Tianjin, Haikou Or Hangzhou?

[Diana27]

Hi All,

I want to spend 2 summer months in China studying Chinese. Can't choose between living in Tianjin, Haikou and Hangzhou. Or can anyone recommend other cities? Want to study near the beach, so I can spend there weekends if that's possible. Also,can't decide about language schools. I liked the description of Hainan Premier Language School, though they seem to ignore my emails :unsure:

So, any recommendatios, comments are welcome, thanx in advance!

[Mouseneb]

Hi, I live in Haikou and love it here! So I definitely recommend you come here - but I may be a little biased

About Premier: I'd stay away from them. I worked for them (teaching English) for about a week and it was a very bad experience. I've heard mixed things from people who've studied Chinese there, some good, some bad.

I work for a training school (again, teaching English) that also has a program for studying Chinese. We don't have many Chinese studying students yet as we are a fairly new school, so you would have very small class sizes! Our school is about two blocks from the beach. Here's the website if you want to get more info:

http://www.omeca.cc/

Send me a message and I'd love to show you around Haikou when you arrive!

Nicki

[Kenny同志]

Isn't Omega the school around Hainan University? I seem to have seen it once.

[anonymoose]

I'm not sure how accessible the beach is in any of the cities you mentioned, nor whether the beaches are really suitable for recreational purposes. Hangzhou is not really that close to the sea, and Tianjin is a huge shipping centre. You might find that the seaside is very industrial (although I've not seen for myself - I'm just guessing).

A couple of other places you might like to consider are Dalian or Qingdao. Both are relatively clean and modern cities by Chinese standards, and will have very pleasant weather in the summer. You'll probably find that Hangzhou and anywhere south of that will be too hot.

The beach is right on the edge of town in Qingdao, so depending on where you are located, you could conceivably walk to the beach from the town.

In Dalian, there are several beaches. I would say that, whilst they are not far from the city centre, they are not really withing walking distance, so you would have to take transport to them. There is also a well-known beach at Golden Pebble Beach, which is accessible by the light railway.

[GreenArrow45]

i know that you probably would like somewhere on the mainland that speaks Mandarin, but, if your main concerns are beaches and just studying in-class/on your own, I would recommend Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a few amazing beaches, albeit you may have to ask locals how to get there. They also have all the luxuries that you may want and not find in other parts of China.

[889]

If you want a beach for the summer, Dalian and Qingdao would be natural first choices.

Hong Kong has beautiful beaches scattered throughout the territory, but it's a very poor choice to study Mandarin. And very expensive, to boot.

Compared with the other places you're considering, Haikou's something of a wasteland, at least culturally. If you're in Hangzhou or Tianjin, or Dalian or Qingdao, you'll have a much greater sense of really being in China.

Finally, don't forget that in Tianjin and Dalian, the local language is Mandarin with an accent not too far off the standard.

[Diana27]

Thanx for all your advices, they r very helpful. Does anyone know good language schools in Dalian or Qingdao? And what are the main differences between these two cities, which one is safer and better to stay at? I am not very active type of person, and will try to spend most of my time studying.

[ChinaMike1]

I can't believe nobody has recomended Sanya to you yet. It is further south than Haikou and has the most gorgeous beaches in all of China, hands down (I guess that is why it is nicknamed Chinese Hawaii). Furthermore there is an excellent school there called BeachChinese. It is run by an american guy (but the teachers are Chinese). You can find the site online at BeachChinese.com (I just checked and it is still there).

This seems to be exactly what you are looking for, and the major plus is that you will be learning Mandarin and not some southern dialect like you would in Dalian on Qindao... or anywhere else in the south for that matter. Sanya is unique in that Mandarin is the main Chinese language spoken there. You can go out in the streets and practice what you have learned in class. In any other city in the south (including Hong Kong), you may find a Mandarin school, but you will be hard pressed to go out and practice it with the locals because they will all be speaking Cantonese or some other dialect. It is also way cheaper than any of the bigger cities like Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing (friggin' cold!) for housing, food, entertainment.

Sanya is the place to be... trust me you will love it.

[ChinaMike1]

Thanx for all your advices, they r very helpful. Does anyone know good language schools in Dalian or Qingdao? And what are the main differences between these two cities, which one is safer and better to stay at? I am not very active type of person, and will try to spend most of my time studying.

By the way it is safe, even at night... and while you might want to spend all of your time studying and lying on the beach, there are some pretty cool things to do in and around town - mountain biking trails, lazy river rafting, surfing, snorkeling, kite-boarding and plenty of massage and beauty centers (30 quai massages...that's about 3 Euros or $5 USD). Man, talking about it makes me want to go back.