Final decision, Suzhou or Qingdao.

[tyedi]

Hello everyone I am currently deciding on what city to go learn chinese at. Besides these three I am also leaning towards Qingdao, however since these three are all near each other and have some similarities I'd like to know what you guys think.

I prefer a city with low pollution and the more cleaner and developed the better. I like to be at a city that will be interesting and have stuff to do. Of course I'm from a city of 300,000 people so I assume all of these will be interesting. I was really thinking of Hangzhou but the universities(Zhejiang Science and technology) I was considering are far from the city center.

Suzhou looks like a nice choice, I get the impression it is natural feeling like hangzhou but being conveniently closer to shanghai. Of course there is also Shanghai, which appears to be very developed and interesting in the way that it is so large and always stuff to do, but It seems like the pollution would be worse. Is suzhou the best of both worlds? Conveniently go to shanghai when want to experience a big city life while living in suzhou??

What do you guys think about these cities?

Thanks

[abcdefg]

I've been in Shanghai and Suzhou within the last week or so (am in Tongli now.) Sure encountered lots of English in Shanghai. Locals whipped their English on my white face before I could even say 你好。 I think it might be a huge problem. Of course if one were a student, one would not be living on Nanjing Lu or in the Bund.

In Suzhou it seemed everyone wanted to talk Wu dialect. It was totally incomprehensible to me, and nothing at all like Putonghua. I could not eavesdrop on conversations. Of course every place has its 方言, so that's really nothing new. Dialect can be an issue in Shanghai as well.

I was expecting the Suzhou air to be clean, but it didn't look clean and it made me cough a lot. I'd advise checking monthly air quality stats on-line, because obviously my three-day tourist sample might not be representative.

I'd also suggest finding some previous discussions on where to live. I remember one in which Roddy built a decision matrix which you could use to rank order the factors that were most important to you personally.

If you want a modern city with good air, I'd suggest adding Xiamen to your short list of candidates.

[skylee]

What are the stuff to do in Shanghai? I find it quite boring. (PS - I have never lived in Shanghai, though. I am just an infrequent visitor.)

[Meng Lelan]

In Shanghai I can shop like crazy in the Yuyuan district.

[AucklandLove]

You ever thought about studying in Chengde? Some of my classmates went there and seemed to like it. No English spoken, clean air, and only about two hours away from Beijing. Plus they actually speak Mandarin there.

[msittig]

Pollution is hit-or-miss in Shanghai, but not nearly as bad as Beijing, and a lot of the dirty manufacturing that used to happen in Shanghai has moved Kunshan just outside Suzhou. There's a ton of stuff to do in Shanghai: art, music, eating, business, etc. Jiaotong University is a popular place to study language and it's right in the center of town, by Xujiahui. Also, ECNU is a good place as well and it's near Zhongshan Park. The bad thing is that there are lots of foreigners, so it takes some self-control to stick to an immersion experience.

Of course nobody speaks Mandarin in Shanghai *rolls eyes, as in do we still have to have this convo*.

I'm guessing this thread is not really helping you to make up your mind...

[roddy]

The topic abcdefg mentions is here. It is a sticky.

[eshton]

You're almost looking for a paradox with developed but clean. I voted Shanghai (I live there of course), the pollution isn't as bad as it sounds. To be honest going to Suzhou is like wanting to come to Shanghai but not having the guts to do it, it's practically on the doorstep. Shanghaihua is fast diminshing because of the influx of migrant workers and foreigners alike and it just takes a little discipline to speak mandarin even if you're addressed in english.

[skylee]

Shanghaihua is fast diminishing? Really? This is sad.

[tyedi]

Hey thanks for everyones opinions. Although right now I am considering Hangzhou or Suzhou now, as I heard the lifestyle in these cities are nice. But I also from others that Nanjing is really cool too. So many cities to choose I might as well just pick from a hat Shanghai really seems awesome but I am thinking I might want to live somewhere more relaxing with the option to go to Shanghai easily. I guess right now its more of a matter of what University has the best international dorms.

I do consider how the language classes quality is as well but I am more of a read from the book and speak chinese to chinese friends type of guy. I am really considering suzhou university but no information on their dorms. Just that it is somewhere called 东吴饭店 Dongwufandian. No information at all really.

I was thinking about Zhejiang Uni too because of reputation but couple things put me off was that the dorms seem run down and sucky(also hate the shared bathroom on floor deal). And because this is all scholarship through confucius institute I am unsure of my chances of being accepted.

Where as I already contacted 3 Uni's(Ocean Uni, Suzhou uni, and Zhejiang Uni of Technlogy) all saying the chance of admission is very high. So maybe I will do some Nanjing uni research. Although I also heard nanjing is more polluted and generally more dirty than suzhou or hangzhou. What do you guys think?

[roddy]

Bear in mind that as a scholarship student you're likely to be in the cheapest dorms, and may need to pay for upgrades.

[Lu]

Apart from dorm quality you might want to look into how good/experienced they are at teaching Chinese to foreigners. A fun city is nice, but interesting and helpful classes are also pretty important for a student. I second the suggestion of Xiamen. They have a university with a good reputation too, the weather is nice and I imagine that being on the coast it's not too polluted. I'd also suggest Taipei (clean, developed, friendly people), but if you're on a Confucius Institute scholarship I don't suppose that's an option. I've only visited Suzhou twice, but it didn't strike me as a very developed city where there is a lot to do. There are lovely parks though and the older part of the city is quite beautiful. According to my pollution app, Shanghai is consistently less polluted than Beijing, but of course that's not putting the bar very high. If you don't speak much Chinese yet, in Shanghai it might be too easy to end up in a mostly English-speaking environment. Of course that's possible anywhere, but it's very easy in Shanghai.

[skylee]

Taipei is a very nice city.

[xh207hi]

What about comparing Nanjing and Hangzhou? University-wise and city-atmosphere-wise?

[Meng Lelan]

I have always loved Suzhou and would like to study there, the Putonghua there is standard (to me at least) without those er hua that makes it very difficult for me to understand. Taipei is an option too I am sure OneEye can jump in with ideas for you.

[tyedi]

So for my decision of which city to stay at has come down to these two cities. I was strongly considering hangzhou, but because I will be on scholarship through Confucius Institute I am not sure if Zhejiang Uni will have a good chance of acceptance. Also was considering Nanjing, but heard from people that Suzhou and Qingdao are cleaner and more livable, although Nanjing Normal university chinese language program seems one of the best.

So these two cities are my main choices. If I go to suzhou it will be Suzhou University, if I go to Qingdao then most likely Ocean University as it is ranked higher, but I really don't know if Ocean or Qingdao Uni is better, since I am just taking language classes.

My main goal is to learn Chinese intensively. I want to also be in a location in which I will be able to travel a lot and experience nearby cities etc. I don't really care for touristy stuff like temples or churches, nor do I care about western restaurants or foreigner population. I just want to experience China the best way possible, while learning as much Chinese as possible. I also want to see the modern growing side of china as well. The reason I ruled out Shanghai is because I want to experience a more second tier city.

By the way I will be going from September 2013 to January 2014

Things that matter:

+ Modernness

+ Nearby Cities to travel to

+ University language class intensity

+ Weather

- Pollution

So Suzhou or Qingdao? What do you guys think?

Qingdao

Suzhou

[roddy]

+ Modernness - I think both are fine on this. Qingdao's a busy port city, Suzhou is in a very developed part of China

+ Nearby Cities to travel to - Suzhou wins, I think - Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huangshan, the old canal towns.

+ University language class intensity - that's going to depend on the university.

+ Weather - check climate data and weather sites. Southern china can have pretty grey and wet winters. Personally I'd go for QIngdao on this, even if it's not that much futher north.

- Pollution - Qingdao likely wins, it's on the coast so can only be polluted on one side.

[BOMBOCLAT]

Hi guys! 

I just came to study for one year in Suzhou, China in Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and I wanted to share with you my experience. 

I made this video of my first week in Suzhou and I am planning to make more on studying and living as a foreign student in China. 

Here is the link to the video on my YouTube http://bit.ly/YearInChina_ep1 

I also use instagram story to post every day so if you're interested just follow me and get in touch with me if you have any questions (@bombo.clat) 

If you like the video please leave like and comment. If you want to support me please subscribe to my channel. It will definitely encourage me to create new videos  

All the best!

[Flickserve]

@BOMBOCLAT

 

 

I wouldn't have minded watching but there are many videos out there which take up time to watch. It would be nice to have some basic information that would be helpful for people to read and increase their interest in your work.

[abcdefg]

No Youtube in China.

No Instagram in China.

Bye bye  拜拜