East China Normal University

[zaydxpres]

Hi, I am moving to Shanghai soon, and my girlfriend is moving with me. While I will be working, she will be attending ECNU. I wanted to find a decent apartment complex around ECNU and close to the metro stop as well. Anybody who went to ECNU who can recommend a decent complex. I am looking for a 2 bedroom place, reasonably good condition, around 80-110 square metre, for between 3000-5000 RMB. Any help would be appreciated. THanks all.

[JTx]

im wondering the same.

[zaydxpres]

Hey,

I did end up finding a place, and there are decent complexes around area, but you will pay through the nose. Here are the places I went to:

Zhongshan Apartments

St. Johns(Sheng Yuehan)

Chengning Huafan

The nicest and newest of these complexes is Chengning Huafan, but it's expensive, 6500+ RMB. St. Johns ranges from 6000-7000 RMB, and Zhongshan apartments is 5000-6500 RMB. I ended up negotiating and getting small two bedroom at Chengning Huafan, but you also can find places farther West on Changning Street.

These all are south of ECNU and are around 25-30 minutes walk, so not super close. Good luck

[twinkler09]

Thanks for this info zaydxpres, I'm looking into the same thing at the moment.

If anyone has any other suggestions that'd be great too

[titan]

Hi guys, I'll be moving to Shanghai at the start of September. I applied for the intensive mandarin program at ECNU.

So I'm just posting to see if there any new students doing the same as me, hello!

I'm a chinese born british male, 24 btw. very excited about coming to Shanghai!

[titan]

ahhh this is good info. im looking for accommodation around ENCU atm, but just for me, so i 6000+ is a bit too much for me

[jiacheng]

I'm a student at ECNU, but not in the intensive program. I've completed one semester so far and will continue this fall. I have heard that the intensive program is pretty exhausting. Personally, I chose the standard program because I already have a well established study routine and I don't want anything to interfere with that.

[titan]

Hi jiacheng, I'm on the intensive one because I've been told the sometimes the regular course goes too slow. But i think i can transfer between the two if its too fast or slow. Do you live on campus?

[Gurulu]

Hi, titan, welcome to shanghai. how long will the intensive mandarin program last? :rolleyes:

[titan]

im enrolled onto one semester which lasts til about 6th of January. I'm looking to do two semesters and stay til june/july. maybe more

[titan]

Hi guys, I'll be moving to Shanghai at the start of September and am enrolled on a course at ECNU. I applied for the dormitories on campus but they said now it's full. So now I need to find accommodation of my own. How easy is it to find apartments there? Are there any trustworthy websites to have a look at? I've had a look around online but not sure which websites are good or not.

Is there anyone else in the same situation as me? Anyone looking for a flatmate near the ECNU area? or is there anyone else looking for a place to rent?

[roddy]

Merging, no need to have two topics active on the same . . . topic.

[jiacheng]

Hi titan,

It could be the case that the elementary levels move slower than some people would like, but that was not my experience at the intermediate level classes. In one semester we covered quite a bit of material and it was my impression that a lot of the students were somewhat burned out by the end of the semester. They also have a program for heritage learners as well.

I live off campus.

[Keown]

i dont think the +5000 rmb worth the intensive program. you have the same class as the normal classes in the morning then 3-4 times a week you'll have extra classes in the afternoon, but frankly... they are not faster - they cover the same topics but using a different book. it's good to reinforce the material you studied in the morning only. if you think about that means you pay 250 rmb/week extra. for this, you can buy about 4-5 private chinese classes per week where you can actually leapfrog the normal class instead of reinforcing it...

[titan]

My friend had done the regular course at beginner levels, but found it too slow and so moved up to the intense course. Maybe i'll try and do the same, see if i can switch.

@Gurulu, the intense mandarin course lasts for a semester, and you can do more semesters if you want to. The first semester goes from 1st September to 6th January.

@ jiacheng, how far off campus do you live and how do you get to ECNU?

[titan]

ahh sorry about that, I wasn't sure if my posts were coming through or not

[jonno921]

hey guys ..... i know its really late but i have just enrolled for the intensive course at ECNU as well

any advice or tips with regards to finding a last minute apartment nearby?

[Keown]

hi jonno, can u enroll at the course anytime? how is it? which group are you in? when u get there you should go to a local real estate agent, you can find a small apartment anytime for about 3000 rmb/month

[jonno921]

hey keown thanks for the reply .... yeah i think they pretty much let anyone enroll until the point where classes are too big in size.

I've been looking at apartments on echinacities.com and see quite a few for around 3000RMB but they are more towards the Peoples Square and East Nanjing Road. They look quite nice and modern but do you think I can find the same sort of deals nearer to campus?

Also with regards to standard vs. intensive program, do you mean that neither course covers more ground and the intensive course merely reiterates material already studied as opposed to going through more new material?

Sorry for all the questions but its quite hard to figure out whats going on from London still

Thanks

[Keown]

Yeah I think near the campus area and Zhongshan Park there are many apartments/rooms for rent. I cannot tell any specifics since I lived on-campus. I attended one session in the intensive program, and the material covered was the same like in the normal class, only they used a different book. And there were extra HSK classes too. I think you should check it out when you get there. If you like the class then you can enroll... The thing is I couldn't see their value proposition since the extra class was only repeating the morning class from a slightly different perspective.