin is the place to go. But it gets very cold in the winter. I've not been there, so I don't know whether it is clean or not, or interesting or not.

Another option would be Dalian. Most people speak standard mandarin. It is also cheap there. The city is relatively clean and orderly, and a nice place to live, although void of any history.

Shenyang has a lot of history, so from that point of view is more interesting. The city is also relatively big (compared with Dalian, though of course smaller than Beijing). I've only been there a couple of times for a couple of days, and it was quite clean then, although Shenyang does have a reputation for air pollution.

Qingdao is also a nice city in Shandong Province. I'd say it is fairly similar to Dalian, being clean and orderly, and by the sea, but has a little more history than Dalian. Again, the mandarin spoken by most people should be fairly standard.

Another option is Tianjin, although I wouldn't recommend it personally. It is a large city, but rather boring.

Anyway, as for dialect, you'll probably find the locals speak differently to what you're taught in class, even in Beijing. So unless you already have a grounding in chinese, you'll find it difficult to understand the locals anywhere at first.

[kdavid]

You mentioned developing a standard accent. You want to hear outside of the class what you hear inside of the class. If this is what you want, stick to the NE. Sure, you'll hear a lot of local stuff, but in the NE the local stuff is Mandarin, not some other local dialect that no one else speaks outside of that area.

Are you only looking to study? Can you deal with not having any other foreigners around? Can you eat mostly only Chinese food? Can you put up with the cold?

If you answered "Yes", Harbin may be a good fit for you.

Going to a city with little to no foreigners will do great things for your Mandarin. Cities with many foreigners also tend to have a lot of English-speaking locals. It's also easy to fall in with foreign crowds and not practice your Mandarin.

If learning the language to fluency is a goal, and you want to get the most out of your time, pick Harbin, or a city like Harbin. Sure, it's -30 outside now, but I don't study outside. I study inside with central heating and a blanket.

[missbrokensmile]

@anonymoose

Wow. Thanks for the recommendations. I'll go and check out those places. The cities by the sea tend to have less pollution, right?

@kdavid

Yeah, I was thinking about sticking to the north east (hopefully by NE you meant north-east) because the mandarin accent I want to pick up is the northern accent, and also a place away from local dialects that are spoken a lot - as that would distract me.

The main reason for going to China is yes, to learn the language and become fluent, but also do some sightseeing/backpacking/tourist-y-sort-of-stuff... so if it's an area with interesting places nearby (ie. go for the weekend and then come back) that would be even better; and obviously a place rich with history would be great too. But truthfully, I could find interesting things to do anywhere, so I'm not really picky...

Also, I'm fine with no foreigners, only eating Chinese food and I can live in any sort of weather.

Harbin sounds interesting with its Russian influence and lack of foreigners. Is there much pollution in Harbin? What's life like in Harbin?

[rlinda_yuya]

I would pick Harbin as a place to study Chinese. I can't wait to begin my semester this summer.

[kdavid]

Is there much pollution in Harbin? What's life like in Harbin?

Sure, there's some, but not a whole lot. It's really not bad at all most days, and we do have a fair number of blue sky days.

Life here is pretty low key. I have two full-time jobs, a wife and a son, so I don't get out much. I have colleagues who have done some traveling/sight-seeing, both locally in the city and elsewhere. There aren't many well-known places nearby, but there's enough within a day's train ride that you can still get a good amount done on your free days.

[zhouhaochen]

isnt it something like -20C in Harbin right now?

brrrrr....:help

[missbrokensmile]

Yeah, I heard it gets down to -30... But I can deal with any sort of weather

However, it's always better to have a few other options. Apart from the places already suggested, does anyone have any other recommendations? Or perhaps further recommendation of the places already mentioned?

[imron]

That's why he's now inside, with central heating and a blanket

[kdavid]

It's currently -30. Tomorrow has a low of -36.

Keys to surviving Harbin winters:

1. Layers. Long johns, thermal undershirts, a good, down-feather coat.

2. Electric blanket and a thick comforter.

3. Don't study Mandarin outside.

[zhouhaochen]

has anybody ever studied in Shijiazhuang? Its close to Beijing (2h train), the accent is very similar to Beijing, should be cheap and I dont think you would be at a risk of speaking a lot of English there?

Was there on a brief trip recently and it seemed rather good for studying Chinese.

But I was only there for half a day, so I might be completely wrong...

[pumpkinlily]

the best place to gain a standard accent of mandarin is 哈尔滨

[jobin]

i am in baoding, between shijiazhuang and beijing. the local public Univ, hebei Univ. offers chinese for foreigners and upwards of 150 students, from Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, usa, canada, etc. attend classes. tuition and other costs probably much lower than BJ. city much smaller than Shijiazhuang or BJ. all lessons geared towards passing HSK, so be ready for that. hardly any Univ offers 'conversational' chinese. situation here like most of china highly authoritarian. the bosses make rules, everyone marches. no backtalk. the rules mostly made by the govt, which includes the Univ. the univ head is the local party educational secretary, so its politics all the way. students are greatly restricted in living quarters and must live, at higher than local market cost, in univ segregated dorms. foreigners only segregation. the teaching methods traditonal and ancient. rote memory, feed it back. must inform police if going out-of-town, real annoying police type spying. is baoding a common situation? i think definately yes. i like the town. BJ only one hour away. there is various recent thought that the situation for foreigners in china is becoming less favorable, compared to the recent past. what' s the long term goal of learning chinese if china chases you out of the country? even if you speak like a native you still will carry that 老外 passport.

[anonymoose]

must inform police if going out-of-town

I've never heard that one before.

[jobin]

i kid you not! that is the 'law' here as promulgated by the PSB and brought to our attention by the university. i ignore it, generally. said to be 500 rmb punishment if caught in violation. IMHO, how very *sshole.

[jobin]

forgot about this tidbit of nonsense. PSB demands that all foreigners in this city inform the police if not sleeping in own bed at night (place previously registered, maybe hotel, home, etc). so, if you have a girl friend nearby, or you get plastered drunk and sleep over, you are 'required by law' to tell the police. now is this paranoia or moderate social control? and once again , i kid you not.

[kdavid]

There's a great Chinese idiom I learned not too long ago: 形同虚设. The meaning is that something exists in theory, but not in practice.

This is essentially how many Chinese laws work, particularly those governing foreigners. I've also heard about this "tell us where you are" "law", but I don't think there are many places that would actually enforce its associated penalties.