Which city has the friendliest uni students/locals?

[videlity]

Hey, as the title says I'm just interested in your opinions.

Which city has the friendliest uni students/locals? and this might sound like a silly question but how would you meet them if you're not in their classes? clubs/societies? This is just because if i go to china to study chinese language, i wouldn't want to just hang out with the foreigners all the time but it might also be hard to make local friends if my chinese isn't that great either.

Thanks.

[anonymoose]

This is the ranking of the top ten cities with friendliest students and locals*:

1. Xilinhot

2. Lanzhou

3. Baoji

4. Weihai

5. Shijiazhuang

6. Urumqi

7. Quanzhou

8. Kunming

9. Wuhan

10. Xi'an

*There isn't a one to one correspondence between friendliness of locals and of students, so this ranking is by weighted average value.

[Steingletscher]

If you go to high ranking school, it becomes easy to make friends with Chinese students because they usually speak good English. Through English you can develop friendships and deepen them. The problem with this is that it does become a habit to talk to them in English and for them to talk in it. So it would take some discipline and good friends to get over it.

[liuzhou]

What a silly question.

Let's wait til someone who has experience of all the possible cities turns up and gives the definitive answer.

[Lu]

Taipei.

[ChTTay]

What kind of answers were you expecting to those questions??

Friendliest city for me is Yinchuan. Just a note, I've only lived in two cities in China and didn't attend University in Yinchuan.

As for making random Chinese friends, get a smart phone, download WeChat, then use the look around function. This lets you see people near you on wechat. Add them, they add you, chat away. If you are a guy then i wouldn't have too many worries about meeting people you meet on wechat in real life.

Couchsurfing hold meet ups in most larger Chinese cities, Mostly foreigners but some Chinese too.

Join sports clubs, put an advert online, try talking to people in the street. Get a part time job teaching English to "adults" as a way to make friends with them.

If you are a good University, they will have buddy programs, English corners, associations etc you can join to make Chinese friends.

Good luck

[XiongNu]

Just don't go to Baotou Hair Fashion school, I went there to learn Chinese and was raped twice.

[edelweis]

Chinese students seem to be very busy: http://lang-8.com/320646/journals/1423202/Poor-Chinese-Students

So they might not have much time for clubs and societies unless the topic relates to their studies...

Socializing with Chinese students might involve helping them practice their English...

Ideas which were mentioned on the forum previously:

- hire a native tutor to help you get in contact with natives (and practice your Chinese)

- go to language exchange corner if there is one

- put up an ad for a language exchange partner

- audit classes for native students

- sports clubs

It might be easier to socialize with native students if you choose a foreign languages/foreign studies/international relations/international business college...

[Pelu]

I am living in Wuhu, as it is not a big city and doesn´t have too many foreigners people are very curious at them, so it shouldn´t be a problem meeting local people, just take a walk in the street and the people will say hello to you, try talking with them. I just have an advice, not too many people can speak english, which could be also an advantage as you will be forced to practice your chinese.

Anyway, in small cities chinese people are willing to have foreign friends.