Choice Of Proper City And Course. Depressed.

[dagnai]

Hello guys, it's my first post over here.

I'm going to study in china for around 2-3 years. The goal to achieve is to pass HSK at reasonable score.

I've already booked a ticket to Beijing, and i will be there on 29th of september. (isn't it too late ?)

I have total muddle in my head about this whole 'pick up good enough city' thing. I don't want to go to shanghai, nor beijing - in my opinion both of them are too expensive for me and overpriced by everyone else.

My choices:

-Shenyang - kind of proper accent/dialect out there. Living expenses less than in BJ/SH. Small amount of westerners <according to couchsurfing search engine>

-Kunming - varieties of minorities, great weather - not as polluted as some other cities. Disadvantage is that they don't speak proper putonghua.

-xi'an - historical stuff, not-so-bad accent; but in the end of the day more polluted than kunming.

-changscha - living expenses are the lowest, according to wikipedia year-round temperatures are the best compare to other cities from my list. Disadvantage is that they have their own dialect.

Taiyuan, Datong, Yinchuan - i find those 3 cities quite interesting - but i don't have much informations about them.

I'd like to know something more about Chongqing as well.

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I will be more than glad for any opinions, hints, advices. Generally I'm not sure if i should abandon proper-accent thing in order to gain better weather and lower living expenses.

Daniel

[gato]

Someone has posted some interesting stories about Taiyuan here lately. Do a search.

[dagnai]

Wow, guy in this topic about Taiyuan describes a true horror:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25341-help-deciding-bt-cities/page__p__212384__hl__taiyuan__fromsearch__1entry212384

Cold for me is ok, exhausted lunges too, - but pissing on the pavement and beating women? HELL NO.

I heard about those ex-coal mining cities a lot of bad stuff, but this description is just terrifying.

<i want to stick this link just in case that someone can miss it in the future - if it's not all right with site policy or whatever, just please delete this post>

[GreenArrow45]

I assume that you plan to procure a student visa prior to coming over? As coming over with a visitor's visa and then once here, switching to student, might be somewhat difficult (I'm not sure though as I haven't done it).

As to your cities, Xi'an really is not that polluted, sure there is some pollution, but it is hardly noticeable IMO. Also, Xi'an's language doesn't really have any noticeable differences from standard Mandarin. There are enough people coming from other parts of China to Xi'an that it is just as standard as Beijing (IMO) and actually a lot easier to understand. Beijing uses a lot of slurs compared to Xi'an.

As to your cities in Shanxi province (Taiyuan, Datong) don't even consider them if pollution is of importance to you, they are by far the most polluted cities you listed. Taiyuan, has plenty of problems, which you can read about in other posts (if I knew how to link things I would)...but for the sole purpose of studying Chinese, ShanXi DaXue is actually a good environment. There is nothing worth doing in Taiyuan, so you will have plenty of time to practice your mandarin without the temptation of going out or going to see various historic things (as might exist in say, Xi'an). However, I would advise against Taiyuan and its smaller version in Datong.

On Kunming, I don't know how much this matters to you or if you are already aware of it, but, Yunan is the province with the most AIDS in China. So, if you might get involved in behavior that could risk transferring HIV/AIDS, perhaps do some more research into Kunming's situation.

Lastly, I think the language thing in part depends on what you plan to use it for and if you have studied before. If your mandarin is already at an elementary level (you can get around on your own pretty well) then where you go won't likely have a large impact on your ability to improve and maintain a fairly standard accent. But, regardless, if you are just picking up Chinese for personal purposes and not for work, then I would say the dialect spoken shouldn't matter too much to you. If you are for job futures, I might look into how much employers care that the accent is standard or not.

BK

[roddy]

Basically you need to decide what's most important to you, and make a best guess. You're looking at two to three years, so I'd just commit to six months in the first instance - given semester lengths it will probably only be four or five in fact - and if your first choice of city doesn't work out you can move, perhaps having had the chance to check some other places out and with a better idea of what life in China is like and what you need from a city.

[Lu]

On Kunming, I don't know how much this matters to you or if you are already aware of it, but, Yunnan is the province with the most AIDS in China. So, if you might get involved in behavior that could risk transferring HIV/AIDS, perhaps do some more research into Kunming's situation.

Yeah, uhm, while in Yunnan, don't share needles with random people, and don't have sex without a condom. Actually that would be a good idea for other cities as well. Except that doing drugs in China is a bad idea even if you don't get AIDS.

From what I've seen of Kunming, it's a very pleasant city, and I think there's plenty of Mandarin spoken there.

Roddy's advice is sound. You don't need to commit to one city for 2-3 years right now, you can always move.

[GreenArrow45]

Wow, a bit touchy there Lu, huh? There are other ways to contract AIDS asides from sex without a condom and drug use, it makes sense to caution someone against a place where they would be at higher risk, without sarcasm. Even though drugs are a big deal in China I know more than enough expats who use on an almost daily basis that the Chinese around them are seemingly clueless as to what is going on.

Regardless of that, I agree that Roddy's advice is pretty good. You should be able to build connections anywhere you go, and, if the people you meet want to be your friend for reasons other than English practice, you will probably stay in contact even if you do move.

[Carwyn]

I'm a bit biased, as I lived there for going on 4 years, but Xi'an is a great city. I think of it as a mini-Beijing really. Accent there is ok, you don't hear a lot of strong Shaanxi dialect, but you get it sometimes in the places you'd expect. Most of the people in Universities and working quite good jobs can't actually speak it, even if their from Xi'an (from my experience). A couple of good universities to go to, Jiao Tong for example, quite a few English schools to give cash in hand jobs, a small but nice ex-Pat community and a lot of nice Chinese people. It's also a great place to travel around China as it's a train hub.

Negatives to Xi'an? Winters are cold, but not as cold as a lot of places, lowest is around -12c. Summers are HOT. Can get up to mid-40c. Air con is a must, but then almost everywhere has it so it'll be fine. Lack of Western 7/11 style stores, not a deal breaker but with the spread of 7/11 style stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou etc. to get your everyday Western commodities Xi'an does feel a bit left behind, but that could also add to the charm of the place.

[dagnai]

Guys, i'm very glad about all of infos, but may i encourage you to say something about Yinchuan? This city seems to be very cheap in matter of tuition fees and living expenses. What about dialect/accent there?

[Carwyn]

Yinchuan, in Ningxia?

I've actually been there, and other areas in Ningxia whilst on a random trip. Hmm, I can't tell you too much about the city though.

It's cheaper than Xi'an, but it doesn't have any well known universities. It's got a small foreign population, the English school I used to manage at (Aston) has a school there with 5 or 6 foreign teachers. It's mostly muslim. Some nice scenery around there, and near the old style great wall. You can go to Xi'an or Inner Mongolia by train in around 7 hours each. It's pretty small... Not too polluted (but anywhere is unpolluted compared to Shanxi).

I've never known anyone go there for university though, everyone I know who has lived there has gone to Xi'an for university as it has established programs in several of the universities.