Qingdao, Hangzhou, Weihai. What city is best suites me?

[tyedi]

I'm looking to go to china next year for a semester or a year. I've been to beijing already and I disliked the pollution. So i'm looking to go to a city thats a bit smaller, better air, and maybe more relaxed lifestyle. I like qingdao because it's near the beach and I love swimming in the ocean. I also heard its a rather clean and nice city. I heard of hangzhou as well, as being a green city and a lot of fun things to do, with not too many foreigners. Also weihai seems interested like a smaller version of Qingdao, but i'd be worried of possibly getting bored.

I plan on taking weekend excursions to anywhere interested. So what city is best suited do you think? Also if you have your own recommendation please let me know!

Thank you

[aristeon]

It sounds like you want to come to Taiwan, haha. Just kidding.

Are you going there on holiday or are you planning to look for a job?

[abcdefg]

Also weihai seems interested like a smaller version of Qingdao, but i'd be worried of possibly getting bored.

Yantai would probably be more suitable than Weihai for a long stay since it is a Shandong coastal city with good air but is significantly larger than Weihai and has more to do.

[tyedi]

You know, taiwan was my first choice, however I'm trying to get on scholarship and i'm not 100% I'll get the Taiwan MOE scholarships, whereas getting the confucius institute scholarship is almost guaranteed in my situation.

I'll be going to study chinese language, however possibly take a business class as well. I'm probably HSK 4 level right now. Yantai looks pretty sweet. How does it compare to Qingdao?

[drencrom]

Hangzhou is overrun with foreign students. Tons of them. Never heard of Weihai.

[fanglu]

Since you say semester, I assume you're going to study. Is there anywhere to study in Weihai? It's a pretty small place.

[tyedi]

Yeah i'll be there for a semester, Maybe weihai might be too small. How about Xiamen. I saw some pictures of it, it looks pretty nice. Nicer than the city i'm from in the U.S. haha. I just want to feel i'll have enough stuff to keep my busy besides studying chinese. Like good places to eat, maybes shopping malls, and out of town excursions. Hangzhou seems nice too.

[abcdefg]

#4 --

Yantai looks pretty sweet. How does it compare to Qingdao?

Yantai is much smaller than Qingdao. Qingdao is close to 9 million, whereas Yantai (urban area) is maybe 1 million at the most. I've been to both twice, but never lived in either place. There are one or two forum members who have lived in Yantai, and they may see this and give you more in-depth comments.

Yantai has at least one university that I've visited. It may have other smaller ones that I don't know about. I've also met several people who go to Yantai to study martial arts. Supposed to be a good academy on the edge of the city with a connection to Shaolin. (Sorry, no details.) Yantai has mountains nearby once one leaves the flat coastal region. Yantai grows lots of grapes and makes lots of wine. Supplies much of China.

Weihai (farther east on the Shandong "spur" also has one university, a branch of Shandong University, if I'm not mistaken. Weihai has much prettier beaches than either Qingdao or Yantai, and it receives lots of Korean tourists who come over for a few days of sun and relaxation. All three cities, Qingdao, Yantai, and Weihai have excellent seafood, as you would expect.

One drawback of Yantai, which is even more true for Weihai, is lack of easy transportation to the rest of the Chinese mainland. Yantai does have a train station with connections south to Qingdao and north to Shanghai, Beijing, etc. Yantai also has a small airport that I've flown in and out of. It's far from the center of the city. Still, Yantai is far from being a transportation hub. Yantai has some nightlife and a bar street (outdoor tables in summer) frequented by expats. A local took me there one evening.

Yantai has a tourist/expat website, which might be worth a look. It's: http://www.yantai-li...ife_webpage.htm

As far as I know, Weihai is connected to the rest of Shandong mainly by bus, though it does have a small airport as well. It's considerably more remote than Yantai.

[aristeon]

Taiwan seems to be very generous with scholarships for foreign students, you should definitely give it a try.

If you're looking for a city with Chinese culture, not too big and not too polluted, Taipei, Gaoxiong or Taizhong are good choices.

Good luck to you!

[steveh]

After living in China for 4 years, I'd recommend you apply to Taiwan MoE and just see if you get the scholarship.

Besides that, I lived in Qingdao for 2.5 years. Qingdao is a decent city that in my mind is a miniature Shanghai. It is pretty developed and lots of high class shopping and luxuries. There are several western restaurants and bars, and lots of foreign import stores. It is pretty easy to get around the city by either taxi or by bus. The city gets pretty boring after awhile (but if there for just 1-2 semesters then it should be no problem). It is generally clean and you can go to the beaches to swim (though they are not the cleanest beaches at all). The winter is VERY cold with high wind, and seldom snows.

I did travel to Yantai once and my opinion was very positive. It was a big city that seemed like it had a lot to offer. There were very few foreigners (better for learning the language) and everyone was much more friendly than in Qingdao. Yet as others have mentioned, its not convenient to travel to other places from there.

Weihai (which I also traveled to) was at one point my dream city after reading about it online. Few foreigners to really practice your chinese, clean city, on the ocean, etc. However, when visiting Weihai, I just wasnt too impressed. Maybe because the city was just too small and not very developed for me.

I now live in Xiamen. Xiamen is a decent city. Its very warm (I am still wearing shorts and a tshirt as of now) and generally have "sunny" days here. The city is somewhat clean and somewhat developed, but not nearly as developed as Qingdao. There are also ALOT more foreigners here than in Qingdao or Weihai. After being here for about 2 months already, I can say that the life style here is very relaxing, but at times too relaxed.

The easiest place to get to from Xiamen is Jinmen (Kinmen, Taiwan).

[tyedi]

so steveh, how would you compare qingdao to xiamen?