Zhengzhou a nice city?

[civic94]

I want to visit and stay at either zhengzhou, nanning, or tianjian for a year or two, and experience. for zhengzhou, is it a cheap city to live in? what is there to do there, and how is life there?

I want to live on a budget, and teach english there if I can. I'm an ABC, I heard about how schools in china prefer a Caucasian over an ABC. this way, I can save money while experiencing/visting all over china.

[anonymoose]

Why are you considering those cities? Zhengzhou is dirty and boring. So is Tianjin. Nanning was not bad when I went about 10 years ago.

[jkhsu]

Why not Beijing or Shanghai? Can you list more criteria and how you decided on those 3 cities?

Edit: In a previous post, you mentioned that you wanted to live in Nanning because it was in Guangxi, where your parents are from. What's your reasoning for choosing Zhengzhou or Tianjin?

[civic94]

well the first thing is, I chose those because I dont like cities that are way too big, and way too fast. Ive been to NYC and LA before, I like to visit but its just too crowded.

and the second thing, I figured that I can just visit where my parents came from, and thats about it, I dont want to be stuck there (guangxi) and go visit my parents place every week or something, since I dont have uncles or aunts from both sides there, or grandparents.

and third thing.. I want to be in a cheaper city so I can survive there longer. I watched the documentary of Beijing and shanghai, where some workers who makes middle class money has to share an apartment with other couples, etc. I want my own apartment to rent, and have my own privacy. I think as for teaching English, the school provide me allowance or an place to stay, and in more expensive cities its just a shared bedroom or you'll have roommates.

anyways I have been with roommates for... 2 years, and I did it to save money...... and yes I have a BA degree and No loans, didnt ask parents to help out...

[tooironic]

In that case, cities like Changsha, Dalian, Qingdao, Kunming, etc. would be more up your alley, and are generally much nicer to boot.

[civic94]

seems like zhengzhou is bad.. why is it bad compared to the other places that tooironic said? is it run down, bad economy, dangerous?

I decided to research zhengzhou is because.. I only know 2 friends in china, I met them at my university, one is from xian and the other is from shandong province. zhengzhou is like in the middle of both of them. I would say this attributes to 10% of my decision

[abcdefg]

Have been to Zhengzhou twice as a tourist during the last year and a half. Zhengzhou has a very high population density and accordingly seemed crowded and dirty. Air was difficult to breathe. Found absolutely nothing that would make me want to return except that it is a transportation hub. Gigantic train station. Of course, my experience was limited to a few days each time. Maybe it's a great place if you know more about what to see and where to go.

[animal world]

How about Yantai in Shandong?

[civic94]

I just checked yantai in shandong.. seems nice..

Ive been researching tons of cities in china, it seems like the population even in 2nd or 3rd tier cities, they are still more populus than most "big" cities in america. like nanning, has 6.6million people, for that kind of population in america, that is a huge city, but in china its a 2nd or 3rd tier.

I guess I just want to explore for a couple of years, then decide if I want to stay there or here. It really depends on the economy here, there in china, and what can I do for a job here vs there, and the standard of living..

[yialanliu]

Civic, make sure you look at populations of the urban area.

City populations in china includes all of it's administered counties and rural areas. This is different than how the West would count population. A city with 6 million probably at most have 1 million in it's main urban city. Whereas the further county seats may have 100k in their main urban area even though they may have 500k in that county.

[Lu]

I decided to research zhengzhou is because.. I only know 2 friends in china, I met them at my university, one is from xian and the other is from shandong province. zhengzhou is like in the middle of both of them. I would say this attributes to 10% of my decision

Then I would suggest you move to either Xi'an or Shandong. Living in Zhengzhou would make sure you're about a day's journey away from either of them. I've only spent about a week in Xi'an, but quite liked it, you could consider it.

[skylee]

I've visited Xi'an a couple of times and it seemed very agreeable.

[liuzhou]

I think as for teaching English, the school provide me allowance or an place to stay, and in more expensive cities its just a shared bedroom or you'll have roommates.

You are going to teach English?

[jkhsu]

Ive been to NYC and LA before, I like to visit but its just too crowded.

I have to respond to this. NYC and LA can't be more different. And if you're trying to avoid crowds, China is not the place to go. When you went to LA, did you visit areas in Orange County like Irvine or Newport Beach?

Ive been researching tons of cities in china, it seems like the population even in 2nd or 3rd tier cities, they are still more populus than most "big" cities in america. like nanning, has 6.6million people,

It seems like you're looking at a map of China and going through Wikipedia, etc. to figure out where you want to live for a year or two. Have you traveled much in China recently? My suggestion is to take the cities suggested by others here and plan a month long trip to visit them. I actually would just stay in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong and then visit the other cities from there. One thing you need to know is that the infrastructure in China is not built out like the US when it comes to smaller cities. For example, in the US, I don't need to live in New York City to get good medical care. In fact, life is often better in the suburbs. It's not like that in China though (at least not yet). For example, even in Shanghai, once I leave the metro area, it feels like the boonies. It's like miles and miles of farmland. If you need to visit a doctor, don't be surprised if you have to take the train or even fly to another city to get to a good International hospital. The point is, you really should visit these cities first and get a feel before you decide to invest a year or two of your life there.

[civic94]

after reading all of the responses, it seems that Zhengzhou is not a good place for me at all, i mean, what are the other negatives about it? for myself, as long as its not a dangerous place, not too expensive, I will be fine.

Yes, I plan to teach in china if I can, if not, I will just visit there, I'll save up first. I'm 26, and I was born in the states, but when I went to college, I have met quite a few mainlanders, and I was the only ABC in the whole university. They were shocked at how much of a banana I was, even though I spoke Cantonese (most abc's cant speak Cantonese). They were suprised at how my last name is Chinese, I look Chinese, but I dont know anything about china or how to speak the national language.

I want to visit china, maybe permanently move there if I can have a better life there, such as a easier job or better standard of living. I kind of want to explore before I get married or before I cant do so. I'm reading and watching videos about the different cities, and deciding while I am still here. it will help when I am over there, but this is the cheapest way possible (asking on here, watching videos, reading wikipedia about the cities).

I have been to china when I was 10, but I forgot most of it. from the videos it seems like food over there taste good, and violent crime is not as bad.

[gato]

from the videos it seems like food over there taste good, and violent crime is not as bad.

You got that from the videos?

I second jkhsu's suggestion of just going there for a month and see for yourself.

[paotale]

Spent about 6 weeks in Zhengzhou back in 2009. Has a reputation for being dirty and polluted, which it is. Knew more people that got pickpocketed, etc there than other places, but i think if you keep your head up you will be fine. I'd second the shandong rec, weihai is nice as well.

[Lu]

If your standards are cheap living, good food and not too dangerous, then most any second-tier city would work, and even in first-tier cities you can live cheaply if you try a little. I third the suggestion to come travel here first (go see your friends in Xi'an and Shandong for a start, they can show you the real Chinese life), if you have the money.

[civic94]

I third the suggestion to come travel here first (go see your friends in Xi'an and Shandong for a start, they can show you the real Chinese life), if you have the money.

ohh, of course they know how to live, they talked about it since they both are in wealthy families, thats how they can afford to go to america and study. its stuff that men do and have fun.

anyways so far I dont have relatives in china, I will see guangxi for a few days, then see shandong and xian to visit my 2 friends, and the rest, I just want to choose a cheap city thats not too large, learn some mandarin, and decide after a year or 2.

[drencrom]

I was in Zhengzhou for a few days. I found exactly one foreigners' bar, and the owner there told me there were only 300 foreigners in the whole city. Take that for what it's worth.